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Why I Love... Identity Crisis!

Welcome to another edition of the Why I Love column, where I, Eric Ratcliffe, pick something I've read, played, listened to or watched to discuss with you fair readers. This week's column has us revisiting a book that jump started the yearly phase that seems to be event books from both companies. A book that had a novelist returning to comic books for the first time in years, and a book that creates controversy on message boards to this very day. The book I'm talking about is none other than Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales' Identity Crisis.

Identity Crisis was the story of long-term Justice Leaguer Ralph Dibney (The Elongated Man) and the horrible event that takes his wife Sue Dibney from him. It also reveals some major secrets that could tear the very foundation of the JLA apart and destroy everything good that they've done due to 1 mistake.

Over all the book starts as a mystery story with Ralph being put on patrol with one of the new kids called Firehawk. The mystery revolves around two thugs trying to sell something in a crate to a low level supervillain who's taking his cues from the man known as the Calculator.

Something I think Meltzer did here that he doesn't get a lot of credit here was the overall pacing throughout the series. You were constantly on edge reading the whole thing. He amped up the tension and unpredictability to new levels. He took pre existing themes and ideas of guys like Geoff Johns and James Robinson and put them in here to new levels.

Putting the Calculator on the same level as Oracle was an extremely intelligent move and makes the whole society of villains a stronger idea which plays a huge part throughout the 7 issues.

Speaking on societies, that is another thing that Meltzer is able to incorporate strongly throughout the book. From the Justice Society to the Justice League to the Outsiders and the Titans, each group has time to shine and each character has some strong moments.

Of course, when the secret is revealed yet another strong character moment is used. Wally and Kyle get a bit of Hal/Barry respect by Meltzer in one of my favorite moments of the book and it's a call back to the Brave and the Bold. Of course, Hal himself isn't a stranger here as this took place a little before Rebirth and Ollie pays him a visit in an extremely powerful scene.

The most controversial scene in the book and the retcon that is still argued about to this day...the rape of Sue Dibney. Now I do not ever tread lightly on this subject as it's a very serious thing no matter what the subject matter. The fact that the retcon is used to make Doctor Light a truly screwed up individual was a huge risk and I think that it's one that paid off greatly. The fanbase hates Doctor Light, the heroes hate him and even some of the villains want nothing to do with the man.

In fact that is something interesting that we didn't get to see enough of in the book in my opinion, the honor among the darker sides of humanity that we see in the villains. There are men and women out there that want to kill Doctor Light on his own side because of the deed he did.

Backing up a little, I would like to speak on the controversy while treading as lightly as I can. The scene itself takes maybe a page of the story itself with only around 2-3 panels and never actually fully shown. Obviously both creators wanted to handle things as gently as they possibly could and I can only assume the arguments that took place in editorial. Though this is the company where an editor once told Alan Moore when he asked about Barbara Gordon to "Kill the bitch", so I have no idea what to think of the meeting behind the situation.

I remember the biggest amount of controversy around the situation coming from Alex Ross who said that DC didn't have the balls to do that to someone like Lois Lane and they had to hit someone that is more of a cult favorite.

I, as a reader, believe the reason that Brad used Sue in the first place was to make sure the reader was taken away from their comfortable spot in the first place to show us that at any moment any of our favorite heroes could lose someone close to them And that just added a needed tension into the story.

That tension certainly didn't stop at Sue's death as she was joined on that list by heroes and villains alike as we lost firestorm, Jack Drake and Captain Boomerang as the event continued all adding more and more tension and build up the overall mystery of who caused Sue's death.

Connected to the rape was also the first major step to the "destruction" of the justice league via a controversial decision on what to do with Doctor Light. This was a retcon yes but at the same time it was the satellite era team where you had Ollie, Hal, Carter, Dinah, Ralph, Zatanna, Ray, Barry, Clark and Bruce so things were a little different and deciding to erase the memories of villains felt like it erased the innocence of those early stories.

Sadly they didn't stop at the villains and Bruce was heavily affected by this as well (only to find out much later resulting in threads picked up later by Greg Rucka) and this was truly the breaking up of the League in my eyes for a long time. Just driven home by Ralph, Wally and Kyle in the present.

Something I really appreciated about the mini was the creation of Captain Boomerang's son (Who I really wish was used more or just flat out again. Feels like it's been forever). The character follows after dear old dad, but at the same time seems to have a little bit of speedster in him and manages to help drive home the family aspect of the story.

The way the story ends is just as shocking as the beginning and truly drives home all the seeds that Brad planted throughout the book. Ray Palmer, Bruce Wayne, Wally West and just many others were changed and still are to this day because of what happens in that last chapter.

Rags' art in this story had to be the best of his career so far; his character models were based after many famous people (which are shown in a page of the back content in the hardcover) and the emotion easily poured through his inks throughout the book. You can feel the emotional and physical punches to the characters each time it happened.

It's a strong mystery story by a great writer who leaves you guessing each step of the way. It's also filled with controversy and is polarizing to the fanbase to this day. It was before Infinity Crisis, before Civil War, before 52; this was truly the start of the event craze but hands down one of the strongest events. It has Batman being a detective, The Justice League actually being a strong team and plenty of family moments to keep you pulled into the story the whole time. I highly recommend seeking out the Hardcover for the commentary by the creators in the back and definitely think it's worth the read for any fans of Ray palmer, Bruce Wayne or the classic JLA.

That's it for this week, readers, as we discover the complexities of the best game of 2010 so far!

Eric Ratcliffe is a young writer/pop culture journalist/interviewer currently working on pitching a project named the Hunter chronicles. When not reading his weekly stack Eric can be found watching DVDs, playing on his 360 (gamertag: Zack Hunter) or just surfing online trying to find a scoop or two. Brand new to the Comic Related family, Eric is a fun new voice. Eric shops at TJ's Collectibles. Visit them on the web at www.tjcollect.com!