More is revealed about Sanctuary and there’s still no clear idea what path this story is supposed to be taking.
Heroes In Crisis 3
Written by Tom King
Pencils and Inks by Clay Mann and Lee Weeks
Colors by Tomeu Morey
Expectations for this series were high, but I’m not sure anyone really ever had a handle on what it was supposed to be before the FIRST ISSUE was released. It had an intriguing premise that was pitched to fans – a look at the psychological effects of a superhero’s life – but that was never going to be enough to sustain a 9-issue miniseries. So it needed a hook to keep readers interested. And they settled on the deaths of a whole lot of people.
And so HEROES IN CRISIS developed into a mystery, which I likened to Brad Meltzer’s IDENTITY CRISIS. How did the people killed in the Sanctuary die? Who killed them? Why were they killed? And what does it mean for the friends and families of those who died?
And maybe the comparisons to IDENTITY CRISIS are a little unfair. At least that story had a clear conceit from the beginning.
I suppose we get some more answers in the third issue here… maybe… It’s still too early for the reveal of who seemed to kill Wally West, I would think. Nothing really has been clear about this series.
Hm. Seeing lots of people letting me off the hook for stuff cause DC publisher, Dan Didio “made Tom” do whatever.
— Tom King (@TomKingTK) November 28, 2018
While I appreciate this very kind defense, I am in the enviable position of being responsible for my own writing choices. The faults in my books are mine alone.
But at least King claims this is all him. And reading this issue, it’s pretty clear. I gave up on King’s Batman for a while because it felt like he was spinning his heels, giving readers filler instead of getting right to the heart of his story. And this issue is mostly filler.
We get more glimpses of what being in Sanctuary meant. Lagoon Boy gets blasted with lasers over and over again as penance for letting down his teammates; Wally West visits with his family – Linda, Jai and Iris – who are otherwise lost in the bleed of the multiverse; and Booster Gold…
Yeah, he just argues with himself until everything hits the fan and the emergency beacon goes off and Booster confronts Harley Quinn and we’re all back to where we started.
I know I’m not going to stop buying the rest of the series. Three issues in, I’ve developed a morbid curiosity to see what’s happening. But a lot needs to happen to make this a viable story.