So I decided to re-read Identity Crisis, mostly because I realized this year was the 15 year anniversary of the story and I wanted to see how it held up.
I remember as it was released, the discussion that took place on the old DC Message Boards and how DC finally went "dark". I mean, we had dark stories before for sure - Watchmen, The Killing Joke. But Identity Crisis took the Silver/Bronze Age era of DC and turned it on its head, establishing the JLA as using questionable methods in mind-wiping villains to safeguard their secret identities and even going as far as to alter the personality of Doctor Light, who was established as a serial rapist who had sexually assaulted Sue Dibny in the JLA Satellite Headquarters. This sets up Zatanna mind-wiping Batman, which leads to his distrust of metahumans that established story lines such as "Tower of Babel" and "OMAC Project". All this is revealed as a backdrop to the central mystery of who killed Sue Dibny, determined at the conclusion to be Jean Loring, former wife of Ray Palmer (aka The Atom). Jean stole one of Ray's suits and murders Sue, hoping the act would reconcile her and Ray.
In reading IC again, I was taken aback over how the impact of the story seems trivial and almost overrated now versus 15 years ago. Perhaps this is because of The New 52 and the story becoming essentially non-canon? I also can't help but be perplexed that the murder of Sue and the ultimate reveal of Jean being the murderer had absolutely nothing to do with the more controversial aspects revealed in the story, and how the whole mind-wiping business was overblown, not just by us fans but also by the characters within the story. I just feel like the Batman I know would jump at the chance to alter the Joker's personality to make him a buffoon versus an effective murdering psychopath.
Overall the story is interesting and definitely and probably the most unique crossover/event story DC has ever done. But I think the story was definitely overblown in hindsight and doesn't seem to hold up well upon re-reading.