Heroes in Crisis #8 Review
Written by Tom King
Art by Mitch Gerads and Travis Moore
Colouring by Mitch Gerads
Lettering by Clayton Cowles
In addition to the fact that I haven't found any enjoyment in this series, I also don't really know what it's about in the first place. It was initially billed as a look into what it means to be a superhero, and the psychological logistics that must be taken into consideration when fighting crime. It was then labelled as a DCU-wide murder mystery, but without any genuine clues to decipher or digest there wasn't much of a mystery to this.
Now we know the story, and this is genuinely one of the more uncompelling and contrived comics books I've read in a while. To say more would be disrespectful to the creative team; aside from the production of the issue there is nothing redeemable about this.
Mitch Gerads and Tom King have collaborated for many years now and Gerads' art has been getting better and better. He's played with a whole variety of styles and this book contains some of the more traditional work I've seen from Gerads, but this is mostly in his panelling rather than his lines and colouring. There's still a fairly rigid layout to this book with three to four-panel pages, and the occasional splash page or double page spread. It's a lively-looking book and plays into Tom King's regularly rigid storytelling without feeling too stiff. Gerads' figure work and level of detail is present as ever, but his colouring here feels more like an attempt to evoke Tomeu Morey's amazing work on the series rather than Gerads' own choices. It's unfortunate, but in a series with multiple artists some form of consistency has to happen. Travis Moore pencils a few pages and it seems Gerads has coloured Moore's work as well. I've never seen Gerads colour anyone else so it certainly felt fresh, and I must say I loved that combination. It brought to mind some of Ryan Sook and Brad Anderson's recent stint on ACTION COMICS, where there was dynamism and vibrancy to the colours on the page.
It's rarely right to question the point of the story. To question why a story needs to be told in the first place. Everyone has something to say, so I was willing to give King a few issues so I could hear him out. At this point, with one issue left in the series, I really don't get the point of this whole thing. REBIRTH was an ambitious event that promised a lot of things, and the return of Wally West was the saving grace for a lot of people. Here we are, nearly three years later, and what we have here is character assassination, pure and simple. I won't spoil the events of this issue of course but there is a high degree of absurdity and sheer hilarity to this issue. The mental gymnastics of this twist is so bizarre and confusing that I can't imagine this is what King imagined the story to be when it first began. There's a difference between planting the seeds for a mystery and withholding essential details in order to deliver a whammy twist. There's nothing about this twist that seems clever or real in any sense. A lot of it is entirely out of character. You may argue that this is a broken Wally West, but this story picks up on events that didn't necessarily leave Wally broken nor emotionally unstable. Sure, he was adamant in trying to find his children, but it seemed more like a normal reaction made monstrous because of the looming Sanctuary story King wanted to tell. Major, essential details of this twist or ignored and simply brushed over here. King claims that Wally can find these things because he's so fast, but he never explains how Wally was able to find them either. Sure he's fast, but is he so meticulous that he could explore literally every inch of the planet? King claims that he was able to consume so much information so fast, because he's the fastest man alive. That doesn't make any sense at all, and it's frustrating to see details like these brushed aside because King wanted to make a point.
I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.
This is a gorgeous comic book but the ludicrous story pulled me back. This isn't as emotionally investigative or genuine as Tom King thinks, and that's unfortunate.
Art by Mitch Gerads and Travis Moore
Colouring by Mitch Gerads
Lettering by Clayton Cowles
In addition to the fact that I haven't found any enjoyment in this series, I also don't really know what it's about in the first place. It was initially billed as a look into what it means to be a superhero, and the psychological logistics that must be taken into consideration when fighting crime. It was then labelled as a DCU-wide murder mystery, but without any genuine clues to decipher or digest there wasn't much of a mystery to this.
Now we know the story, and this is genuinely one of the more uncompelling and contrived comics books I've read in a while. To say more would be disrespectful to the creative team; aside from the production of the issue there is nothing redeemable about this.
Mitch Gerads and Tom King have collaborated for many years now and Gerads' art has been getting better and better. He's played with a whole variety of styles and this book contains some of the more traditional work I've seen from Gerads, but this is mostly in his panelling rather than his lines and colouring. There's still a fairly rigid layout to this book with three to four-panel pages, and the occasional splash page or double page spread. It's a lively-looking book and plays into Tom King's regularly rigid storytelling without feeling too stiff. Gerads' figure work and level of detail is present as ever, but his colouring here feels more like an attempt to evoke Tomeu Morey's amazing work on the series rather than Gerads' own choices. It's unfortunate, but in a series with multiple artists some form of consistency has to happen. Travis Moore pencils a few pages and it seems Gerads has coloured Moore's work as well. I've never seen Gerads colour anyone else so it certainly felt fresh, and I must say I loved that combination. It brought to mind some of Ryan Sook and Brad Anderson's recent stint on ACTION COMICS, where there was dynamism and vibrancy to the colours on the page.
It's rarely right to question the point of the story. To question why a story needs to be told in the first place. Everyone has something to say, so I was willing to give King a few issues so I could hear him out. At this point, with one issue left in the series, I really don't get the point of this whole thing. REBIRTH was an ambitious event that promised a lot of things, and the return of Wally West was the saving grace for a lot of people. Here we are, nearly three years later, and what we have here is character assassination, pure and simple. I won't spoil the events of this issue of course but there is a high degree of absurdity and sheer hilarity to this issue. The mental gymnastics of this twist is so bizarre and confusing that I can't imagine this is what King imagined the story to be when it first began. There's a difference between planting the seeds for a mystery and withholding essential details in order to deliver a whammy twist. There's nothing about this twist that seems clever or real in any sense. A lot of it is entirely out of character. You may argue that this is a broken Wally West, but this story picks up on events that didn't necessarily leave Wally broken nor emotionally unstable. Sure, he was adamant in trying to find his children, but it seemed more like a normal reaction made monstrous because of the looming Sanctuary story King wanted to tell. Major, essential details of this twist or ignored and simply brushed over here. King claims that Wally can find these things because he's so fast, but he never explains how Wally was able to find them either. Sure he's fast, but is he so meticulous that he could explore literally every inch of the planet? King claims that he was able to consume so much information so fast, because he's the fastest man alive. That doesn't make any sense at all, and it's frustrating to see details like these brushed aside because King wanted to make a point.
I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.
This is a gorgeous comic book but the ludicrous story pulled me back. This isn't as emotionally investigative or genuine as Tom King thinks, and that's unfortunate.
A Look Inside
