ChampangeDream 2008-08-28

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Identity Crisis (DC Comics)
this comic makes you fundementally change the way you view the characters and their lives.
it shows their complete flaws and humanity in a disturbingly real light.
what people do for love and to protect those they love.
and the 'true' villian of this story will shock you.

I. Raudenbush 2008-08-18

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I rather enjoyed this, in spite of an ending which I found to be a little weak. This particular focuses mainly on some of the JLA's secondary characters. Though I knew who they were I had never really read any stores that had focused on them, and enjoyed this one (I particularly enjoyed the Green Arrow who I never really cared about before). Though this is hardly the deconstruction of the superhero mythos on the level of something like Watchmen, but it does (in my opinion) show some of the DC characters in a different light than you've seen them in in the past. This isn't for everyone though some people might find it too dark or violent. But then again some people are wusses. A highlight for me was the fight against Deathstroke. I also really liked the art work

There were two things I didn't like, be warned they are spoilers. The first one is Dr. Light. I mean really? Dr. Light? He's lame and we all know it. Reconning and saying the tried to change his personality and that is why he is `stupid' now? I'm sorry that just isn't good enough for me. You can do better guys. Secondly, and more seriously the real villain of the story (Jean Loring) is kind of lame. On the one hand it is a surprise and certainly is nice to have it be someone unexpected. But the reasoning behind it was, well stupid. To be fair people who are insane don't always do things that make sense. However, it's reviled she did all this to get back with her ex-husband Ray Palmer, except that she is the one of left him. So I'm not really sure why she went to all this trouble. This doesn't even account for how she was able to navigate through the human body to get to a spot to cut off blood flow to the brain, or how she could breathe in the blood stream. But other wise I found this very enjoyable.

Architect of Skin 2008-08-10

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My problem with Identity Crisis is that Brad Meltzer doesn't have much experience with comics, and it shows. While the story is commendable, the execution wasn't. The strength of Identity Crisis is the writing, with the art having to make major adjustments.

To me, comics is about the balance between text and image. If the writing is the star, why have a comic book in the first place? Sure, it's about DC's properties, but superhero stories aren't limited to comics.

C. R. Swanson 2008-07-22

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

I'm not hugely into comic books. Oh, I read them from time-to-time, but usually only in collections like this one, Kingdom Come and similar. So when I do read them, I have pretty high expectations which, thankfully, this book lives up to.

The story centers around various members of the Justice League being very worried someone knows their secret identities. This someone has already killed the wife of Elongated Man, and several other family members may be targeted.

There's some surprising depth to this story, and a very satisfactory resolution. I had no idea who the killer was going to be and was quite surprised to find out. I was also very impressed by the ethical discussions that went on centering around events up on the Justice League space station.

The art and writting were both top-notch. I gave it four stars overrall cause parts did feel a little rushed and there were some side characters that were really just distractions. That said, it's a great book, and I really enjoyed reading it!

Cai Yixin Jeremy 2008-05-12

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Brad Meltzer has taken one of the oldest story universes in the world, the DCU, and lets us see it as if for the first time.

The challenge given by DC for this series was to write an emotional, quiet, touching story set in the DCU. Not an easy task at all, but Brad pulled it off in style. And the guy's only prior comic work was a monthly stint on Green Arrow.

To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen a mainstream superhero series written with such emotional honesty besides Alan Moore's critically acclaimed Watchmen. From the ground up, Brad established an emotional tone in this book. The characters weren't afraid to speak from their hearts in this one and the dialogue showed that. Everything seemed very real, the superheroes reacted very realistically, dealt with struggles that even we face on a daily basis. I don't think there's another superhero comic that has touched the emotional depths that this comic series has.

Identity Crisis is a real triumph in that regard, making us see the flesh and blood beneath even the toughest of skins, making us realize that even superheroes are human, flawed. And that's not all, it also makes us see how depraved a human heart can be, how often we take the easy way out by compromising our beliefs and how sometimes we can do nothing to help the brother beside us. The book moves from emotional height to depth constantly, never giving us even a moment's pause to catch our breaths. And that's a testament to Brad's brilliant pacing.

When it comes to plotting, Brad's a genius. The book rarely got out of point, the story stayed very focused throughout, and I don't think I ever hit a point in that book where it got stale. The story's vibrant and the characters driving that story, the DCU heroes, were captivating and larger than life, as they should be. Needless to say, I think comic fanboys, even those who aren't very much into the DCU, will welcome the affection Brad has showered over the DCU characters. Which was why this book turned out so well; every page was created with love and respect for the heroes that have enthralled us so much during our younger days.

But you know what's the most interesting thing about this book? It was that DC chose Identity Crisis to be a 'stepping board' for many of their future stories. Till now, we still see the effects of this book being felt in the current books, and that amazing. Brad wrote this book to be a quiet, standalone story.

I haven't even begun to touch on the beauty of Rag Morales' art. To draw such a realistic and vibrant book isn't easy by any means, which speaks of just how much in tune both Rags and Brad were during the creative process of this book.

So, go get this book now if you haven't. You would be crazy not to.