Identity Crisis (DC, 2004-2005)

Identity Crisis hardback (DC, 2004-2005) with DC Direct Identity Crisis Series 1 Green Arrow.

I finished reading the Identity Crisis graphic novel a couple nights ago a couple nights ago, and I must say it was a masterpiece. Please do your self a favor and pick up a copy- I grabbed my hardback version online for $13.50. The 6" DC Direct Green Arrow action figure I picked up on eBay last November for $6.95- I have two other Green Arrow action figures, one a DCD New Frontier, the other a Mattel DCUC, but this one is kinda special being the only I have from this series.

I stand beside my previous statement that I am not an expert on comics, and that Super-DuperToyBox isn't really a comics blog, but since the toys featured here are based on superheroes, the literature goes hand in hand with that. On the sidebar of this blog I've began expanding the selection of comics blogs, namely New Readers... Start here!, where I read about tonight's featured selection. New Readers... is great for a guy like myself, who had been away for comics since childhood and was out of the loop, so to speak, but could prove useful to anyone who might be interested on any level.

Identity Crisis is a gritty tale of the dangerous lives of DC Universe superheroes and how their loved ones are affected by their duties of saving the world from the forces of evil. A close look inside their interpersonal lives shows some of the often unobserved hardships and sacrifice heroes like Superman, Batman, Robin The Boy Wonder, Elongated Man, The Atom, and The Flash suffer through as defenders of justice. I particularly enjoyed the close look I got inside the mind of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, whom I had read very little about in the past. And the mythos of Batman is expertly portrayed here- though unseen through the first half the book, his presence if still felt wandering through the shadows, always just out of sight. Without spoiling any of the plot keys, mortality is running theme throughout the book, as well as with the base personalities & egos of the characters. Much deeper than most of the comics I read as a child, the themes are very adult- often violent, and touching on the "gray areas" of morality these people would possibly struggle with in real life. This is truly the best time ever to be reading comics- they are done better than any time before. The writing (Brad Meltzer) and art (Rags Morales & Michael Bair) are both top-notch here!