Heroes In Crisis #1

Heroes in Crisis #1 came out last week, the first issue in DC's big company crossover and a sad return to the days of grim, gory, dark story telling of recent years. Unfortunately, this shouldn't surprise me.

One of the things that spurred me to start this blog was the darkening of Supergirl's character in the Loeb/Turner era. I wanted to shine a light on her more heroic past so new readers woundn't think she was always the sullen, sulking, angry girl who just wanted to be left alone.

And over the 10 plus years of doing this, I have witnessed the descent of the DCU into a dark place. Some of the more notable lowlights I have covered include Cry For Justice and the  ripping off of Red Arrow's arm, the graying of all DC in Forever Evil . and the grim nature of Future's End.

Where was the optimism? Where were the heroes spurred to help humanity because it was the right thing to do? Where was the light which was going to save us from the darkness?

It was only a few years ago that DC had a course correction, deciding that they couldn't go down any further. It was time to correct the mistakes of the New 52 and subsequent stories and bring back the ideals, the hope. We got Rebirth  and for a short period of time we were happy.

I got into comics to read the exploits of heroes and be inspired to do more. Yes, even then they had human problems – love, finances, fatigue – but they always rose above. But you get the sense that things are turning and we are heading back to a DCU where (per Dan Didio) heroes can't be happy. Now the trend is to make them utterly relatable, to give the characters not only feet of clay but whole bodies of the stuff.

Heroes In Crisis is a story purportedly about PTSD and healing. Instead of that, we get a bloody, brutal issue.

 

The bulk of the issue is a fight between Harley Quinn and Booster Gold, initially in a diner and then spilling out into a corn field.

In the first couple of pages Quinn has stabbed Booster a number of times and has smeared his blood on her face like war paint.

If this sort of horror is happening now, where is this going to go to build suspense. How much more horrible?

It's like in Future's End when in the first issue a suburban family gets gunned down by Grifter and someone else has their hands cut off. How do you top that?

And then we get this gory scene of the Sanctuary dead scattered outside the facility.

While I understand the need to recognize mental health as an issue, I was surprised to see the sheer number of heroes currently inpatient there. That is a lot of bloody dots down there.

What's more is that, for me as a reader, this is happening all too soon. We never even saw what Sanctuary is like. Who provides the care? Are there group sessions? Do people know who the other patients are? How safe do they feel?

Without knowing how safe these folks felt, not only physically but mentally, this fell flat. I can only measure the horror in body count, not in violation.

And then, the page that was supposed to make me sit up and take notice about the weight of this series. After all, big names have to die.

So Wally, the literal face of the Rebirth movement, the character cast aside who then returned in glory, is dead. And so is Roy. The nine panel grid pages showing the heroes therapy were good. But that was just overrun by the loosed blood-dimmed tide.

I read this dispassionately. Heroes dead by the dozen. One eaten by a bird. The personification of a movement towards hope in the DCU dead. A humor character reduced to an insane assassin. A goofy Bwa-ha-ha hero now a mass murderer. I wasn't drawn in. It felt more like I was shown a story rather then being in it.

I should have been sad. Or angry.

Instead I was bored.
And disappointed.
I don’t think these were the emotions Dan Didio or Tom King were hoping to invoke.

I think the only thing that shocked me is that it comes from King. Even at it’s bloodiest and most depressing, Mister Miracle has had some undercurrent of hope and love. I could feel that Miracle was heading in the right direction. I don’t think Heroes in Crisis is.