King, Tom
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3 out of 5
(1 book)
Heroes In Crisis
(Art by Clay Mann, Travis Moore, Lee Weeks, Mitch Gerads and Jorge Fornes)
Sanctuary is a secret facility set up by Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to offer anonymous counselling for the psychological and physical traumas suffered by Earth's heroes. An attack against the facility leaves numerous heroes dead, including Arsenal and Wally West's Flash, with Harley Quinn and Booster Gold as the prime suspects. Pursued by the Justice League and the vengeful Quinn, Booster sets out to uncover the truth of what happened with help from his closest friend, Blue Beetle.
I don't want to spoil anything, but this book has gotten a lot of flak for its character-assassination of a beloved hero and I have to say that I pretty much agree with that criticism. The hero in question has long been a favourite of mine and whilst I can see what the writer was trying to do in exploring that character's extreme reaction to their trauma, I still hate it. As a result, nothing else this book does ever really lifts it enough to counterbalance that.
But there is good stuff here, don't doubt it. The idea of heroes having to confront the traumas they've all lived through is an interesting one, particularly in the cases of heroes who've either lost their closest loved-ones or have been through events like their own deaths and resurrections. It's an aspect of superhero stories that hasn't often been explored and I found it very engaging.
By far my favourite element of this book is the bromance between Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, however. Even when the entire Justice League thinks Booster in guilty, Blue Beetle chooses to stick with his friend and go on the run with him. They've both always been underdog characters, so seeing their friendship prove more potent than the combined powers of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman gave this book a strong emotional core.
3 out of 5
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DC Comics (here)