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Post by Prince Hal on Aug 8, 2014 10:35:40 GMT -5
It was solvable, so I appreciated it for at least being a fair mystery. I remember getting in some testy exchanges on the old dccomics.com message board when I pointed my finger at Jean several issues before the reveal with someone who wouldn't accept what I thought was quite obvious evidence that Jean was faking her own murder attempt. Actually, the whole series triggered a lot of testy exchanges. I rather enjoyed the mystery...I guess I imagined it as a murder mystery with characters played by some of my favorite superheroes more than a real story about those superheroes' lives. As I recall, there were also a lot of clues that suggested that Captain Boomerang Jr. was not really Boomerang's son, but was the product of an affair between Barry Allen and Sue Dibney. I don't know if that was misdirection or an abandoned idea or whether I was just reading more into it than Meltzer intended, but it seemed pretty obvious to me. A well-stated review.
I guess I imagined it as a murder mystery with characters played by some of my favorite superheroes more than a real story about those superheroes' lives. I'm going to use this quote when trying to explain what I liked about Identity Crisis in the future. Now I need to one that I can use for what I didn't like about it... I missed the Barry/Sue angle.
You know, I stopped reading Identity Crisis after an issue or two: I was just so repelled by the way in which the writer was treating the characters. However, mw, in his typical clear-headed way, explains the story's merits as a mystery, which prompted a thought. To employ characters with well established patterns of behavior and consistently displayed character traits in the service of said mystery was what was unacceptable. Maybe I would have been more likely to stick with IC if it had been written as a Watchmen-styled alternate universe allegory, in which, say, the fear that Batman has fascistic tendencies or in which a criminal might well indeed rape a hero's wife to seek revenge would have been believable. Because I didn't stay with it, I can't speak authoritatively, but I'm guessing DC was trying to set up some changes in whichever universe IC was supposed to have occurred: therefore the use of the icons of the company. And I'm sure they didn't want an Elseworlds- or Watchmen-style story b/c they wanted to show the grim, gritty, dark, ( choose your tired adjective) side of characters the suits in charge regard as too chivalrous, noble, etc., etc.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 9, 2014 9:43:00 GMT -5
I think it all comes down to the same thing... DC has equated dark and depressing to 'realistic' for quite a while now.
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Post by MWGallaher on Aug 10, 2014 5:22:17 GMT -5
I missed the Barry/Sue angle.
I can't remember them all in proper detail, but the #1 hint is that Boomerang Jr. has super-speed. Also Ralph's narration sets up a time line that suggests Barry and Sue knowing each other for about as long as Boomer Jr. has been alive, and goes on about how popular Sue was, out of his league, etc. Also the dialogue between Calculator and Boomerang doesn't sound like Boomer hired Calculator to find his son, but instead that Calculator was pressuring Boomer to claim to be the kid's father.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2014 15:01:58 GMT -5
I missed the Barry/Sue angle.
I can't remember them all in proper detail, but the #1 hint is that Boomerang Jr. has super-speed. Also Ralph's narration sets up a time line that suggests Barry and Sue knowing each other for about as long as Boomer Jr. has been alive, and goes on about how popular Sue was, out of his league, etc. Also the dialogue between Calculator and Boomerang doesn't sound like Boomer hired Calculator to find his son, but instead that Calculator was pressuring Boomer to claim to be the kid's father. Wow, I don't remember picking up on any of that. Now I'm almost tempted to re-read the series. Almost.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2014 15:11:21 GMT -5
I can't remember them all in proper detail, but the #1 hint is that Boomerang Jr. has super-speed. Also Ralph's narration sets up a time line that suggests Barry and Sue knowing each other for about as long as Boomer Jr. has been alive, and goes on about how popular Sue was, out of his league, etc. Also the dialogue between Calculator and Boomerang doesn't sound like Boomer hired Calculator to find his son, but instead that Calculator was pressuring Boomer to claim to be the kid's father. Wow, I don't remember picking up on any of that. Now I'm almost tempted to re-read the series. Almost. Tempted eh, perhaps we can work out a bargain..... -M today's message has been brought to you by the letter M is for Mephisto political action group and does not reflect the views, opinions, or positions of this site, its' staff, or its' members.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2014 19:29:10 GMT -5
Wow, I don't remember picking up on any of that. Now I'm almost tempted to re-read the series. Almost. Tempted eh, perhaps we can work out a bargain..... -M today's message has been brought to you by the letter M is for Mephisto political action group and does not reflect the views, opinions, or positions of this site, its' staff, or its' members. Get thee behind me, mrp! unless you really can work that changing history bit. then, maybe we'll talk. . .
