Identity Crisis

>We hate our readers

What did DC mean by this?

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_Crisis_(DC_Comics)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_Itself_(comics)
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DC has a lot of comics like this.

What is this shit about anyway?

...

it's only okay when Marvel does it

It's about shit

grim, fin-headed arse rape

It's such a weird comic because for all the trash it perpetuates, it is also a thoroughly humanizing take on a DC Universe that acknowledges the past and the transitions into the new generation.

I loved things about it. I wish that Meltzer wrote more DC. He isn't great for high concept like Johns, but he is absolutely a good writer for shorthand character work and voice and for all the Sue Disney's death and retcon was vile and awful, Ralph's speech leading up to it was exactly the kind of thing you need to take the ridiculous and convoluted DC Universe seriously.

So weird. The good and bad parts are so distinct and do nothing to affect the other.

Someone should story time it. I'd be down to read it again and talk about all this shit.

I mean if someone gives me a link, I'll do it.

I didn't mind it. I thought it was an interesting concept to explore but it just got mired in weird bullshit that ruined it.

Least we got that awesome 52 moment out of it.

>I wish that Meltzer wrote more DC

After Identity Crisis and his awful Justice League of America run, I wouldn't mind if I never read anything of his again.

>I wish that Meltzer wrote more DC
His Justice League and Identity Crisis were fucking garbage, user

I guess I mean that I wish Meltzer was allowed to co-write DC.

A Johns/Meltzer or Morrison/Meltzer comic could be great.

He's horrible at concept. Great on "feel" and authenticity. Maybe collaboration would help some of the more hollow comics.

I like what's going on in Superman and Action, but Jurgens and Tomasi can also leave me cold with the actual dialogue and feel. They seem a bit shallow.

Fuck off, Meltzer

It wouldn't surprise me if this is the actual Meltzer desperate for people to reappraise his work - I happened to look up Identity Crisis' wiki entry the other week, and holy shit, it's either been edited by Meltzer or his biggest fanboy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_Crisis_(DC_Comics)
There's a whole fucking paragraph on his biography alone, and like three fuck-huge sections sucking off the story's dick that should've been a paragraph-and-a-half under "Themes", if even there at all.

>giving an author access to the biggest heroes to change canon as he sees fit just because he has literary cred

And DC learned a valuable lesson.

Am I the only one who thinks that the DCEU has the same tone as Identity Crisis?

I'd wager it's an autistic fanboy. You should see the article for Marvel's "Fear Itself" event.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_Itself_(comics)

The section for the reviews is longer than the section for plot summary.

Yikes that one is embarassing.

I think Identity Crisis is underrated on this board. Yeah, it made some bad choices that DC had to live with for a long time and some of them really demonized some really great characters (and would've done worse, had the original ending been left intact).

That said, it does character interactions REALLY well, and DC struggles with that a lot. Honestly, capeshit in general struggles with that a lot.

Identity Crisis should've been an Elseworld an they should've kept the original ending. It might be a bit too dark, but it's definitely well written, which is more than I can say for a lot of stuff out there.

Basically all the heroes go psycho because somebody is going after their loved ones.

Then some shit happens to Batman. That's all I'm gonna say.

Addendum: I almost always hate the """"real""" author shows up to write a few issues of capeshit and had a """new""" and """innovative""" take on the characters" shtick. 95% of the time, it's clear that the writer doesn't really know comics that well and isn't aware that there actually is some good writing out there already.

Identity Crisis largely averts that. Say what you will about its problems; it was still clear that Metzler knew his way around the DC universe.

>The section for the reviews is longer than the section for plot summary.

Dayum.

Jesus fucking Christ. I thought that Wikipedia was cracking down on that stuff.

I honestly didn't mind Identity Crisis. Yeah it had some flaws but I'd be hard pressed to think of a book without detrimental quirks, assuming one exists.

If people just hated it only for the rape I wouldn't be surprised.

>the original ending
Which is?

>and would've done worse, had the original ending been left intact

Was the Atom going to be the killer? That would have made more sense.

I liked this, it was well written.

Why is it hated?

That would have made even less sense. What would be his motivation?

>Superheroes are having real problems like rape, murder and shit now
>Dc: We can do this too! Let's put all this in one comic with all the characters to show everyone how great we are
>How will you guys make all this work with the story?
>Dc: We have to do this?

Imagine that a silver age tier writer received a list full of edgy stuff to shove in one single convoluted story with the deadline of one week.

>I liked this, it was well written.
No, it wasn't. You're just an easily impressed simpleton. You were allured by the illusion of substance, where there is none.

Honestly I think people hated the Deathstroke fight more than the rape.

Yeah, Atom would be the killer.

Getting Jean Loring back.

Well, it would have still been a character assassination, but it would have made more sense for the Atom to be able to use his tech untraceably.

The exact same as the existing motivation for his wife. The whole "who benefits" thing all applies just as well to him.

it was a crime story, it was a well written and the twist worked, the execution was pretty good, if you dont think so, what do you think it was bad?

