Identity Crisis

[RooJay]

Anyone else here reading this? I should point out to anyone that isn't, that this has been - for me at least - the best, most interesting, and most engaging comic series I've ever read. Brad Meltzer is a genius of a writer, and I don't think I've ever read a comic story with this caliber of writing ever before - and I've read a lot of comics. If you love comics and aren't reading this one, then you should be. I could not recommend it more highly.

I'm hoping to start a discussion about the book here, but as I know that Marvel fans, for reasons which I will never fully comprehend, tend to outnumber DC fans I thought it might be a good idea to see who else is on board first. While I really don't see how having prior knowledge of the DCU and all of the characters involved in the story is necessary, the story deals pretty intensely with DC continuity and some of the less familiar characters; I only worry that this may be keeping some readers from checking it out. To those people I say not to worry about all that as the plot and characters are plenty well written enough for you to be able to pick up on who's who, why and how pretty quickly.

I recently re-read the first four issues trying to gather clues and figure this thing out (God help me, I do love a good mystery!). I wound up with a lot of good clues, some half-baked theories and one monster of a headache, and I'm hoping that discussing it in these forums might not only be fun, but might also help us figure out the mystery of who's behind the mystery! Anyone care to join in? :D

[Dr Zoltar]

I'm a DC boy myself. Identity Crisis has been excellent so far. Many people have been complaining that Meltzer hates women due to the story line, but I don't think so. The majority of superheroes are male, so the killer is going after their significant others. I can't even think of any DC female superheroes that are dating or married to non-powered men (except Jade) so Meltzer doesn't have a pool of male significant others to kill. Anyway, I'm along for the ride until it's over. I'm so glad that DC didn't make this one of their mega-title cross overs.

[RooJay]

Have you picked up on any subtle clues? From the promotions they've been doing on the story I gather that Firestorm, Ronnie Raymond is involved somehow. It's been mentioned several times in various articles that he's tied in somehow. Also, note that both Bolt and Slipknot have tussled with Firestorm in the past and that both of them have been involved in some way or another so far. The killer also wanted it to look like Sue had been burned to death which is consistent with Firestorm's powers, but we've since learned that she was dead before being burned (not to mention that we obviously see the killer using a blowtorch). Firestorm is obviously a big red herring. One other connection I've noticed is that so far both Bolt and Slipknot as well as Dr. Light have each been members of the Suicide Squad at one point. I'm beginning to wonder if Amanda Waller might somehow be involved; remember how she ended up taking the fall for Luthor after Superman and Batman took him down, and she was sent to prison. Having been a highly placed member of president Luthor's cabinet, she might have been privy to certain information Lex learned while in office - remember how he'd managed to discover Clark's secret? Interesting stuff! I've got a lot more if you're game to talk about it. :D

[RooJay]

After having just caught up on the last two months worth of Flash books, I realized something else. There's a scene in last month's issue with Captain Boomerang mentioning how he's working on making his big comeback leading me to believe that we might not know everything we think we know about his involvement. It was then that I realized that he was also once a member of the Suicide Squad! Is there something there? Can't wait to find out.

[El Chuxter]

I've been picking up the issues of this, but am waiting until I get the full set to read them. My friends are split 50-50 on the series. Half are as excited as you are and think it's one of the best series in a long time, if not ever. The other half say it's ridiculous and is mucking with established characters to add dark backstory that's never been supported by any previously published story, and that it's relying too heavily on shock value.

I'm biding my time until I can decide for myself. :)