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 10, 2014 22:09:17 GMT -5
Wow, I don't remember picking up on any of that. Now I'm almost tempted to re-read the series. Almost. Tempted eh, perhaps we can work out a bargain..... -M today's message has been brought to you by the letter M is for Mephisto political action group and does not reflect the views, opinions, or positions of this site, its' staff, or its' members. Pfftt... that Mephisto guy is small potatoes these days. You need to talk to the true lord of all Hells:
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2014 22:22:41 GMT -5
Sorry anyone named Guido in the Marvel Universe is by definition suffering from delusions of grandeur, or in this case, delusions of adequacy Just because the other kids made your life a living hell does not make you a true lord of Hell...sorry to burst his bubble. -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 11, 2014 10:32:24 GMT -5
The facts are the facts, my friend.. PAD says so, so it must be true
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2014 12:46:48 GMT -5
The facts are the facts, my friend.. PAD says so, so it must be true Facts are ephemeral, they change on a daily basis, truth however is immutable and eternal. Never confuse facts for truth. -M
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Post by Action Ace on Aug 11, 2014 13:05:33 GMT -5
The fact is, I have no idea who that is on the throne in Wildfire2099's picture.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,821
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Post by shaxper on Aug 11, 2014 14:14:19 GMT -5
The fact is, I have no idea who that is on the throne in Wildfire2099's picture. Guido/Strong Guy, most notably of X-Factor, and Lila Cheney's personal bodyguard in X-Men prior to that.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 11, 2014 15:25:13 GMT -5
The fact is, I have no idea who that is on the throne in Wildfire2099's picture. Guido/Strong Guy, most notably of X-Factor, and Lila Cheney's personal bodyguard in X-Men prior to that. And, most recently, a contestant in the war for Hell, in which all the various manifestations of the devil in the Marvel Universe (including Mephisto, Hela, Satanna, and several others) all fought over control of Rayne Sincair (wolfsbane's) child. Strong Guy got himself killed to save Monet (his girlfriend.. and X Character orginally from the Generation X series), and got involved... and ended up winning. He was name overlord of hell, so he's techincally Mephisto (and everyone else's boss)... though no one else has referred to it in a comic since.
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Post by Action Ace on Aug 11, 2014 15:45:31 GMT -5
The fact is, I have no idea who that is on the throne in Wildfire2099's picture. Guido/Strong Guy, most notably of X-Factor, and Lila Cheney's personal bodyguard in X-Men prior to that. That would be why I've never heard of him.
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 11, 2014 17:01:21 GMT -5
Guido/Strong Guy, most notably of X-Factor, and Lila Cheney's personal bodyguard in X-Men prior to that. And, most recently, a contestant in the war for Hell, in which all the various manifestations of the devil in the Marvel Universe (including Mephisto, Hela, Satanna, and several others) all fought over control of Rayne Sincair (wolfsbane's) child. Strong Guy got himself killed to save Monet (his girlfriend.. and X Character orginally from the Generation X series), and got involved... and ended up winning. He was name overlord of hell, so he's techincally Mephisto (and everyone else's boss)... though no one else has referred to it in a comic since. Maybe it was actually a Mephistobot.
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