The final issue of Heroes in Crisis came out today.
I wrote in a previous post that the issue that came out before was the worst comic book I have ever read in my entire life. The final issue of the mini-series did nothing to improve this.
Almost nothing happens in this issue except Booster Gold, Harley Quinn, Batgirl, Blue Beetle, Poison Ivy, and two Wally Wests talking and hugging. All of this is interspersed with more of those talking head shots of heroes spilling their guts directly to the reader. The issue has writer Tom King trying to bring his story to an emotional conclusion.
The only thing that is conclusively proven is that Tom King does not understand super hero comics.
It is abundantly clear that when he sees these iconic characters, he sees them as a heap of psychological problems. He does not see the whole person, just their issues. He thinks because he can find some mild or severe psychological problem in a character then he has discovered the core defining characteristic of their personality. King does not understand that we are more than our traumas. Batman's life has been shaped by his trauma, but he is more than his pain. Heroes in Crisis took Wally West, stripped away all that was relevant to his personality and his heroism and defined him by his loss.
What was really disgusting was Booster Gold telling Wally that he would work with him to help smooth over his crimes when he says, "Bros before Heroes."
That is the antithesis of heroism. It says that dealing with emotional trauma trumps what is morally right. This is an ethically insane thing to believe and it is particularly noxious because it foists it on someone who is supposed to be a hero. Heroes are the ones who go above and beyond. Heroes are the ones who take on the burdens that no one should ask of them, but no one else can. That is the Wally West we all know. Anyone who has read Geoff Johns' "Blitz" storyline would find the Wally West in Heroes in Crisis unrecognizable. And the transformation is not earned, not by a long shot. I have heard rumors that King was mandated to do this to Wally by DC Editorial. It makes no difference. He should have said no.
The entire affair is capped off by Harley Quinn kneeing Wally in the crotch for... reasons? Seeing that scene felt like the entire mini-series summed up in one panel.
On top of all of its problems with theme and plot, it is a horribly written comic. King does not seem to understand that comics are a visual medium. Page after page is flooded with dialogue that almost pushes out the images, not that it matters much since all of them are mostly just standing around an open field for 20 pages.
I am convinced people will look back on this mini-series as a complete debacle up there with Marvel turning Speedball into a masochistic character called Penance. Heroes in Crisis is the bottom of the barrel.
It is DC Hell.
However, this week also brought us Doomsday Clock # 10.
My biggest worry about this book is that I do not know how Geoff Johns is going to pay off all of his narrative debts in the two remaining issues.
Having said that, this issue walked us through Dr. Manhattan's entrance into the DCU proper. Johns plays around a lot with time in this narrative and does not spoon-feed you the implications of all that is happening. He makes you work for it, but in a way that is rewarding rather than frustrating.
One of the most admirable things about Johns' writing is that he is constantly breaking open the conceptions we have of the DCU and he opens up all new vistas. In the DC Multiverse, the main action of most of the comic books takes place in what we would call "Earth-1." Traditionally, this has been viewed as just one Earth in a series of infinite Earths from infinite parallel universes in the multiverse. But Johns sees something deeper and he delves into why this Earth is so special. In the process he shows us why Dr. Manhattan was drawn to this Earth from the Watchmen universe and Johns shows us how this Earth is consistent with all of the retcons over the years.
Notice I said he "shows" rather than "explains." Johns doesn't so much explain as he lets the events unfold and he lets you experience Dr. Manhattan's story. This is in sharp contrast with Heroes in Crisis which has such a convoluted narrative that it tries to over-explain its ending. With Doomsday Clock, Johns lays out the narrative and we can now feel why everything in this whole story must come down to Dr. Manhattan and Superman.
Gary Frank's art is as gorgeous as ever. I have already re-read the issue just staring at his work, letting the personalities and the moods come forward in bold and in subtle ways. I was so moved to see a scene from another Johns/Frank collaboration: Superman - Secret Origins. Only this time, we see the scene where Clark learns about his alien origins from the perspective of a spying Dr. Manhattan. I have never seen anything like this where it feels like an alternate take from the original comic is transplanted into a new one. And it isn't limited to this one mini-series. Frank transposes scenes from other classics like John Byrne's Man of Steel that feels completely consistent with that comic's aesthetic while still being clearly Gary Frank's style. It is quite remarkable.
The title of this chapter is "Action." But really it is more of a set-up to the action that has to take place over the course of the next two issues. Like Heroes in Crisis, there is a lot deconstruction of the super hero. But Johns is not tearing down. He stripping away all the artifice to build up again. The coming confrontation feels like it may be the most emotionally epic thing we have read in years.
The pieces are set. Now the endgame must begin.
And I guarantee that at no time from now until the end will Superman look at Batman and say "Bros before Heroes."
If have not been reading Doomsday Clock, go out and pick up the rest of the series and catch up before it all ends. This has the potential to be the best thing Geoff Johns and Gary Frank have ever done.
This is DC Heaven.
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