Review: Heroes in Crisis

Quick Summary

Pros: The murder-mystery story is moderately compelling. The reflection on Wally West’s life is very interesting and makes for a thought-provoking look at his character’s recent experiences. The examination into trauma is emotional and well done. The volume’s artwork is stunning and remains highly positive in every chapter.

Cons: The story feels convoluted in a few places, where logic is pushed aside in order to push forward the narrative. Arsenal’s character is handled poorly here.

Overall: This is a collection that achieves some seriously impressive successes while also making some sizable blunders. The book excels as an in-depth look at the current progression and tone of the DC Universe while using this same narrative to explore the nature of trauma and depression. Plus, the artwork is absolutely killer and looks beautiful throughout. However, the main murder-mystery is seriously undercut by contrived storytelling, and Arsenal’s character is handled poorly. In the end, this book is for readers looking for a darker look at DC’s Rebirth era or for those looking for a meaningful look into the nature of real-world trauma.

Story

Heroes in Crisis, by Tom King, has an odd mix of positives and negatives. From a storytelling standpoint, the book is a bit flawed. The narrative focuses on a moderately interesting murder-mystery but has places where logic is bent in order to push this murder-mystery forward, leading to a story that occasionally just feels ridiculous. It also handles Arsenal’s character poorly, in a way fans are sure to disapprove. However, from a thematic standpoint, the book works better. It digs into recent events in the DC Universe, particularly the return of Wally West, in a bold way that challenges some preconceived notions. It also explores the hidden nature of trauma, attempting to show how it can hide beneath the surface in a way that is extremely detrimental. Overall, I ended up enjoying this book, as I found myself really able to appreciate the depth of its positives, but I could also easily understand readers frustrated by this book’s narrative choices.

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The main storyline in Heroes in Crisis is a moderately interesting murder-mystery surrounding a group of recently murdered superheroes. The way in which the murders are immediately exposed yet the murderer is not instantly pulls the reader into the story and keeps it interesting throughout. In addition, red herrings in the form of Booster Gold and Harley Quinn add some complexity into the mix.

Outside of the murder-mystery narrative, Heroes in Crisis is a well-executed reflection on Wally West’s current condition. The story briefly looks at what Wally’s return meant for the DC Universe; it was supposed to be a return to the hope and optimism of the past with Wally serving as a shining beacon of inspiration. However, though Wally was able to reconnect with his friends, his wife no longer knew him and his children didn’t even exist. Heroes in Crisis feels like the first comic since Wally’s return that actually explores how absolutely crushing something like this would be and it takes time to reflect on how this return to hope feels hollow.

All of this then relates to the main theme in Heroes in Crisis, trauma. King has wrote about trauma before, as it forms a central theme in Vision, Batman, and Mister Miracle, yet the approach here still manages to feel distinct. The narrative looks at the dichotomy of depression being ever-present and nearly invisible. Wally becomes so involved in his own pain that he disconnects from reality, leaving him unable to appreciate the ways in which others try to help him or acknowledge the pain others are going through. This is exacerbated by the fact that Wally serves as an icon of hope for his community and, thus, feels increased pressure to hide his true feelings. In the end, the message here is that society should try to be more comfortable accepting people’s problems, leading to a society where admitting your problems is commonplace, leading to a society better able to cope with those problems.

However, Heroes in Crisis is not without problems, as the narrative is flawed in a number of ways. Some elements of the story push the limits on suspension of disbelief in order to push forward the narrative. In some places, this is small, like Harley Quinn beating the world’s three most powerful heroes in a fight, but in other places it is more significant, like having Wally West stage an elaborate murder-mystery simply to give him enough time to get some information to the press rather than explaining the situation to one of several people he trusts. Though the murder-mystery itself is compelling, the pieces that bring it into existence and allow it to sustain itself end up being a bit ridiculous.

I would also say that the story does a poor job in addressing Arsenal’s death. Most of the heroes killed in this book are minor and have had little to no recent character development. However, Arsenal has spent the entire New 52 and Rebirth eras growing and changing. Then, this story comes along and tosses it all aside while barely even commenting on the significance of this death.

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Art

The visuals in Heroes in Crisis are stunning and are one of the most consistently positive aspects of this collection. Clay Mann’s work is easily some of his best work for DC Comics thus far, which is already some high praise. It features gorgeous character design, allowing the book’s wide array of heroes to stand out, while also featuring some absolutely stunning backgrounds, whether they feature a simple landscape or the interior of a superhero’s base. Mann’s realistic approach to visuals also works particularly well with the story being told here, as it helps emphasize the serious nature of the narrative. One of my favorite visual details though is the way each chapter takes a moment, upon starting, to display the title across a simply beautiful splash page. All of this looks even better with the detail found within and the tone set by Tomeu Morey’s colors. The artwork here ends up being so good that even those on the fence about the collection’s story might want to consider checking it out for the visuals alone.

Continuity

Heroes in Crisis is a mostly standalone event that does not directly extend from any specific storyline. Wally West is shown joining Sanctuary in The Flash #51, collected in The Flash Vol. 8: Flash War (Review), and Roy Harper (Reading Order) is shown talking about joining it in Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #2, collected in Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 1: Requiem for an Archer.

The impact from this comic is felt in a number of other comics. The most immediate fallout is felt in Batman #64-65 and The Flash #64-65, collected in Heroes in Crisis: The Price and Other Stories. Additional aftermath will be detailed in ComicBookWire’s upcoming “Heroes in Crisis Reading Order”.

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Blue Jay mentions something about a “Silver Sorceress and that… arrow”. This is a reference to Justice League America #59 and Justice League Europe #35.
• Batgirl was shot by the Joker in Batman: The Killing Joke.
• Booster Gold mentions recently dealing with an alternate timeline’s Batman. This happened in Batman #45-47, collected in Batman Vol. 7: The Wedding (Review) (Reading Order). 
• Many of Commander Steel’s deaths are mentioned.
  • He originally died fighting one of Professor Ivo’s androids in Justice League of America Vol. 1 #260.
  • He was destroyed by Despero in Justice League America Vol. 1 #38.
  • He was temporarily brought back by a Black Lantern in the Blackest Night event, specifically in the Justice League of America Vol. 2 crossover issues.
  • One of his limbs was used by a supervillain in Justice League of America Vol. 2 #51.
• Heroes in Crisis #6 directly references Wally West’s return in DC Universe: Rebirth (Review).
• Barry Allen’s death in Crisis on Infinite Earths, his return in Final Crisis, and his reset of the universe in Flashpoint (Review) (Reading Order) are all brought up.