Comics – Identity Crisis

Identity Crisis

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This TPB has been lying around in my shelf for sometime. It was competing with other titles (such as Planetary, Transformers, etc.) which had considerable less words on their covers. Ha. The power of marketing the cover art huh? Anyway, it was a mistake not to read DC Comics’ Identity Crisis. It was truly a fantastic read!

Identity Crisis also exposed my lopsided knowledge between the Marvel and DC universe. I definitely was more familiar with the Marvel universe. When it came to the DC Universe, characters other than Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Flash really fascinated me in a way reminiscent of the excitement I had in my childhood days when I first picked up a new comic title. There were simply so many DC universe characters that I’ve seen on the surface but never got acquainted.

I remember Firestorm in the far reaches of my memory although I do not know what has happened to him since. I’ve always seen Hawkman behind Superman or Batman but have no idea his name was Carter. And I had lost track of the persons assuming the Green Lantern, Robin and Nightwing mantles.

The main plot in Identity Crisis is a murder mystery at heart. In this sense, it’s not new ground for avid Batman readers. And the Detective is also involved in trying to break the case. It was rather fun to see how superheroes generate leads by the evidence left by possible power usage of villains. And their equivalent of the CSI crew was equally intriguing as well. However, it was the other story and little nuggets unveiled in the comics’ pages that caught my attention.

And that ‘other’ story is the revelation of ‘a league within the League’ that proved to be a realistic premise. It’s really throwing the cover off the glam of a well-established superhero team. It showed how the unique characters of the League’s members dictated scenes we readers usually do not see after the conclusion of a comic’s story. Oh yes, how often we forget about immediate aftermaths and clean-up after the final page of a comic. So it seems that there are people doing clean-up afterall. And it is interesting to know that some heroes ‘know what they want to know’ and ‘hear what they want to hear’. Especially when you have an all invincible Superman who hears cries for help from outer space. Surely no secrets within the League could escape him.

Anyway, it was a really mesmerising read for the duration of the time spent reading Identity Crisis on my bed. Some comics are a drag to read and I could not wait to hit the last page. Identity Crisis gave a different motivation to want to hit the last page – I want to find out who was the murderer. Definitely a recommended read!