Reading Comics 227 "Ascender, Heroes in Crisis, The Green Lantern, Batman, DCeased"

Ascender #1 (Image)
The sequel series to Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen's robot saga Descender, has already been compared to and/or described as Star Wars.  I'm very glad to see the story continue.  At some point I figure I will add the complete collected editions to my library.  Among all the comics I've read from Lemire, it's my favorite.

Batman #70 (DC)
Tom King seems destined to anger and/or fascinate readers (see below!).  His most recent arc in the series featured a series of nightmares.  I've been adding every collected edition to my library, and have yet to be disappointed in reads or rereads.  I haven't read the complete nightmare sequence; that'll follow in the collected edition (see above!).  This issue sort of wraps it up and begins a new arc.  Batman marches on Arkham!

DCeased #1 (DC)
Tom Taylor, who had some excellent material in the most recent Batman collected edition (Tyrant Wing), and has been toiling away in digital-first comics for probably too long, finally gets to seize the spotlight in a comic I think has been wrongly characterized as the DC equivalent of Marvel Zombies.  But then, I haven't read Marvel Zombies and this is only the first issue of DCeased.  But I like what I see.  Besides Taylor, the coup here is art from Trevor Hairsine (Divinity).

The Green Lantern #7 (DC)
I've kind of officially become a trade-waiter.  I haven't made an effort to read an issue of this Grant Morrison comic (!!!) since the first one.  Issues like this are a surefire way to ensure I will get the trade.  Morrison spends most of it in a literary disposition as he casually rewrites Green Lantern ring lore.  Great issue.

Heroes in Crisis #8 (DC)

Well, it's official.  Wally West did it.  It's a Tom King comic, so of course it's controversial.  A website I follow posted a bad review, which I'm inclined to take with a grain of salt, as it's admittedly a Flash site, and of course Wally West was the Flash, at least solidly in the '90s (most famously in the Mark Waid run, and how Geoff Johns first made his name writing Flash comics before solidly redefining it with Flashpoint). 

Anyway, the site argued that King, who's made his career in comics drawing on his war experiences, somehow goofed the issue, which is clearly a PTSD story in an event comic about PTSD.  Another site I follow gave the issue a poor review claiming it definitely betrays King having altered his original plans for Heroes in Crisis, which does have a documented history of change (first solicited as Sanctuary and as seven rather than nine issues).

Clearly I disagree with these negative reviews.  I'm a fan of King, but I'm not a reader who uncritically accepts things.  Every new project (whether a new comic, or a book, or a movie, or music, etc.) has to justify itself.  Being a fan of a creator or franchise is merely a way to guarantee my interest. 

King's thought process is clearly spelled out in the issue.  He even goes back over ground he covered previously.  This issue is mostly about explaining exactly how Wally did it.  The Flash site claims the issue is a poor representation of PTSD.  I respectfully disagree.  I think everyone who suffers from it (or from anything) believes their suffering is unique.  That's Wally's perspective throughout the issue.  Believing a predicament is unique is intrinsic to human nature; believing any condition is unique is intrinsic to the species.  We're often entirely bound up in our egos.  But in pain it's worst, as we become despondent, and the pain only encourages itself to continue. 

Wally reaches a breaking point.  Interestingly, King actually explains it by expanding on Flash lore, the idea of the Speed Force and what it takes to use it, which has always been Wally's hallmark.  His ability to command the Speed Force became Waid's ticket to a series of great stories.  And yet, in his new circumstances Wally has been cut off from everything he once took for granted, the family Waid ultimately left him with.  Even Barry, his famous "Trial of the Flash," endured considerable mental torment (with or without the intervention of Eobard Thawne).  He loses control for a moment, and accidently kills a handful of heroes.

In panic, he deliberately takes more lives.  At this point it becomes a Parallax situation.  Parallax was the fear entity that took over Hal Jordan following the loss of Coast City.  A momentary lapse of willpower compromised Hal for years.  This is really no different.  A Wally already suffering makes a terrible decision.  That's it.

There's one more issue.  And, folks, this is comics.  Wally West will run again.  He will be a hero again.  And regardless, we have those great Waid stories.  Hopefully, if nothing else, Heroes in Crisis will lead readers to read them for the first time.  They're among the all-times great.  I've listed "The Return of Barry Allen" as my all-time favorite in the past.  One story can't change that.  Why in the world would it?  Could it? 

This would be one thing if King were just mucking around.  But King doesn't muck around.  He tells compelling stories, that challenge, that go well beyond the scope other comic book writers typically conceive.  Heroes in Crisis is no different.  Fans heaped praise on King for The Vision.  DC clearly expected that for Mister Miracle.  He delivered, regardless of fan response, and he has delivered again with Heroes in Crisis.  This guy's one of the all-time greats.