It's all the Addict's fault. I hadn't read a comic (other than the Matrix Comics trades) for years. And then he posted a picture from 52 (the Kate/Renee kiss, to be exact) and I found myself drawn back into comics for the first time since the "Death of Superman" arc, which was...1997? I think it was 97. Now I buy entirely too many of them, and I blame him.
I kid. Mostly. Anyway, once I flicked through the first few issues of 52, I realized I needed to fill in the blanks a little before I really got going. I picked up the Infinite Crisis trade, which in turn led me to Identity Crisis, which turned out to be one of the key pieces to understanding everything that came after. Without the events of Identity Crisis, Batman wouldn't have gone insane(r) and built Brother Eye, which in turn led to the OMAC problem, and so on and so forth. But that's another story.
Given that this was the first comic I'd read in ten years, it really took me by surprise. The depth of its characterization, the moral grey areas, and the overall tone was so much different than I remembered comics being. I wasn't familiar with all of the characters, but I quickly found that it wasn't necessary to be familiar with all of them - Meltzer's writing made all of them complex, distinct, and easy to understand and sympathize with. Beginning, of course, with the story's tragic centerpiece, Ralph Dibny. This is his story, really, and it is a story so disturbing and heartbreaking that I honestly had to put the book down a couple of times before I could finish it.
The story is divided into seven parts, and I'd like to talk a little bit about each of them separately before discussing the story as a whole.
Part 1 - Coffin
Brad Meltzer show in this first chapter why he's a bestselling novelist, as his dialogue strikes all of the right chords. We're treated to some touching stuff from Ralph, and the bits and pieces we're shown of other heroes' home lives and a glimpse of their losses sets up what will be the dichotomy of the entire work - great love vs. great loss. This chapter also births what should be a tagline in the D.C. and Marvel universes - "Anyone who puts on a costume paints a bulls-eye on his family's chest."
The art of Rags Morales is a fantastic complement to Meltzer's writing, and he has two massive high notes in this chapter. The first is Ralph's discovery of Sue's body - Ralph's contorted form and the way his jaw comes essentially unhinged as he cries out for her is amazing. And he strikes again during Sue's funeral (an amazing scene in itself) when Ralph, who's come up to deliver his eulogy, literally comes apart as his grief keeps him from being able to maintain his shape. It's heartbreaking, and Morales' touch keeps what could have been a very silly-looking sight gag looking vivid and real instead.
Part 2 - House of Lies
One of the highlight chapters of the book, this is where the dark side of superhero politics comes to the fore. But it starts with something far more disturbing than politics - sexual assault. For a lot of reasons I nearly put down the book at this point, but on my second or third try I got through this scene and was actually impressed with how it was handled - except for the only sour note of Meltzer's writing. I won't get into it, but there's one line that rather upset me, and was really a surprise given how good the rest of the book is.
For the rest of the chapter, however, it's the internal workings of the Justice League on display, and we're suddenly treated to a side of these characters that makes them both more and less human. A side that the average citizen of the D.C. universe would never see - but one so real that we, as readers, are left wondering why it hadn't occurred to us before.
The chapter then ends with a bang, as Sue's autopsy reveals something that changes the entire course of the story.
Part 3 - Serial Killer
This chapter's about a 50/50 split between fighting and conversation. The fighting is rather forgettable, to be honest - there's nothing wrong with the art, but the battle is over very quickly and ends rather inconclusively, and feels a bit like a fight thrown in just to make sure that there was a big superhero fight to get people's attention.
The conversation, on the other hand, sparkles. Meltzer dives deeper into the issues raised in part 2, and as reader's we're left slapping our foreheads again with revelations that should have been obvious to us years earlier but weren't. The high pedestal on which we place these characters who are greater than human is suddenly starting to crumble beneath them, and we begin to see there's a lot more grey than there is black and white, and not nearly as much distance between hero and villain as we'd like there to be.
There's another sharp twist to end the chapter, highlighted by another masterful bit of art from Morales - so much so the last couple of pages are uncomfortable reading.
