HEROES IN CRISIS
Beating a retreat
Crisis? What crisis? Tom King and Clay Mann’s latest has the answer.
released OUT NOW! Publisher dC Comics
Writer Tom King Artists Clay Mann, Travis Moore, lee Weeks
If there’s one thing DC fans know spells trouble, it’s the word “Crisis” in a title. Ever since the legendary crossover Crisis On Infinite Earths, the word has almost always heralded worldshattering events, whether it’s the reality-warping mayhem of 2008’s Final Crisis, or the more personal revelations of 2004’s Identity Crisis.
The latest contender, however, is so far heading in a smaller, more character-orientated direction. A nine-issue miniseries, Heroes In Crisis is exploring the idea of how superheroes might deal with psychological trauma and its after-effects, but it’s also tackling the concept in a way that’s more befuddling than involving.
The story focuses on Sanctuary, a secret centre located in Nebraska where both heroes and villains can receive psychological treatment for the trauma they’ve sustained thanks to their dangerous lives. When a massacre occurs at Sanctuary – apparently perpetrated by Harley Quinn – Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman try to unravel the truth of what happened, but the secrets of Sanctuary are soon in danger of being released to the outside world…
Writer Tom King is utilising similar experimental storytelling techniques to his recent work on the acclaimed Mister Miracle miniseries, but the results here don’t feel anywhere near as satisfying. Three issues in, Heroes In Crisis still feels like a story that’s barely started, thanks to a fractured approach to the narrative where the script cuts abruptly back and forth between several sequences in a single issue, rarely settling in one place long enough for the reader to figure out what’s going on.
This off-kilter, haphazard storytelling approach has also blunted the emotional impact of the massacre that sets the plot in motion. Deaths of major DC characters like “Kid Flash” Wally West (who only returned to DC continuity two years ago) barely make an impression, and while the monologue-style sequences depicting various characters undergoing therapy at Sanctuary are often powerful, the overall effect is a selection of interesting or attention-grabbing scenes that simply aren’t cohering together into a story.
Art-wise, things are as slick and impressive as you’d expect from a DC event comic, with Clay Mann’s work especially showcasing some vivid characterisation. There’s also the chance that revelations in later issues will add clarity to these confused opening chapters – but right now, Heroes In Crisis is a deeply flawed comic that isn’t giving its powerful and complicated central theme the treatment it deserves. Saxon Bullock
Interesting scenes that simply aren’t cohering together
Sanctuary is specifically modelled on US veterans’ crisis centres that help soldiers acclimatise back into everyday life.