Friday 6 April 2007

Those Unmistakable Underoos

Okay, I confess - I liked Identity Crisis! Stop laughing! Yeah you..at the back. Stop laughing or get out! Don't make me come down there.

Anyway - I know the whole murder mystery side of it was a mess and the resolution made every sane man, woman and child go HUH?!, but I still liked it.

The league within the league, the mindwipes, the secrets, the intrigue, the children - won't somebody please think of the children....no wait, scratch that last part, got carried away.

I really like the idea that to keep the DC superhero community from crashing down around all their ears the second string heroes have been having to get their hands dirty. Secretly doing things the iconic heroes wouldn't approve of for the good of them and their loved ones. It's a novel approach and it makes for an interesting story - or at least I thought so.

What really makes it work is that the iconic heroes like Superman & Wonder Woman (not so much Bats) are painted as iconic, and we see them through the somewhat awe-filled eyes of the second stringers like Green Arrow and Flash.

The best example of this is when they call Wonder Woman to interview Slipknot in prison. Check it out:
We don't even see Diana's face, all we see are the lasso and those star-spangled underoos. That's all we need to see. WW makes her prescense felt even without a single line of dialogue. It really works it's magic on you, you end up seeing her as Ollie does.

It's a great moment. It really makes the iconic heroes we know so well seem bigger than life again, the way they should (even if it does sully their names a little in the process).

Plus Green Arrow is great throughout the book. How can you not love Ollie though? He's got the little Robin Hood hat, the Errol Flynn beard, he cusses like a sailor...

No?

Fine then.... you freaking robots.

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