Part 4 - Who Benefits
The title of the chapter comes from Batman's question about the events of the first three chapters - who benefits when the family members of heroes are targeted? The question will burn in the reader's mind until the end of the story. The new suspect proves to be no more responsible than the first, and the League's investigation seems to have come to a dead end once again.
Unfortunately, it seems like there's a moment in every long arc where the story sags a little, and this is the chapter of Identity Crisis where that happens. There's a long, meandering bit of plot about Captain Boomerang and his son - which, as much as it becomes part of the story in the next chapter, takes far too long to deliver and isn't really worth the time invested in it here. Captain Boomerang is a third-rate character (even the heroes admit as much later), and while that's partially the reason he's used here there's no compelling reason for the reader to care about his son when he's invented out of whole cloth.
The tension is ratched up again as the chapter ends, with the life of one of D.C.'s primary characters threatened.
Part 5 - Father's Day
Lots and lots of fighting. That's what dominates this chapter in the beginning, as the League's search for suspects pits them against multiple groups of super villains, with one major casualty that might have been a bit more effective if it had been given more than a panel.
There's a mystery presented in this chapter, but it's quickly forgotten by the reader as Meltzer launches headlong into a sequence that takes only minutes in real time, but seems to stretch out eternally. We know what's going to happen, we know that the heroes will be too late, but we can't help but cross our fingers and lean forward a bit, hoping that we're wrong. Morales comes through strongly again, his use of split panels in the sequence letter-perfect as well, drawing the reader in emotionally and giving them an all too brief moment of hope... One of the strongest chapters of the book, by far.
Part Six - Husbands and Wives
Morales' depiction of utter loss to start this chapter will stay with the reader long after the book is closed - the horror of the moment comes through so well in just one frame, and it's really award-worthy stuff. The montage that follows, of the various JLA members' losses over the years and culminated with a Batman/Robin/Robin sequence of panels, serves well to remind us of what these characters have had to bear over the years.
Meltzer's writing storms ahead in the dialogue between Green Arrow and Flash as they debate the ethics of the issues discussed in part three - and Green Arrow reveals a startling fact about Batman. The actions the League took will springboard into Infinite Crisis, but it's so easy to see where they thought they were in the right. No one has the moral high ground here, particularly after Green Arrow questions whether their own tactics may have been used against them once - or more than once. An excellent discussion of the purpose of wearing masks follows, and we're again reminded that these are people above all - heroes, yes, more than human, yes, but at the heart of it all they're just people.
Sue's continuing autopsy makes another dramatic discovery, and we're propelled headlong into the final act.
Part Seven - The Hero's Life
I'm aware that many reviewers didn't like this ending. Myself, I'm unhappy with the very anti-female stance that it seems to suggest was at the heart of Meltzer's story. With that aside, however, the story does come to a (somewhat) satisfying conclusion.
At its heart is the answer to Batman's question - "Who Benefits?" The answer is a shock - but it does make a twisted sort of sense. I won't spoil it here, but the answer has long-term consequences for one of D.C.'s power players. The end of the series shows the League's members trying to get closer to each other in response to the long-term impact of the crisis, but the scenes are made a bit hollow with the knowledge that before long the JLA would come apart under the weight of these events.
The part I want to mention, though, above all others, is the epilogue. Morales and Meltzer combine for a scene that just guts the reader. Ralph, now a widower, spends the entire epilogue talking to Sue - really talking, that is. Telling her about his day, telling her jokes, talking to her like she's still there with him. When he says that he knows she has to go and wishes her goodnight, and then stretches his arm across the bed to turn off her lamp - the only light in the room - it's such a resonant moment that it's hard to read. And when he closes the issue by telling her that he loves her too - like she's said it to him first...it's amazing stuff.
Conclusion
So, overall, what do we have? A great mystery story, one that manages to make the D.C. universe both more real and more grey at the same time. A story of people who deal with threats to their loved ones every single day. And the ignition of the slow burn that would become Infinite Crisis.
While it was marred somewhat by the ending, Identity Crisis has to be congratulated for taking a hard look at the realities of being in the public eye, and for the moving story of Ralph and Sue Dibny - a story that, thankfully, isn't over (see Infinite Crisis and 52). Meltzer and Morales both deserve hearty praise for this tale, and it should be on everyone's required reading list.
