Broken Frontier

Superman never came back from the dead. Not really. And neither did Green Arrow nor Wonder Woman, despite their supposed “resurrections” over the last several years. None of them fully escaped death, because it still all haunts them.

Case in point: The murder of Sue Dibney. The sacrifice of Firestorm. The death of Jack Drake. Even the end of Captain Boomerang. All of these fatalities from the pages of Identity Crisis rang through the halls of superherodom, afflicting those who had returned from the hereafter just as much as those who constantly managed to defy it. Ask not for whom the bell tolls, Superman -- it can still toll for thee.

And yet, random casualties alone are not what made Identity Crisis the Best Limited Series of 2004. (Certainly, as many Avengers fell during “Disassembled,” and even more villains in Wanted.) Tied into the taut murder mystery penned by Brad Meltzer and cunningly drawn by Rags Morales was, in fact, a potential fate worse than death: Not the loss of life, but rather the loss of self. How alive is someone if only pieces of their mind remain – if they were robbed, in the name of justice, of their personality?

Of course, certain characters were restored to their full personalities...in a sadistic sort of way. Robin is once again the orphaned ward of Bruce Wayne. The Atom once again has giant-sized agita to once again dwarf his miniaturizing abilities. And, with regard to the lingering dilemma of Batman’s lost memories, the Flash remains the fastest – if not most poker-faced – man alive, Green Arrow resumes his post as DC Comics extreme ideologue, Superman forced, idealist innocence is reaffirmed, and the Dark Knight is further proven to be one of the most dangerous men on the planet. Locked in his mind resides the secret to destroy the Justice League entirely and permanently.

And so the Countdown begins.

As such, incidentally, Identity Crisis may also stand further worthy as recipient of Best Limited Series for its being the first domino to fall in the chain that will likely lead to DC Comics’ Crisis 2. After all, they do not use the C-word lightly in the House that Clark Built, and, as stated by Loeb, Meltzer, Johns and the other scribes yonder, this is not Secret Wars II; there is a very deliberate plan in place, one that will continue to unfold even as Identity Crisis concludes.

So, even as we bid R.I.P. to Sue, Jack, Ronnie, and, well, Digger, a new Firestorm rises from the ashes in his own new series, and Mrs. Dibney lives again – or pre-posthumously – in I Can’t Believe It’s Not the Justice League mini-series. In a sense, then, the dead continue to have new life (especially as several of the sideline mysteries – Luthor’s armor, Boomerang Jr.’s parentage – remain unsolved). And, as such, perhaps my opening statement was incorrect: Maybe the resurrected characters are just as much in death’s shadow as any living character.

They continue to live just as much in Crisis as we do.

- A. David Lewis