I'm really tired of this COVID mask motif we see in a lot of comics today. Don't get me wrong, wear a mask, it's good for you, I just see enough of that in the real world, could I please escape from this nightmare at least in my comics or do I have to get tortured there too? King continues with his classic boring deconstruction: the pykkts are actually not that bad, they supposedly fought with honor even though we haven't seen a shred of honor from them so far but we have to take King's word for it. That's just bad writing. Alanna continues to play Adam like a fool and he's not the hero we all thought he was. Cool, we get that, but can we progress a little and get some answers? For 9 issues we got teases that the girl's not actually dead, how much more decompression do we need? more

First of all, skip the synopsis. Nothing happens in this issue what synopsis says.

Positives. Artwork is pretty good. Althought the sexualisation of Harley, Batgirl and Lois just doesn't make sense here. It's so out of place. And yes, the positives just became a negative thjing.

And then, what problems does this have you may ask. Well. First of all, nothing happens. Booster escapes, Harley meets Batgirl and Lois Lane releases the vids or something to the public of the Sanctuary because reasons.

Writing is bad. Especially for Batman, which is odd, since KING WRITES BATMAN AND WILL WRITE IT FOR ANOTHER 38 ISSUES OR SOMETHING. Or isn't and it shows how doomed we are.

4 issues in and we still have no idea what happened. Was it Harley who doesn't care that Ivy dies or was it Booster who is the one character King clearly cannot write well. At all. Who knows, not me. WHo cares, not me. Perhaps it is an A.I. that Batman created. And that will be revealed in the last issue.

All those deaths feel so meaningless, since nobody reacts to them. GA was the only one and that happened in his own comic which was much better.

Idea itself isn't bad, the execution is. This event feels like King thinks his writing is so deep and clever. Well it isn't. It's boring and/or bad. And so is this comic. I wouldn't mind but it is so big event that has so many consequences that I cannot ignore it. more

Sexualization of trauma, objectification of women's body in contrast with the treatment of male characters, decompression with literally empty, copy pasted panels and heroes worrying more about their egos rather than a slaughter in their own safe space.

I know that there is a fetish thing with the Killing Joke but Heroes in Crisis goes a step further with this idea. Good art is not enough. It needs a story too. And there is no story here. But most importantly...

When Moore wrote Promethea, when Amy wrote Poison Ivy, when Snyder wrote Batman, all three very smart and intellectual people, they used subtlety to make their points obvious yet discreet. This is the opposite. This is boasting. This is ego.

Pausing your story to show Batgirls boob job or doing a sexy Lois Lane exposition, boobs and butts and sensuality in a story about people getting brutally murdered while trying to find help for mental problems is bad and tasteless.

But even more tasteless is making Harley Quinn forget about mourning Poison Ivy in a second. It's about making heroes act in the most selfish way, caring only about their ego and nothing more instead of their dead friends. more

I normally give 2's to comics that generally offended me, and this issue really did.

And no, I could care less about the apparent "hypersexualization" of Lois Lane and Barbara in this issue.

It's Tom King's writing of every character in this book makes me want to stop reading comics.

The Trinity is literally incompetent in this series: Batman is a dope, and Superman is written as a naive and idiotic buffoon who apparently puts his job as a reporter first before the secrets and struggles of the entire superhuman community.

King continues to try to make Harley DC's Deadpool, with her literally being immune to any judgment or harm. And apparently Batgirl is seen by Bruce as a "pitiful and broken" and "just another product of his failure to capture the Joker"? Have you never read a comic before King! What a disgrace!

The one thing Tom King got right about this book is the title of the issue: "$%@# This", and $%@# you Tom King. more

In one word: bland.

Not good but not bad either. Simply middle of the road. You’d think as we’re essentially at the halfway point of the story that things would be more tense and suspenseful, but in truth it’s hard to get excited when issues are full to the brim of needless filler and one tidbit of new information to keep the story flowing. With such a slow buildup, it’s a wonder if the initial plan was for 9 issues in the arc, or if that was a profit making decision somewhere up the tree.

