Blogathon 35: Identity Crisis (Part 1)

I'll be honest: I picked this book, because it seemed like a funny thing to make Shawn Starr write about. Hey, it was on his list...

I don't own this comic anymore. I had the trade and have since gotten rid of it. I don't miss it. This was a bad comic series. It had some nice small moments of emotion and an interesting core idea, but the execution was usually so poor -- and the mystery handled with such retched abandon that it's embarrassing -- that it just made me feel sad to look at it. A work that convinced so many people that it's worthwhile somehow...

I'll never understand how mediocrity thrives so much. What did people like about Identity Crisis so much? I'll grant them the initial stuff with Ralph, but... after...? Was it the convoluted storytelling? The mystery that didn't really add up? The big eyes and mishapen faces? The endless parade of narrators that were used when convenient?

I'm struggling here to see it. It almost seems like it was a popular comic because it was a popular comic. Does that make any sense? The way that some people are famous for being famous? Can that happen with stuff like comics? Can it simply be that this comic was going to be popular and so it was popular? Fuck quality or reasons -- this is just what it is and nothing I or you or anyone says will change a damn thing. That makes sense to me. If God came down and said that, yeah, that's what happened, I would accept that explanation and move on with my life. But, that people genuinely like this comic... how do you stomach that?

What's weird is that I'm not sure that I know anyone who likes it. Those people exist, but I don't... know... any of them...? It seems like I would. Will Shawn be one of them? How will I look him in the eye after...

The part where the book really lost the plot was when it suddenly became about Captain Boomerang being all concerned about his kid. Like heroes and villains have anything in common in this story. A story where heroes know the secret identities of most of the villains those villains families live their lives, while there's a concern that, should the villains learn the heroes' secret identities, all of the heroes' families would be slaughtered. In what world would you tell that story and then try to create a parallel between the two groups? It makes no sense. When Batman is licking his lips at the possibility of dressing your son up in tights and having his way before slitting his throat with a Batarang, then we'll pretend like we give a fuck about lame tubby villain wanting to reconnect with his kid before he goes off and kills Robin's dad.

There's also the fact that we're confronting an issue where typical superhero morality fails. Batman's outrage is laughable in how pathetic it is. Their fear should have been that the villains would learn their secret identities and that would force them to kill every villain. Because they would have to. Or fuck them and their cowardly morality that only got their loved ones killed. In many ways, this is a series that shines a light on how superheroes are awful, irresponsible people who preach a limited morality that doesn't work when things go bad.

It doesn't help that you turn the typical supervillains into stone cold murderous rapists. The worse the bad guys get, the dumber the heroes look. Do they not realise that? Every time the ante is upped, the heroes look that much worse for not doing anything about it. Every Joker story lessens Batman. Sorry, but it's true.

Awful comic... I think Shawn will agree... let's see...

We're up to $970 raised!

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]