Comic Review: Heroes in Crisis (2018-) #3

Heroes in Crisis (2018-) #3

DC Comics

Writer: Tom King

Artist: Clay Mann

I don’t know who’s killed more Titans at this point, Superboy Prime or Tom King.

Someone at DC is definitely enacting their master plan to destroy the entire Titans generation of characters.  Honestly, it’s a little ridiculous at this point.  I’m not sure if it’s Tom King, Dan Didio, or some intern pulling the strings, but it’s impressive, to say the least.  Not even a month after Dick Grayson got shot in the head, we get Heroes in Crisis.  It feels like all of the work that DC Rebirth set up is being undone.  Just a few years after Wally was brought back in DC Universe: Rebirth #1, he gets killed off again.

But Wally West isn’t the only unnecessary victim in this storyline.  This entire issue is a flashback to what happened during the Sanctuary Massacre.  And for an entire issue that doesn’t move the plot forward, I don’t think it answers any important questions either.  This issue confirms the death of many other heroes; Lagoon Boy, Solstice, Red Devil, and Nemesis are just a few more bodies thrown onto the pile.  I think this is really a shame as these characters haven’t shown up anywhere recently just to be killed off in this story.  Their deaths are more of a plot device than anything else.  Characters like Wally we know will come back eventually, but the C-listers like Commander Steel and Nemesis, these guys are dead.  Few writers will care enough in the future to bring these characters back.  It’s a shame for the fans of these obscure characters. This story also seems to firmly cement Harley Quinn as the fourth pillar of the DC Universe.  Although she already was in terms of sales, Tom King is trying to even her power level as well.  Last issue Harley was able to overpower the Trinity.  You would think that the absurdity would stop there but this issue doesn’t make anything better.  In this issue, Harley manages to take Wally out with her hammer.  It’s just as embarrassing if not more than the Deathstroke fight in Identity Crisis.  I think Harley is a great character, but pushing her so hard and forcing her into situations where she has no right being doesn’t make any sense.

Tom King’s writing in this issue is typical of his style.  I feel like he does a poor job of showing things instead of telling.  A lot of the information about Sanctuary is given in large info dumps.  I actually liked some of the interviews in this issue.  I think the catchphrase segment was quite cool.

Even though I’m not a fan of this story, this book certainly looks beautiful.  Clay Mann and Lee Weeks on art are excellent.  Although I would prefer to have the whole series penned by a single artist, I understand the necessity for getting this book out on time.

Heroes in Crisis #3 fails to move the story forward and is also insulting to the fans of the many characters who’s deaths get brushed off.  I honestly loved the idea of a trauma center for superheroes, but that is not what heroes in crisis is about.  There are so many problems with this book that it’s hard to say what the biggest is.  Characters like Booster Gold are out of character, there are massive plot holes for the sake of the story, and characters die for the sake of dying.  If I had to sum up my problem with this story, it’s that it just didn’t need to happen.  So many character deaths and character inconsistencies are crammed together to move the story forward.  King originally pitched this story as a superhero trauma center, and I wished that’s what we got.