Crossing Over

I remember when two crossover events in the 1980s really shook up and reshaped the comic industry's two biggest players.  DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths and Marvel's Secret Wars were two of the best series I'd ever read and really started the annual crossover boom.  I loved that they were both so different than each other, but both so engaging and so much fun.  Well, not fun for characters like the Flash and Supergirl, but they've been resurrected since then...several times.  Out of those came a shift from DC's multiple earths to one.  And, for Marvel, Spider-Man's black suit and The Thing manning his own series, staying on the Secret Wars planet.  Yes, they were indeed creative times. 

Sadly, following those two very successful limited series came a string of unimaginative "sequels" that played on the words "Crisis," "Infinite," "Secret," and "War." The best DC crossover since then has probably been Identity Crisis, wherein the members of the Justice League cross lines of morality.  With the exception of House of M, I haven't seen a decent Marvel crossover event story until now with Avengers Vs. X-Men (but don't get me started on the shortcut name AvX).  I tried reading Civil War, Siege, Fear Itself, Doomwar, etc.  All of them felt subpar.  And sometimes didn't even make any sense to me.  I was really looking forward to Secret Invasion because I thought the concept was fantastic.  Unfortunately, Marvel really let me down.  It was so poorly executed that I stopped reading several titles.  

Anyway, despite my initial lack of enthusiasm for Avengers vs. X-Men when hearing/reading about it, so far, I've really been enjoying it.  It feels fresh, and I don't feel like I have to read additional comics to understand what's going on.  Best of all, the Phoenix Force entity, although overused in the past, is being used in a manner that it different than previously.  It didn't bring back Jean Grey.  It didn't inhabit the body of a red-headed Jean Grey lookalike (yes, I'm talking to you, Madelyne Pryor, Rachel Grey/Summers, and Hope Summers).   Instead, it inhabited five X-Men, giving them immense powers to (so far) do good in the world, but altering their minds and personalities. 

 

While I'm on the subject, let's talk about Madelyne Pryor.  Bringing in this first Jean Grey lookalike was brilliant.  It complicated matters by confusing Scott Summers (Cyclops) and toying with his emotions.  At the same time, Madelyne had to deal with the fact that the man she loved only loved her because she looked like his one true love.  This was some amazing character development.  Unfortunately, Marvel ruined all of this by making Madelyne yet another villain.  Worse, a Phoenix knock-off and Jean Grey clone.  

Avengers Academy #32

With Avengers vs. X-Men, I can truly see why they'd be at war.   The X-Men still hold a grudge against the Scarlet Witch for what she did to their race in House of M.  Meanwhile, the Avengers are trying to stop the Phoenix Force by removing Hope Summers from the equation; the X-Men are just trying to protect their own.  With that many characters involved, though, it's difficult to actually illicit any sort of emotional response from the readers.  There is some decent character development, though mostly in related titles like Wolverine and the X-Men between Kitty Pryde and Colossus, and in Avengers Academy between Juston and his Sentinel.  

I'm looking forward to seeing where Marvel takes the remainder of this series and beyond.  However, I'm skeptical (again) about the new Marvel NOW (secret) plans that promise (threaten?) to reboot the Marvel Universe and restart with all #1 issues, much like DC's New 52 which, as you know from reading my blog postings, I'm not AT ALL happy with.  

Identity Crisis

I'm still catching up with reading past storylines and just finally read the mini-series Identity Crisis. All I can say is...WOW. That was one of the most amazing storylines I've ever read and, despite already knowing the outcome from current series I read, I got weepy at the end.

Brad Meltzer dove into the characters of the Justice League of America better than anyone I've ever read. He showed their human side, that they do err and aren't "perfect." Plus, he answered a lot of questions that readers have probably had since comics began. "Why hasn't anyone figured out the superheroes' secret identities?" Now we know. And we're a bit grateful. Not only for the answer but because the answer showed that our favorite heroes do what they have to do sometimes to keep things in check. They're real people, with real choices. Choices that have consequences they sometimes just have to live with.

I also loved that this series was very adult-oriented. Meltzer didn't dumb down the storyline or go easy on the characters. As an example, I point out the rape scene of Sue Dibny, wife of the Elongated Man. My eyes opened wide. My heart skipped a beat. I actually felt a sense of dread and panic for a character in the "funny books." THAT is the sign of a fantastic writer. Kudos to Meltzer and the entire Identity Crisis storyline. Now currently struggling to enjoy Final Crisis having been mildly shocked by the events in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and been underwhelmed by Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis stands out as the leader in the Crisis pack.