Heroes in Crisis #9 Review
Written by Tom King
Art by Clay Mann
Colouring by Tomeu Morey
Lettering by Clayton Cowles
This has been one of the most genuinely strange comics I've ever read from DC, and not in the "it's so goofy and fun, I can't believe they're publishing this!" kind of way. No. I've said my piece about this series but with its conclusion I obviously have some new thoughts on the matter.
Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey do some fantastic work together. I'm still not entirely sold on Mann's style. There's something stiff about his figure work that I can't exactly put together, and I'm not the biggest fan of his faces. Morey is the star of the show for me, shining a gorgeous light on these pages and creating a unique visual style that doesn't look like any other book on the stands right now.
I'm getting mixed signals from this book. It was billed as a murder mystery but the very structure of the piece didn't support that kind of storytelling. There were no proper suspects aside from all the readers trying to come up with a list in their minds, Tom King didn't provide any worthwhile interesting clues to get readers to play along, and so forth. This has gone on for eight issues so I couldn't help but assume that there's more to the story aside from the mystery aspect.
As an examination of mental health, especially the trauma of Wally West, I must say I found this comic to be entirely and unequivocally unsuccessful to me. I found this to be a cold and unmoving comic, providing barebones mental health analysis in an attempt to elevate it. There aren't any hard, real consequences to this story and I can't help but look at Wally as anything other than a deranged person, a person willing to go through extreme hoops to not only cover his tracks, but to provide a kind of distraction by releasing confessionals of all his fellow superheroes. King can try and justify this all he likes in order to provide some explanation to Wally's choice, but it isn't working for me at all. Couple this with the really egregious dialogue and chemistry between Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Batgirl, and Harley Quinn and you have a pretty frustrating comic.
Ultimately I can't find anything more to say that I haven't said already. This comic is unsatisfying, contrived, pandering, and boring. Other, better comics delve into their characters' psyche in a much more profound and unique way. Seek those out.
Art by Clay Mann
Colouring by Tomeu Morey
Lettering by Clayton Cowles
This has been one of the most genuinely strange comics I've ever read from DC, and not in the "it's so goofy and fun, I can't believe they're publishing this!" kind of way. No. I've said my piece about this series but with its conclusion I obviously have some new thoughts on the matter.
Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey do some fantastic work together. I'm still not entirely sold on Mann's style. There's something stiff about his figure work that I can't exactly put together, and I'm not the biggest fan of his faces. Morey is the star of the show for me, shining a gorgeous light on these pages and creating a unique visual style that doesn't look like any other book on the stands right now.
I'm getting mixed signals from this book. It was billed as a murder mystery but the very structure of the piece didn't support that kind of storytelling. There were no proper suspects aside from all the readers trying to come up with a list in their minds, Tom King didn't provide any worthwhile interesting clues to get readers to play along, and so forth. This has gone on for eight issues so I couldn't help but assume that there's more to the story aside from the mystery aspect.
As an examination of mental health, especially the trauma of Wally West, I must say I found this comic to be entirely and unequivocally unsuccessful to me. I found this to be a cold and unmoving comic, providing barebones mental health analysis in an attempt to elevate it. There aren't any hard, real consequences to this story and I can't help but look at Wally as anything other than a deranged person, a person willing to go through extreme hoops to not only cover his tracks, but to provide a kind of distraction by releasing confessionals of all his fellow superheroes. King can try and justify this all he likes in order to provide some explanation to Wally's choice, but it isn't working for me at all. Couple this with the really egregious dialogue and chemistry between Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Batgirl, and Harley Quinn and you have a pretty frustrating comic.
Ultimately I can't find anything more to say that I haven't said already. This comic is unsatisfying, contrived, pandering, and boring. Other, better comics delve into their characters' psyche in a much more profound and unique way. Seek those out.
A Look Inside
