Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
*trigger warning for rape
Synopsis: I'm going to keep this short. Sue Dibny, wife of the Elongated Man (Ralph), is murdered. Sue is the only significant other who is an honorary member of the JL, so everyone in the JL begins investigating. There are two stories going on here: the investigation and the cover-up of the rape of Sue Dibny by Dr. Light. Basically, at some point in the past Dr. Light raped Sue and several JL members arrived on scene during and had a vote to have Zatanna alter Light's personality. Batman wasn't present for this vote but comes back while Zatanna is doing the mind altering to Light. So, they mind wipe the last 10 minutes from Batman's memories to hide this. In the present, Tim Drake's father and Captain Boomerang are set up to kill each other and Firestorm dies randomly. Apparently, Sue was murdered by Jean Loring, Ray Palmer's (the Atom) ex-wife, in hopes it would get them back together.
Review: I knew there was controversy around this book going in and I understand why. It should have been called Crisis: Hot Mess, because that's what it is, a hot mess. I honestly don't even know where to start. I guess, let's start with the rape because that is what this book is most known for.
The problem with the rape of Sue Dibny is that it was basically used to give us a red herring in her death: Dr. Light. Dr. Light could have done any number of other things to warrant them being suspicious of him, but no Brad Meltzer went for rape. And here's the thing about using rape in a story, if you're going to use it, then the book should be about that. But we don't even see how this event affected Sue - we see how it affected the other heroes that were involved with the mind wipe. What the hell? I don't care about how HER TRAUMA affected everyone else, I care about how it affected her and Ralph to a certain extent. It feels like padding to the story and that is fucking wrong.
That's the other thing, Ralph's wife was murdered and yet, he is not in this book a whole lot. If my partner was murdered and I was a superhero, you bet your ass I would be there for every step of the investigation, but instead Ralph is pushed off to the side and every time we see him he's just a rubbery mess.
The investigation is mostly where the hot mess is. Sue's body is badly buried so they assume it was a heat-related villain, but they have an autopsy performed anyway. Here's the thing, though, it takes them to almost the very end of the story to find that there are microscopic footprints on Sue's brain? The Atom was fucking there when they first started investigating, why didn't they look there? Why didn't anyone think to look there?
Oh, the subplots in this book. There are many and not many I care about. The stuff with Captain Boomerang and his son could have been nice...in another book. I don't give a shit about Captain Boomerang or his son, especially when the other person outside of Boomerang that died was Tim Drake's dad. I'm going to care about Tim's dad more. Sorry, not sorry. Also, Captain Boomerang is just kind of a gross dude and none of the villains even seem to like him in this, so are we really supposed to be saddened by his death?
Jean Loring as the reveal of being the murderer is surprising and then...we get her motivations. Oh, my fucking god her motivation. It is unbelievably stupid. She claims she didn't mean to kill Sue, but also brought weapons with her when she went to knock Sue out or whatever the hell the plan was? And on top of that, I'm supposed to believe that she just kept rolling with this fear all the superheroes had for their loved ones, sending notes and hits out on people, which eventually results in the death of Tim Drake's father? Come on. She says she isn't crazy, but damn honey, everything you did was batshit.
I wanted fucking closure on the Batman mindwipe thing, too. I don't know if that's covered in a later story, but it sure as hell isn't covered here. It's hard to believe that they would agree to mindwipe Batman in the first place. Seriously, Batman? Like he isn't going to find out at some point and y'all will have hell to pay.
So, after I finished, I asked myself the same question Batman asks the whole book "who benefits?" Who benefits from reading this? Who benefits from this being written? And I don't have the answers to those questions. I know that this story took DC down a road of darker stories, but was it fucking worth it? I don't know. I'm giving it two stars only because I did feel something other than frustration while reading it: depression. It's a frustratingly, depressing story that I don't know DC comics readers needed. Sue and Ralph Dibny sure didn't.
Synopsis: I'm going to keep this short. Sue Dibny, wife of the Elongated Man (Ralph), is murdered. Sue is the only significant other who is an honorary member of the JL, so everyone in the JL begins investigating. There are two stories going on here: the investigation and the cover-up of the rape of Sue Dibny by Dr. Light. Basically, at some point in the past Dr. Light raped Sue and several JL members arrived on scene during and had a vote to have Zatanna alter Light's personality. Batman wasn't present for this vote but comes back while Zatanna is doing the mind altering to Light. So, they mind wipe the last 10 minutes from Batman's memories to hide this. In the present, Tim Drake's father and Captain Boomerang are set up to kill each other and Firestorm dies randomly. Apparently, Sue was murdered by Jean Loring, Ray Palmer's (the Atom) ex-wife, in hopes it would get them back together.
Review: I knew there was controversy around this book going in and I understand why. It should have been called Crisis: Hot Mess, because that's what it is, a hot mess. I honestly don't even know where to start. I guess, let's start with the rape because that is what this book is most known for.
The problem with the rape of Sue Dibny is that it was basically used to give us a red herring in her death: Dr. Light. Dr. Light could have done any number of other things to warrant them being suspicious of him, but no Brad Meltzer went for rape. And here's the thing about using rape in a story, if you're going to use it, then the book should be about that. But we don't even see how this event affected Sue - we see how it affected the other heroes that were involved with the mind wipe. What the hell? I don't care about how HER TRAUMA affected everyone else, I care about how it affected her and Ralph to a certain extent. It feels like padding to the story and that is fucking wrong.
