Is Identity Crisis worth Buying?

[Raijin]

On that topic...
I think that Identity Crisis would've been much better received if it was labeled 'mature readers' or 'Elseworlds' (or both).

How so? Comic fans are a sensitive bunch and i still think it would have attracted all sorts of hate.

[Carabas]

Yeah, it's odd. People take about it as if Deathstroke won, outraced the Flash, beat the Trinity head on with nothing but his fists and didn't get stabbed in the eye. He was just a contender for a few seconds before losing.

He was up against Zatanna, a Green Lantern, and Wally "I felt a sniper bullet hit the back of my head so I stepped out of the way" West. Without having the element of surprise. There shouldn't even have been a fight.
None of the ways he defeated Zatanna, the Flash, and Black Canary should have worked, and what he tried to do with the Green Lantern Ring wouldn't even work if he just found it lying on the street without its owner.

But as stupid as the fight is, it is not even on my list of reasons why Identity Crisis is one of the all-time worst DC stories.

[Darkseid Is]

On that topic...
I think that Identity Crisis would've been much better received if it was labeled 'mature readers' or 'Elseworlds' (or both).

I think it felt like a more sophisticated, mature story from the start. I'm gonna quote the first few pages

"Green Arrow told me your nose doesn't really twitch when there's a mystery. You just made that up to get more press."

"Green Arrow has a bald spot. That's why he wears the hat."

Right off the bat I realize this book is different than the Super Friends.

[Darkseid Is]

For the record. Even if you don't like Infinity Crisis or whatever the hell it's called, do we all agree that you should read it and have your own opinion?

[Lee Stone]

I think it felt like a more sophisticated, mature story from the start. I'm gonna quote the first few pages

"Green Arrow told me your nose doesn't really twitch when there's a mystery. You just made that up to get more press."

"Green Arrow has a bald spot. That's why he wears the hat."

Right off the bat I realize this book is different than the Super Friends.

That really doesn't make it more sophisticated. Unless you want to discount all the progress comics have made since the '70s.

Even rape could be handled in a regular comic these days. And has been.
Just not as gratuitously.

If it was labeled 'mature readers' then people would at least have been prepared for a whole page of Sue being raped instead of just a panel.
I'd say that the rape scene in Identity Crisis is arguably more gratuitous than the one in Watchmen, even.

The point for that part of the story was 'Dr. Light snuck onto the satellite and raped Sue'. It was at the discretion of the writer how to bring that across.
There are countless ways that this could've been related to the reader.
And the way chosen was a bit excessive, imo, for a 'general audience' comic. Especially one starring the Justice League.

[BatmanJones]

On that topic...
I think that Identity Crisis would've been much better received if it was labeled 'mature readers' or 'Elseworlds' (or both).

I think you're right. The hatred for this series as it was is just mind-boggling to me. I honestly don't get or agree with any of the complaints about it. But I think it would have been almost universally appreciated if it had been an Elseworlds.

[Assam]

I think you're right. The hatred for this series as it was is just mind-boggling to me. I honestly don't get or agree with any of the complaints about it. But I think it would have been almost universally appreciated if it had been an Elseworlds.

Had it been an elseworlds, I'd feel the same way about it I do bad movies. A bit frustrated and lacking a desire to experience it again, but mostly indifferent. Being an elseworlds wouldn't take away most of the problems I have on a story level, but without a poisonous effect on the DCU, I wouldn't be able to muster hatred for it.

[CryNotWolf]

You are a very sad man. Learn to express your opinions with less hatred, with arguments and not cuss words.

Your empty, incoherent ramble wasn't at all worthy of a reply until this line, which made me laugh. Present even a semblance of an argument next time and maybe we'll get somewhere instead of posting some strange diatribe that essentially boils down to "who cares? you suck! everything sucks! fast food is murder!".

Oh and I didn't even curse so I really am at a loss as to why you typed, well, any of the words you did.

[Darkseid Is]

That really doesn't make it more sophisticated. Unless you want to discount all the progress comics have made since the '70s.

Even rape could be handled in a regular comic these days. And has been.
Just not as gratuitously.

If it was labeled 'mature readers' then people would at least have been prepared for a whole page of Sue being raped instead of just a panel.
I'd say that the rape scene in Identity Crisis is arguably more gratuitous than the one in Watchmen, even.

