ok, I am not a person who regularly posts on boards but HiC was such a disappointing, convoluted, unnecessary mess that I feel compelled to say something.
When I first heard of this book I was really excited for a story about mental health and thought it could be very meaningful. Boring? Perhaps, but it seemed like new ground. It’s a shame that book never came out.
Mental health struggles are personal and individual so I won’t presume to know Mr. King’s experience but this was all pop psychology cliche and I think in the end did more damage to the idea of mental health than anything. The underlying message seems to be that getting help is dangerous. After all, those characters wouldn’t be dead and Wally wouldn’t have snapped if they had just bottled it up. We saw no evidence that Sanctuary was helpful to those there. Were there success stories? Whoever decided that the path to wellness is to go into isolation and talk only to cameras and robots was an idiot.
I also feel that turning Wally into a psychopath from grief was completely off base and had no reason except to sell books. Wally losing control and hurting others could have been an idea on how he grieves and tries to recover. Turning him into someone who frames people for murder, essentially kills someone (himself) and leaks confidential information is simply ridiculous. Those are near unforgivable actions and forever tarnish Wally.
DC should honestly be ashamed. I have no idea how this got made except for trying to capitalize on King’s growing reputation following some well received work. (Personally, I hate his Batman run.)
More things.
I found the confessions to be cliche nonsense and find it hard to believe that many characters went to Sanctuary. It was just fan service to show certain faces. Each of the Robins is neurotic about the rest? 3/4 don’t even know their place in the Bat family? That’s some majorly unhealthy thinking right there.
The book was sold as a murder mystery with the trinity and I don’t even recall their involvement after Harley beat them up.
And they just clone a body?!?! What the actual eff.
This whole series was a stain on DC history. Even when they eventually undo it it will still be there.
Yeah, this was a disappointment. I agree what you are saying about the message it sends about getting help with mental health. I do not believe it was Tom King’s message, but it is easily (and dangerously) interpreted that way. He should really be more careful about what he writes and an editor should have caught that.
But Dan DiDio is probably more responsible for this mess than Tom King. Both Wally West and Dick Grayson have been ruined in Tom King books since Dan DiDio resumed a higher position as editor, and Dan DiDio is well known for hating them (that’s not an exaggeration, he literally despises them), so it seems like too much to be a coincidence. I wonder, if this is true, how Dan DiDio is making Tom King do these things.
If someone hates a character they should defer to someone else like a judge recusing themselves.
It’s hard to believe how poorly this series was put together with ramifications that are seriously damaging but will probably never be mentioned again.
Now would be a great time for a Marvel crossover and reveal Wally was a skrull.
Okay
, I’m coming from the other direction, I loved this book. The discussion panels of the heroes was a great look into how being a hero impacted them. Wish he would of brought th Blue and Gold and Babs and Harley together earlier. That’s a book I’d read. Also, just a beautiful book. Said it before but there’s a price to pay in putting on the uniform in their world and ours.
Also, thought the message was get help, and there’s no reason to hide it.
I wish I had gotten out of it what you did but something about the confessions, or a majority of them, felt forced and cliche and some were jokes. If the series was messed with by outside forces maybe the confessions are what King wanted the focus to be in the first place and got them in any way he could. It probably wouldn’t sell well but I’d rather see a series about the day to day at Sanctuary and maybe a few characters processing instead of the tragedy at Sanctuary. They could do flashbacks so there would be action.
As I said above, mental health is personal and individual but I work in the mental health field and have also participated in therapy and none of the series felt genuine (to me).
I don’t think King purposely sent a message that therapy is bad but the overtones of the series paint it negatively. What good came from it? For anyone. Patients went for help but died. Depression and grief = loss of control, violence, illogical thinking, and seriously damaging behavior. Opening up leaves you vulnerable to betrayal (death, leaking info). Going for help is isolating and impersonal. And there is no empathy present at all until maybe the last issue but that was just nonsense tidying up nonsense.
I really hated this series.
Scott.white I see your point, and I wouldn’t debate the authenticity with someone who knows the field. I too would have really been interested in sanctuary day to day. The question is can you do a mental health focused story without the Crisis? You’re probably right you’ll give up some sales, but I did think that was the most engrossing part for me.
The last issue seemed to imply that Wally realized he wasn’t alone and wanted to spread that idea to others before they lost control to the point that he had. I think that was the overall message of the series. Also, it sounded like Sanctuary reopened at the end, so apparently the world and everyone is a-okay with continuing… not sure if robots are still in place. Not sure solitary confinement is good for Wally… I mean, he committed a crime and has to face consequences, but he clearly still needs help.
I found the series as a whole convoluted. Some of the confessionals were interesting, but others were just meh or seemingly out of character. The Trinity felt wasted. Where was Diana? She only seemed involved in the first couple issues. Clark disappeared after releasing the files. Batman and Flash took a backseat to Beetle, Booster, Harley, and Batgirl… but other than Booster with the time loop and clone idea, no one really did anything. And the clone wrap up felt like a cop out to me. Overall, I don’t think this story was worth losing the heroes we did, potentially including Wally.
This book also unfortunately and unintentionally (I think) makes the point that terrorism works.
Which is very weird considering that IIRC the idea for this event came from such a tragic event.
msgtv,
(Man I wish I could reply and see on screen the message I’m replying to so I remember what to say)
I think a day to day Sanctuary story would have had potential to be groundbreaking but it’s tainted now. Like you said, there’s a price to wearing a uniform so it’s a great idea to explore that. I think you could do one without a Crisis, or post-Crisis and explore the ramifications of daily life but it would be a lot of exposition. Or if they introduced Sanctuary before and had a lead up to HiC maybe it would have felt different. Aside from quick mentions in some books, Sanctuary wasn’t introduced until issue #1 and it was destroyed there as well. It all seems like a good idea wasted.
I do have experience in the field but it’s enough to know that every person is unique so this story may ring true to some people and different approaches work for different people. So I won’t say it’s “wrong” but to me it felt like pop psychology writing and the way it was implemented (by characters) was seriously flawed.
You’re right, too late to do a Sanctuary day to day now. The issue that rang true to me included Citizen Steel talking about how he’s died twice and knows he will again, and Lagoon Boy reliving his death in his mind. Both felt like PTSD to me, the fatalism and the not being able to move past a point. I don’t disagree with your criticisms, just that I thought the good outweighed them.