That's the other thing, Ralph's wife was murdered and yet, he is not in this book a whole lot. If my partner was murdered and I was a superhero, you bet your ass I would be there for every step of the investigation, but instead Ralph is pushed off to the side and every time we see him he's just a rubbery mess.
The investigation is mostly where the hot mess is. Sue's body is badly buried so they assume it was a heat-related villain, but they have an autopsy performed anyway. Here's the thing, though, it takes them to almost the very end of the story to find that there are microscopic footprints on Sue's brain? The Atom was fucking there when they first started investigating, why didn't they look there? Why didn't anyone think to look there?
Oh, the subplots in this book. There are many and not many I care about. The stuff with Captain Boomerang and his son could have been nice...in another book. I don't give a shit about Captain Boomerang or his son, especially when the other person outside of Boomerang that died was Tim Drake's dad. I'm going to care about Tim's dad more. Sorry, not sorry. Also, Captain Boomerang is just kind of a gross dude and none of the villains even seem to like him in this, so are we really supposed to be saddened by his death?
Jean Loring as the reveal of being the murderer is surprising and then...we get her motivations. Oh, my fucking god her motivation. It is unbelievably stupid. She claims she didn't mean to kill Sue, but also brought weapons with her when she went to knock Sue out or whatever the hell the plan was? And on top of that, I'm supposed to believe that she just kept rolling with this fear all the superheroes had for their loved ones, sending notes and hits out on people, which eventually results in the death of Tim Drake's father? Come on. She says she isn't crazy, but damn honey, everything you did was batshit.
I wanted fucking closure on the Batman mindwipe thing, too. I don't know if that's covered in a later story, but it sure as hell isn't covered here. It's hard to believe that they would agree to mindwipe Batman in the first place. Seriously, Batman? Like he isn't going to find out at some point and y'all will have hell to pay.
So, after I finished, I asked myself the same question Batman asks the whole book "who benefits?" Who benefits from reading this? Who benefits from this being written? And I don't have the answers to those questions. I know that this story took DC down a road of darker stories, but was it fucking worth it? I don't know. I'm giving it two stars only because I did feel something other than frustration while reading it: depression. It's a frustratingly, depressing story that I don't know DC comics readers needed. Sue and Ralph Dibny sure didn't.
I was absolutely blown away by the implications raised in this story. How has the Justice League kept its members' identities secret for so long? And oh my god, it's far scarier than what I thought it would be.
I also appreciated how they brought secondary (or minor) characters into the limelight here. The trinity are around, but they're part of the background, rarely taking center stage. I loved how Green Arrow, Elongated Man, and Tim Drake were focused on and developed. The showdown between the League and Deathstroke was a sight to behold as well. Never thought it'd take seven members to take down one assassin, but hey, here we are!
Enjoyed the hell out of this story. Highly recommended.
I also appreciated how they brought secondary (or minor) characters into the limelight here. The trinity are around, but they're part of the background, rarely taking center stage. I loved how Green Arrow, Elongated Man, and Tim Drake were focused on and developed. The showdown between the League and Deathstroke was a sight to behold as well. Never thought it'd take seven members to take down one assassin, but hey, here we are!
Enjoyed the hell out of this story. Highly recommended.
Hard to follow without extensive knowledge of the DC universe, but still packs an emotional punch.
Better than most superhero comics, this collection built up a lot of steam only to have a pretty unsatisfactory conclusion the mystery. Still, it did it's job better than most other comics on the shelf and made me care about characters I didn't before.
I really liked this event.
With most comic events I have the problem of it’s just shuffling its feet until all the heroes can team up to punch the big bad and it throws so much stuff at you.
But this event was able to keep a personal touch with a mystery.
I really like how it follows Green Arrow through the entire story for the most part, I love how Batman and Superman are more often a presence/ supporting character then the main focus.
And although I don’t particularly like who the “big bad” turned out to be I think this is definitely worth a buy and a read.
With most comic events I have the problem of it’s just shuffling its feet until all the heroes can team up to punch the big bad and it throws so much stuff at you.
But this event was able to keep a personal touch with a mystery.
I really like how it follows Green Arrow through the entire story for the most part, I love how Batman and Superman are more often a presence/ supporting character then the main focus.
And although I don’t particularly like who the “big bad” turned out to be I think this is definitely worth a buy and a read.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was so good. It was a murder mystery that will also pull at your heart strings.
I’ve been trying to find the right words to describe why I didn’t like this book. It was fine. It wasn’t The worst book I ever read. But, it was so aggressively mediocre that I couldn’t forgive it. I don’t have a problem being introduced to (what I consider) minor JL characters being centered, like Elongated Man and Sue. I could still identify with their story. However, the mystery was clunk, the payout was lame, and the rape was just unnecessary. You already murdered her AND announced she was pregnant. Why?!
I did like the idea of the JL erasing and rewriting the minds of the villains to protect their loved ones, and even the Batman manipulation as well. But it didn’t go anywhere. There was no consequences or real problems because of it, other than the minor falling out between the groups. It just didn’t feel like it really mattered by the end of the book.
At the end, I just didn’t care. It felt like a mediocre “thriller” you’d fine at a Goodwill. I’ll forget about this in a week.
I did like the idea of the JL erasing and rewriting the minds of the villains to protect their loved ones, and even the Batman manipulation as well. But it didn’t go anywhere. There was no consequences or real problems because of it, other than the minor falling out between the groups. It just didn’t feel like it really mattered by the end of the book.
At the end, I just didn’t care. It felt like a mediocre “thriller” you’d fine at a Goodwill. I’ll forget about this in a week.