Uh oh. DC is getting grim again. Tom King and Clay Mann’s Heroes in Crisis #1, out this week, is a powerful opener to an intense murder mystery. The scene of the crime is a secluded rural safehouse, Sanctuary, that had been set up as a kind of therapeutic retreat for superheroes dealing with the kind of trauma that, well, comes with the job. The crime scene is a grisly litter of bodies, with several heroes — some of note, even — victims of a mass murder. And the two suspects appear to be, at least at the onset, Harley Quinn and Booster Gold.
Cut between the interactions of Booster and Harley, neither of whom seems particularly clear on the details of what had transpired on the farm, is the preliminary investigation by DC’s Holy Trinity. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman take in the scene with all the weight and seriousness that the event deserves, devoid of the typical technicolor melodrama that often serves as an appropriate separation between the superheroic fictional world and our own sobering reality. It’s the same kind of dark, arresting narrative that we saw from Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales in 2004’s Identity Crisis, and, as such, one can’t help but look back on how that singular event affected the DC Universe that we know — both in print and on the screen — today.
You’ll excuse us from being overly enthusiastic about this Wonder Woman week. Not only is one of the most iconic superheroes in western civilization finally getting her own big-screen Hollywood blockbuster, but early returns have Patty Jenkins’s film standing apart from virtually every other DC flick in recent years: it sounds like a hit! And for New Comic Book Day, the team that brought you 
One of the principal goals of any comic book publishing initiative, particularly one entitled “Rebirth,” is to offer the audience a fresh starting point: for new readers, casual fans, and even the devotees excited for original storylines. This can be a daunting task, particularly when trying to balance character and origin introductions with engaging plot directions that adhere to decades of continuity. No other fanbase is as devoted to the sanctity of said continuity than that of DC comics, so if you’re going to muddy up the timestream, or reorient the multiversal topography, make damn sure you know what you’re doing. Lucky for us, the creative team of Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp, and Nicola Scott know exactly what they’re doing and, with Wonder Woman, have crafted not just one of the best comics in DC’s Rebirth, but one of the best monthly books of 2016.
Wow. I didn’t think this book was coming. Not that I wasn’t expecting a Trinity #1, but a DC superhero book that connects on a human level was a welcome surprise. These characters in capes and armor are manifestations of our fantasies, symbolic of the struggle between good and evil. But when written with care, they become as stirring a curiosity as the real people we encounter. Yes, I do like seeing Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman fight monsters and villains, but what an awesome feeling it is to feel like these characters have real humanity behind them. If universes collapsed, and people that were thought dead turned up alive, I’d expect someone to have some sort of existential crisis, but instead there’s been a lot of business as usual. To see DC’s big three sit down at a dinner table, to watch Bruce speak one way in front of everyone, yet wax sentimental in a moment with Clark, or seeing Wonder Woman confide in Lois because her sisters in Themyscira are lost to her –those are the kind of nuances that take these superhero books out of childish distractions and into the realm of thoughtful entertainment.
Comic book award season is upon us, and before 
Turning Japanese – MariNaomi
The new creative team of Christos Gage and Kris Anka begin their run in Captain Marvel #6 with what amounts to more prologue for Civil War II. Confused as to how Carol and James “Rhodey” Rhodes had become so close in the lead-in stories prior to War Machine getting obliterated by Thanos? Or maybe you were just hoping for some steamy extended bedroom scenes to help you visualize who you’d rather see Marvel cast for the film version: Emily Blunt or Brie Larson? My money’s on Brie, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see Emily brandishing the Kree star…
Given Black Panther’s impending appearance in Marvel Films’ Captain America: Civil War, and a planned solo movie, it would have been easy for the company to simply inundate the comic shop with team book appearances; new series, both limited and ongoing; and half-hearted attempts at putting his face on as many covers as possible. You know, like Deadpool.
The Institute of Idle Time 