And, no, I'm not talking about the current mini-series.

I recently got JLA #122 (vol.1) by Marty Pasko, and the Dicks - Dillin and Giordano. It was a self-contained lovely little story, entitled Identity Crisis where (30 year old spoilers...) Dr. Light broke in to the Fortress of Solitude, and with the help of his trusty light gun, and a chunk of Amnesium (miss the silver age, anyone?) learned all of the JLA's secret identities, and then swapped them around so that the characters thought they were other members (Bruce thought he was Ollie, Hal thought he was Barry, etc.) Of course, the JLA won, but except for one little arrogant oversight, he had defeated the entire JLA. Sort of puts the current mini-series in a whole new light. (heh, heh)

Now in honour of that fun little issue, I am about to attempt to remove all mystery from the IDC mini-series, thus causing the piece of merde to fall of the shelves for lack of suspense:

The killer is the Silver Age Thanagarian Hawkwoman.

My evidence: (in story)
The killer knows these women, and the impact their deaths will have on the men. Everybody knew Sue, but Jean Loring?
The person is targeting the Satellite era JLA. Therefore, they've been around since the Silver Age, The killer was aware of what had been done to Dr. Light, which was obviously kept a strict secret by the JLA
The Thanagarians are killers
Targeting the spouses of the JLA, instead of the JLA members, is looking to share the pain of losing a spouse
I suspect the reason will be that she was driven insane by the on-going regular character deaths and rebirths (Clark, Hal, Carter, Ray, Bruce, etc.), but when Hawkman was reborn, it wasn't "her" Hawkman
She has access to all sorts of wonderful toys to make deaths look like Dr. Light, and could restore his memory with the absorbascon.
Last seen departing Earth, and therefore no one is aware of her current location.

Evidence (out of Story)
The character has been cut off from any continuity reality, and is therefore disposable
The creative team will be able to tell that the WiR crowd that it's different, because the killer is herself a woman.

Of course, I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. So, since that's out of the way, how about nobody else buy IDC, and we get on to supporting good comics instead?

Jason

Way ahead of you. I dropped it after issue # 1. I'm toying with the idea of sending it to Paul Levitz in pieces.

The killer will be revealed to either be the Atom or the Elongated man and yes this mini series is the biggest POS of all time.

[NODS]

Even though I haven't read or flipped through a single issue of this "book". Just the little I've heard about it makes me long for the days when the biggest POS comic of all time was "Secret Wars".

"Secret Wars" was OK for what it was; basically a finite comic series to help Marvel sell a line of toys. Now Secret Wars II, on the other hand, was useful only for inducing vomiting.

I wouldn't mind Identity Crisis if it didn't corrupt the DCU so much. I didn't need an "explanation" for why Dr. Light and so many other villains were goofy. I simply understood that that's how they were. This series just isn't necessary in that respect.

Thinking of crossovers, DC had tentatively titled a mini-series after Crisis on Infinite Earths titled "Crisis on Captive Earth". It was a working title of a comic scheduled to come out in the spring of 1986. The creative staff was to be:

Paul Levitz - Plotter
Len Wein - Scripter
Jerry Ordway - Penciller
Karl Kesel - Inker

It never came to fruition and they did Legends instead, which had nothing to do with Crisis on Captive Earth.

As described in the 1986 Amazing Heroes Preview by editor Bob Greenberger:
"Part of it is an attempt by DC to work within the framework of the new universe, and establish some new elements to it that will be carried on within the mainline books. For example, we'll be introducing a media magnate of sorts who appreciates the fact that there are super-heroes, but is somewhat suspicious and cautious of them because they all wear masks. He will play a major role, and after the series will be a part of our universe."

Greenberg also talked about how Crisis on Captive Earth would further explorer the, then, newly merged DC Universe. Using that premise, what do you think could've been done in a 12-issue series?

{{Edited to fix the line about Legends and not being related to the Crisis on Captive Earth story.}}

Handy if you've accidentally swallowed poison, then...

Correct. Most parents keep special medicines on hand in case their kids swallow something they're not supposed to. I use a copy of SECRET WARS II with the Beyonder in all his 70s-discotheque glory...



See? I bet you're feeling nauseous...

I thought Jim Shooter really dressed up like that when he went out to paint the town.

Favorite comic-book industry joke:

Q: What's 18 inches long and hangs in front of an a--hole?









A: Jim Shooter's tie!

Y'know one thing I'll give the current Idenity Crisis is that it has fantastic artwork. Rags Morales is awesome....

Really? It doesn't impress me at all. Ah well, different strokes... (i like the covers though... who is that? Turner?)

LOL.... different strokes, indeed! I can't stand Turner's art!

Not a big fan of Jim Lee, either.

I was half right.

Sounds like a toned-down version of J Jonah Jameson - it is probably for the best that they didn't go with it.