The point for that part of the story was 'Dr. Light snuck onto the satellite and raped Sue'. It was at the discretion of the writer how to bring that across.
There are countless ways that this could've been related to the reader.
And the way chosen was a bit excessive, imo, for a 'general audience' comic. Especially one starring the Justice League.

I don't know. It didn't feel excessive to me. It wasn't shown as brutal as much as it was shown as sad. It wasn't shown as "let's get this over with." It was something that happened. It's something to add to another more important character. I keep going back to a death in the family and that book was much more brutal.

[Darkseid Is]

Had it been an elseworlds, I'd feel the same way about it I do bad movies. A bit frustrated and lacking a desire to experience it again, but mostly indifferent. Being an elseworlds wouldn't take away most of the problems I have on a story level, but without a poisonous effect on the DCU, I wouldn't be able to muster hatred for it.

What effect did it have on the DCU? I got into DC comics around the time of 2004/2005 so I don't really know how it was.

[Robanker]

For the record. Even if you don't like Infinity Crisis or whatever the hell it's called, do we all agree that you should read it and have your own opinion?

You should always see for yourself and evaluate a work on your own terms!

I actually reread the entire Deathstroke fight and I had misremembered it, but it still comes across as a massive reach. Morales' artwork, however, remains as lovely as it ever did.

What effect did it have on the DCU? I got into DC comics around the time of 2004/2005 so I don't really know how it was.

Excessively grimdark storytelling, an increasingly paranoid Batman and everything dovetailing into Ted getting domed, Brother Eye going rogue, Max Lord trying to turn Superman into a WMD then murdered by Diana on live TV, and finally Infinite Crisis.

[Darkseid Is]

You should always see for yourself and evaluate a work on your own terms!

I actually reread the entire Deathstroke fight and I had misremembered it, but it still comes across as a massive reach. Morales' artwork, however, remains as lovely as it ever did.



Excessively grimdark storytelling, an increasingly paranoid Batman and everything dovetailing into Ted getting domed, Brother Eye going rogue, Max Lord trying to turn Superman into a WMD then murdered by Diana on live TV, and finally Infinite Crisis.

I like all those stories. Maybe its because I got into comics around that time but I love it. Ted's death really got me into the dc universe.

[dancj]

I like all those stories. Maybe its because I got into comics around that time but I love it. Ted's death really got me into the dc universe.

Yeah. I didn't enjoy Infinite Crisis (because it was a boring jumbled mess - not because it's too dark), but the other stories were good.

[Sam Robards, Comic Fan]

Is Identity Crisis worth buying? If you really enjoyed Infinite Crisis and want to read some of its major precursor material, then sure. Otherwise, probably not. Is it worth reading? I'd say so.

Oddly enough, this is the story where I decided to get involved/invested with DC. I'd only read an occasional story before then, but I wanted to get more into the DCU. So I chose this place to start: it was interesting, to say the least.

It has some good parts about it, including the personal nature of the story versus big, world-ending stuff and the stuff that ended up being major Infinite Crisis material (Batman's mind-wiping).

The stuff that wasn't so great includes the main mystery (they just kinda slapped together a solution/culprit), the rape of Sue Dibny and the Deathstroke v JL fight. Deathstroke beating any GL, to say nothing of an ace like Rayner, is pure BS.

Still, IC got Meltzer's foot in the door at DC, and I did enjoy his Justice League run for what it was (a scaled down JL with relatively small-scale stories)

[BatmanJones]

Still, IC got Meltzer's foot in the door at DC, and I did enjoy his Justice League run for what it was (a scaled down JL with relatively small-scale stories)

Meltzer's foot was always in the door. It was just a question of if/when he was going to walk through it. He was college roommates with Geoff Johns IIRC (if not, someone else with a lot of influence) and he had already reached #1 on the NYT book review list. And he grew up with such a love of DC comics that he dropped tons of easter eggs in his non-DC, novel-writing work. He could have written whatever he wanted for DC at the time and that's still so.

I love that you mentioned (and enjoyed) his run on JLA. It was one of my favorite runs ever and the Red Tornado story that was the first of two major arcs was so moving. Also JLA #0 was one of my favorite single issues of JL(A) of all time. That particular issue was beyond reproach and displayed a deep love of the rich history of the DCU. You can find that one issue for the incredible bargain of $1.99 here at comixology:

https://www.comixology.com/Justice-L...9pdGVtU2xpZGVy