I enjoyed it, but as a big Sue and Ralph fan it really hurt.
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Loved it. Brad meltzer sure knows how to write! The dialogue between characters were amazing
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Poorly plotted. “The Justice League taught me to fight” by dogpiling on a dude. The rape was revisionist history at it’s worst and actually destroyed Sue’s character development not to meant Jean Lorings with the murder.
If it was a compelling story that would be one thing but it wasn’t. It was an excuse to do a rape no matter the cost.
https://www.tumblr.com/search/valerie%20d’orazio sums it up pretty well.
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@DeSade-acolyte
Rape can serve a story purpose and be unnecessary. There is maybe one or two things I can think of where I can make a genuinely good argument for the inclusion of its rape scene. IC is not one.
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It got me back into comics after a long hiatus. I was thinking of selling my comic collection after spending years off of comics. I went to get a price guide out of curiosity and saw that one, asked about the book, and the owner said it was interesting. So I figured they have the entire run, what the hell… so I bought it and like an addict who thought he could have just one hit I was hooked again. Maybe my long absence made me overlook or not notice some of the flaws others saw, but I thought it was a good story. Heck when they put it on DCU for the first time in it’s entirey I read it all in one sitting.
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Such a mixed bag. The “orphans” splash page is probably the best single page of comic art in the last 20 years, the Calculator revamp was brilliant, and there was some fun retro stuff. But the “he/she just went crazy” twist was already an over familiar crutch for DC at that point, and the mind wipe was too reminiscent of the desperate need for grim and gritty of the 80s.
Overall. Worth a read, but only one.
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Much like with the series 52 (which was ostensibly a sequel to Infinite Crisis but felt more like a continuation of Identity Crisis), I find myself loving big chunks of it while being frustrated with other parts. I’d have preferred a different perpetrator, and I certainly think that Dr. Light could have physically harmed Sue without…well…and the incident still would’ve had the necessary narrative impact. It certainly hinders my ability to enjoy the old Elongated Man stories from Detective Comics, since it seems as though every innocuous thing Sue says in those books suddenly takes on some unintentional double meaning in retrospect.
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It is interesting in comics, we are perfectly ok with villains killing by the dozens, poisoning water supplies, the Joker in ‘89 poisoning a boatload of products that in combination will kill. But, cross the r-line and watch people’s skin crawl. There are about 5 in 100k murder rate in the US, where as a 30 in 100k rate for rape, and that’s just what’s reported. Just that purely statistical fact raises the “Do you really want gritty, ground comics?” question alone. That’s why I’ll stick to position that it was the right story call.
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@DeSade-acolyte
Rape is a touchy subject because for those who have experienced it it is a horrific, traumatic event. To use that in a story about colorful characters running around in spandex is to defeat the purpose, and betray the layer of fiction that many victims of rape might hope to find in comics. Murder victims are no longer alive, and murder is typically handled more sensitively because more people who write comics (largely males, unfortunately) can relate to losing a loved one than sexual violation.
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Also, it’s important to not that in most scenarios in comics and other pop culture where rape is employed it is used as a motive for a male character, not the actual victim.
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There were countless things they could have done to motivate the characters and progress the story besides Sue Dibney being raped. Therefore, there is no reason the rape needed to be included. It’s entirely unnecessary and the only reason it’s in there is for shock value.
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@batwing52
I agree to an extent, which it is so rarely seen in comics. However, to avoid a the topic unconditionally is also a disservice. Should we not include terrorism in comics because some people who read them have been through terrorist attacks, the same for school shootings.
@awesome_squid
There 100 different ways to move a story forward. In that one comic, they used that one item. Was it shocking, sure. Was it just shock for shock sake? I don’t believe so. I’d make the argument that the violence of the act, the implications of the act for not just the victim, but for others who may have been able to stop it. There are stories to tell (as many people are now becoming more aware of just how many stories there are to tell), especially because it is the least reported violent crime.
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@DeSade-acolyte
Okay. Fair. But the stories that use it need to treat it sensitively, and focus on the victim. Comics like The Maxx do this. Like I said earlier, I can name a few examples of comics where I think it’s done carefully, but Identity Crisis is not one of those. The incident is never resolved by the victim, only by those around her. It ignores the immense psychological affliction that would follow such abuse. It is also, as others have mentioned, only there to motivate the members of the Justice League. Also, because there are other things that could’ve been done instead (things that don’t involve the physical affliction of Sue Dibny) I think it’s fair to say that it was done, at least primarily, to be shocking.
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I didn’t know this until I did some digging, but IC was given a spot by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)'s 2007 recommended list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens. An award given out by librarians, not a group historically known for embracing the radical or offensive. Perhaps a general non-comic book group found it more resonating than the non-comics crowd.
And I’ll admit, I was pretty broken up by what happened to Sue. They were in my top 3 “ships/true loves” in the history of the DC Comics. Only surpassed by Jay & Joan, followed by Barry & Iris.
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I absolutely loved it. I read it for the first time on here maybe 2 months ago and was upset I waited this long to do so. This is one I recommend when people ask what to read now. Also I enjoyed it so much this is one ill be picking up a physical edition of to have on my shelves.
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I too loved it. What happened to Sue was horrible but I don’t see it as shock for shocks sake. One, it’s a realistic outcome considering the evil the JL deals with. It has the gut punch emotional impact that could move the team to the extremes it did, with all the cascading consequences. One of the first things my daughter read when she was getting back into comics when she as about 18 and she thinks it’s an all-time great
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I’m a fan. It’s necessary to have some really dark events to develop characters. It helps the comic world to involve storylines where every character always wins and everything’s happy go lucky. Adds a little realism into the story telling.
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The first issue has such a great script but the deeper we go into it, the harder it gets to read.
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It was one of the first stories I read once I really got into reading comics. I’ve always loved it because sure, it was pretty dark and I suppose having Dr Light rape Sue was a bit excessive (though I didn’t think it was out of character for him at all, he was always a bastard (are the mods going to ban me for saying that?) ), but I loved how it showcased several different characters that aren’t really A-listers, like Green Arrow and Ray Palmer. Also, don’t diss that Deathstroke moment, it was awesome. Ludicrous, but awesome. What I loved most about it was that it laid the seeds for many great storylines and it showed that while Batman being paranoid isn’t anything new, he’s right to be at least a little distrustful of his allies. Also, as sad as I was to see Jack Drake die, I felt it was only a matter of time and was glad he at least went down fighting. I wasn’t as attached to Ralph and Sue as some of you because I hadn’t seen Sue before and had only seen Ralph in background moments in other stories so I was interested in seeing a story focused on him for a change.
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It is an incredible story that reminds us how human these characters are despite being works of fiction. Same reason why I love Tom King’s Heroes in Crisis and why I’ve often compared it to Identity Crisis. I can see it years later being just as well-regarded and used for scholarly study just like Identity Crisis.
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