Heroes in Crisis
Growing up we always felt that our childhood superheroes were extraordinary and perfect. All they needed to do was suit up, answer a call for help or fight injustice and go back to heroes headquarters after their work is done.
Who cares about their private lives? They don’t need one.
In fact, we all thought that they never deserved one. Because they were heroes…our heroes who could fly, see through walls, punch a big hole in that same wall and perform feats that perpetuated our fantasy. That our heroes were gods and they were perfect.
But as time wore on, we found out that they were far from the shining beacon of hope that we pegged them to be. In truth, they were just like us. Human. Able to feel pain and would need some consolation and “Me-time”, when circumstances dictated it to be necessary.
That was the goal of Sanctuary; a place of healing and recovery for all heroes in the DC Universe. Created by the Trinity of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, it was the one place where our heroes can have their personal quality time to recuperate and recharge.
* S P O I L E R S *
That is until Superman arrives to find all of them dead!!! From Hot Spot to Blue Jay to Arsenal and even to the Flash (Wally West), all murdered in cold blood!!!
Meanwhile in another part of Nebraska, at a diner we see Booster Gold having a moment with Harley Quinn before we see them duking it out after Harley stabs him with a steak knife. He claims that she killed the heroes in Sanctuary. But Harley maintains that it was he who is off his rocker and that it was, He, Booster Gold, the superhero from the future, who killed them all. Granted that Harley Quinn herself was a former paramour of the Joker no less, she may be off her rocker herself.
And thus the mystery begins.
Written by Tom King, who is an ex-CIA counter terrorism officer and who wrote storylines that centered on violence and war for different titles like THE OMEGA MAN, THE SHERIFF of BABYLON, MISTER MIRACLE, VISION and GRAYSON and Clay Mann who has both worked for both DC and MARVEL, this is the kind of a first issue that shows a lot and yet does not. The kind of issue that urges readers to ask more questions than they are given answers. But that’s the whole point of this former 6-issue but now turned 9-issue mystery of a mini-series. We don’t know much about the history of Sanctuary. We don’t know who were the other heroes that were treated and primarily who went berzerk and decided to dispose of their comrade-in-arms as summarily as he, she, or they did. What was the motive?
Compared to IDENTITY CRISIS by Brad Meltzer this first issue certainly angered fans who felt that some heroes needed to stay alive. But in a war for sanity and order, where casualties are bound to pile up and where post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) looms in every corner for every hero, every breakdown and case is a crisis in itself. And if our Heroes did not have someone else to turn to deal with their own issues, to a point where their inner demons take over their heroic persona, then we indeed have a crisis right here.
Issue #1 of HEROES in CRISIS now available in all local comic book stores.
Issue #2 which features Harley on the cover using the Lasso of Truth on Batman will be available on October 24.