More of that poor characterisation we’ve come to expect. I’ll be completely honest, I’m not totally familiar with Lois and Clark, but surely when they’re friends and families mental health and secrets are at stake, they would put their career progression to one side? Am I the only one thinking the dialogue seems off too? It all sounds the same no matter who’s speaking. It’s like personalities have been taken out all together.

On the upside, Clay Mann’s art is again exceptional. He really is a true talent and an asset to this series. The addition of Batgirl and Blue Beetle make interesting allies for Harley and Booster. One element I’m happy to see a little more of. more

there's nothing i can say that other reviewers have already said more eloquently than i ever could.

this event is pure garbage. absolute total garbage.

There's a sweet Stan Lee in memoriam page at the very end of this comic, naturally with his signature "Excelsior!". I have a better quote, though. One that could summarize what I think of Heroes in Crisis, and what Tom King should ask DC to do with it. Or him - doesn't make a difference to me.
"Finish - spare the shame!", as Sienkiewicz wrote in The Deluge.

If you've been following previous issues, wasting your time and brain cells on them, you already know it's a boring, out of character slug of an event, as thought-provoking as Fox News propaganda (sorry, Comicsverse, but shots fired). I would normally just ignore it after 1-2 issues, seeing what it is, and realizing it's not for me, but we're talking about a universe-shaking crossover event with long lasting consequences on DC. Thus, I can't just ignore it and its awfulness.

Is there anything good about it? Art is decent, and Harley-Batgirl team-up made me recall good old Dini days and great chemistry these two had. I wouldn't mind a crossover series with them, kind of a buddy cop adventure, as long as King doesn't write it, that is.

I'd say avoid this dumpster fire, but I know you won't listen. It's too big to ignore, I feel the pain, and Tom King will definitely not beg DC to spare him shame by finishing it quickly and painlessly. more

"$%@# this"

That kinda sums it up. In all honesty, this issue is really mixed and uneven. There are some nice moments and then there are "what the hell is this?!" moments.

Let's start with the good things. The art is phenomenal. Everything looks great, the heroes, locations, backgrounds, but the winner is the page with Lois. I can't take my eyes off it. She looks stunning.

As for the nice moment... well, let me think... ok, I've got few.
- Black Canary's interview (I'm guessing it reflect perfectly some readers attitude for this book).
- Booster and Beetle's bromance.
- And Triniti's conversation in the Bat-cave (I'll hide the dinosaur).

But let's get down to the meat. Let's talk about the things that don't work.
- First, Donna's interview. It's confusing, seems pointless and it just feels weird for me to question the existence of Troy in a world with actual Greek gods and where Shazam literally has the courage of Achilles.
- Second, Batgirl's encounter with Harley and that page with their hands. I know what it was supposed to represent, but it looked like they decided to stop fighting and to start getting frisky with each other. Where they ever friends? What did I miss?
- Three, the biggest NO of the issue. "As pitiful. Broken."; "Another scared, scarred girl" and the beautiful, "think they know us not knowing us". The last one is just stupidly funny. The first two are just plain wrong in my opinion. Sure, Batman act's like a dick (no, I don't mean Nightwing) many times, but I would never accuse him of such things. For me, it always seemed that underneath all the brooding and anger Batman is actually really compassionate.
- And the last one. The issue feels like another filler. The story doesn't seem to go anywhere and feels all over the place.

I'm sad. I really enjoyed the first two issues, but the book suddenly took a dive in quality, excluding the art, that bit is stellar. I hope it will bounce back. But if it will continue down the current path I'm guessing each next issue will be getting a lower and lower score.
Yeah. more

DC really wants us to hate lois lane those days huh
plus, who cares if the joker used to hit harley?
first, everybody already knows that
second, she is being so OP lately that i found surprising that the joker didint break every bone in his body just by standing next to harley
but the biggest problem still how hard this is trying to be dark
it ends up looking like a 13 years old wrote this
tom king needs a break more