I’m not sure why I even bother with cross-over comics. They usually feel like some comic book artist wanted to draw ALL the superheroes in one go and pitches a decent idea, that in the end just doesn’t work.
I like the set-up of the story, where some villain is going after the family of the heroes. Stories where superheroes are portrayed as humans rather than super-humans usually open up for some proper drama. Not in Identity Crisis though.
The story unfolds as an average (at best!) whodunit, where various DC comic owned characters fight and argue and fight some more. The story never grips me, and it’s all horribly overacted, and questions of morality that are brought up feel…I don’t know, somewhat contrived.
Oh, and then there’s the ever ongoing feud between Batman and Superman, that makes all the nerds giggly and excited. Whose side are you on? Who would take who out, should it come to blows? (Superman, the boring Mr. Goody Two Shoes, would of course turn Batman into a bloody pulp, lest Batman fits some kryptonite on his gloves – always the kryptonite, yawn! But I digress.)
The end result is really rather boring, though with very well crafted drawings. If Identity Crisis has anything going for it, it looks good. Rags Morales and Michael Blair has done a smashing job.
But without the story to back it up, it’s just a bunch of nice pictures.
This review was written as a user review for GoodReads.com