@BatWatch “Every single bit of the story is the heroes responding to the death of Sue.” I don’t think that Captain Boomerang’s story of reuniting with his son is about responding to the death of Sue. And Sue’s flashbacks would definitely be more cohesive than this subplot. When we look at IC we can see 4 major stories: Heroes looking for the killer of Sue Dibny (and being shaken by it), Ralph in mourning, mindwiping Dr Light and Batman after Sue’s rape, Captain Boomerang reuniting with his son. It’s a mess.
I can see this story being fixed this way (my opinion obviously): first two subplots should be the only ones in IC. Sue dies. Half of the story is looking for the killer (hiring a script doctor to make the actions of Jean at least a little more adequate to the situation would suffice), the other half is Ralph dealing with it (with at least 20pgs of flashbacks with Sue sprinkled throughout 7 issues) and perhaps superheroes visiting him and trying to lift a little of the weight. There wasn’t enough of the mourning in the book, in my opinion.
Then I would create another miniseries, which would be released right after IC. It would be focused only on the Satellite Incident. The main characters are Sue and Ralph, dealing with the rape (possibly till she was murdered). The subplot would be in the present. Batman and Doctor Light figuring out being mindwiped and confronting the heroes. Sue has a huge part in mindwiping both characters (that would make her actions crucial in both subplots). You could even tease the Satellite Incident in IC as a red herring like in Meltzer’s version but only tease it.
IMO there is one great comic and one good, which could really do their subject matter justice. But the execution and entanglement of those 2 comics and Captain Boomerang’s subplot into 7 issues makes it just disappointing for me.
And, from what I heard now, JLA Crisis of Conscience ties up the “loose ends” of mindwiping and 52 ties up Ralph’s story (I haven’t read them yet, though). Nothing ties up Sue’s story. And to me, it’s not even tieing up because it suggests that most of the story happens in the miniseries. It’s more like those stories end halfway through and someone had to pick them up and actually make them into stories.