Heroes in Crisis #2 Review!

Heroes in Crisis continues with the mystery of all of the heroes killed at the refuge called Sanctuary.  In charge of the facility was Booster Gold and Harley Quinn and they later get into a brutal fight.  The shocking revelation was that Harley Quinn says she didn’t save them, but Booster Gold killed them.  The Trinity, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are on the site and together they hope to solve the mystery.  The cover for the new issue by Clay Mann has Batman trying to rise up with the Lasso of Truth around his neck and Harley Quinn stepping on his neck.  This seems like a nod to the cover Wonder Woman: Hiketeia (2002) which had Wonder Woman’s boot on Batman’s face.  We get the interview of Poison Ivy, the nine panel grid, with Harley Quinn interrupting her with a touch to her cheek and a “Boop.”  This story, “Then I Became Superman” is by Tom King with art by Clay Mann and Travis Moore.  It opens up to a two page splash with penguins overlooking a wounded Harley Quinn dragging herself in, very cinematic.  This is the club, the Iceberg Lounge, of the Penguin who is about to have a fish dinner while a captive is being held with a gun to his head.  The Penguin looks like the deranged Danny DeVito Penguin from Batman Returns (1992), pale and twisted.  

Harley Quinn asks him for a safe place to hide from everyone.  Batman admits he doesn’t know who killed the residents as he examines the body of Commander Steel with Superman and Wonder Woman.  Superman suspects that Batman had a way of checking on Sanctuary and that he also has Kryptonite in his utility belt.  Batman checks Commander Steel and finds his invulnerable body is not damaged, but finds that he swallowed something and draws out a wind-up pair of teeth, the Joker or Harley Quinn using the trick?  Batman makes his confession without his mask, this is shocking!, he admits that he takes on partners and that they die.  The flying robot, Skeets, checks on Booster Gold waking up in a field.  Booster Gold is confused about the events and says that Harley Quinn was the killer and she says he is the killer.  Then, we get reaction shots of a Southern Rockhopper penguin.  The rest of the page is a splash of Harley Quinn in her jester outfit playing Go Fish with the penguin!  Interrupting the game and shattering the wall is Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman.  Booster Gold flies and wonders if he should turn himself in and Skeets replies that he should turn himself in.  Harley Quinn hugs Wonder Woman to take hold of her Lasso of Truth.  She uses it to lasso Batman by the neck and holds him in a lethal grip while singing.  Harley Quinn forces Batman to admit he has Kryptonite in his belt, unleashes it and leaps away while saying that Booster Gold is the killer. 

Wonder Woman’s confession was as a young girl dreaming that she had a sword cutting her.  She runs to her mother, Queen Hippolyta, who has a golden arrow in her side.  This is all to explain that Wonder Woman just takes the pain.  Who is the person taking these confessions?  The killer?  The Flash is busy knocking out a street of Samuroids while communicating with Booster Gold.  He wonders if he killed Arsenal, Blue Jay, and Ivy with Sketter saying “Shut up.”  Then, ends with Wally West, Flash runs off, and then returns in a splash page he gives Booster Gold a right hook!  Superman says that Harley Quinn is as good as Batman which he denies.  He is watching Harley Quinn’s progress, but sees Flash and Booster Gold and flies away.  Harley Quinn is on the top of a bridge.  She drops a rose and says that she shouldn’t have followed her, Poison Ivy?, and has regrets over the Joker.  Harley Quinn says she shouldn’t have let anyone hurt her.  At the Daily Planet, Lois Lane is busy working on her story when she hears the message from Sanctuary signed by The Puddlers which gets her attention.  Then, we get Superman’s confession, taking off his Clark Kent glasses and struggling with his identity, but no reference to the issue’s title.  The confessions of the Trinity seem separate from the confessions of the Sanctuary residents.  There are clues, but the mystery deepens.  Incredible artwork and the story seems to be taking is to a dark side of the DC Universe!  

Four Pieces of Peach Pie out of Five! 

#HeroesinCrisis, #HarleyQuinn, #BoosterGold, #PoisonIvy