At the time I was just getting into the Big 2 and Teen Titans especially. I thought Slade was really cool and seeing him take down a bunch of big heroes after so many years as just a Titans villain was awesome.

the twist came out of nowhere, zero foreshadowing

dude, are you literally blind? All the text about them as a couple and the whole: who gains with that, and the obvious part where everybody is getting fucked in some way except Atom? Really that you think that had no foreshadowing?

all the clues point to Atom, Jean was a complete non sequitor

Infinite Crisis made up for it though

if by Infinite Crisis you mean 52

Infinite Crisis is better than the vast majority of company wide events in Big 2 history.

not really but I don't think there was anything involving the Identity Crisis plotlines in Infinite, regardless

>HEY GUAYZ WOULDN'T IT BE CUUL IF WE TURN ALL OF OUR HEROES INTO UNREPENTANT CRIMINALS WHO BACKSTAB THEIR MOST TRUSTED ALLY the comic

Fuck this event with an iron pole.

that is the fucking point, she was close to him all the time, you never expected to be her, you expected to be him, that twist is really good.

>close to him all the time
are you high? Jean was the one who wanted the divorce in the first place, she was barely involved in the story until she gets revealed as the killer

it's hack mystery writing at its finest

Yeah. Between Wally getting stabbed like an idiot and the Atom laser pointer... it was a bit cringey.

read again, all the clues are there, the suit, the journals, everything, it all leads to someone using atom powers, you thought it was him, but it was someone with his powers.

>clues point to one character
>twist is it was ACTUALLY a tangentially related character with no apparent motivation
>this is good writing

>It wouldn't surprise me if this is the actual Meltzer desperate for people to reappraise his work

Why? Isn't he a real author? Identity Crisis demonstrated that capefags can't handle a writer of Meltzer's quality.

The stupider thing is that no one went to go question Sonar who had a running history of trying to cuck Ralph. Rather than Doctor Light having raped her, they should've gone to him and had it revealed it was an elaborate ploy to bang Sue and the burned body wasn't hers.

even leaving aside plot stupidity, Identity Crisis is just straight-up dull as a comic book. Meltzer did not adapt to the medium well

>hurr it's good writing because plot twist
No, it's not. I'm surprised no one posted this yet.

I mean the few pages before the last issue he's giving jean the stink eye, it would also make more sense than jean since he investigated the crime scene
still shit but more reasonable shit

yeah, them turning Captain Boomerang into that fat slob was what turned me off.

>trying to rationalize a crazy person

lol

He fucking grabbed a Green Lantern by the fist, took his ring, and broke his hand by having more willpower.

It wasn't just her being crazy though. It's just stupid nonsense that looks like it was written backwards from the ending. The several times she acts on information she does not have are the biggest giveaways to shitty writing.

user, Slade Wilson is basically the Gaston that Gaston's song was about but he also has swords to go with his guns. No one fucks with either Gaston or Slade.

IC was great and lead to even much more greater events. Who cares about fukcing Sue? She is Z-list side character.

I think the idea was cool but it wasn't executed well in plot itself. Book constantly mocked more "fun" heroes for not being edgy enough and Flash took the hardest of all. Geoff Johns had to adjust the book accordingly and ruined Rogues reputation for a long time.

Identity Crisis was a peak of DC misunderstanding what made Watchmen so popular. It did absolutely everything you could wrong.

> it was still clear that Metzler knew his way around the DC universe.
But that's wrong m8.

That's entirely on rags.

Whats actually the issue with it? I see it shat on all the time but nobody ever really explains why

I don't believe you've never seen anyone explain why but

shit mystery: shits all over several popular characters while wanking Deathstroke
needlessly edgy plot points that are literally only in the story for added drama and edge
shit art

The main plot makes no sense and doesn't work as a detective thriller because there's absolutely no evidence as to who did it until the scene where it's revealed who did it (because they changed it halfway through quite obviously and had to half-ass a character being secretly craAAAaazy to do it.) The scene where they can't find any evidence with super-tech despite the murders not really being that well thought out or executed especially sticks out.
The whole Dr. Light raping Sue Dibny and hiring Deathstroke for protection as Deathstroke then gores up the Justice League subplot is full of edge and Batman is pissed off because he and Dr. Light were mindwiped ultimately is just a completely pointless red herring that doesn't have anything to do with the mystery at all.
Which actually is also the case for a lot of the scenes in the book, there's a ton of cameos and fight scenes and even some pretty big character deaths that don't have the slightest damn thing to do with the plot of the book. Firestorm's death is the most obvious example of needless melodrama from a writer who only barely knows the characters he's working with, but wants to show them off whether they fit in the story or not.
Tim Drake's father's death not only absolutely ruined the character going forward (turning him from an okay white bread teen Robin into mini-Batman as he moved into the Teen Titans crapfest) but also makes no sense as a plan, from its motivations to its execution and is just there for emotional shock (and honestly, probably an editor mandate that Tim Drake be an orphan.)
There are lots of character interactions that feel like they're referencing deep relationships, but are really just made up wholesale for the book and lack any substance whatsoever when you realize there's no substance to them. Hell, the first scene where Ralph Dibny is complaining that only female heroes talk about relationships during stakeouts is full of that shit.