Wasn't Constantine born in the regular DC line? Does he count as a crossover?

I don't think my opinion of a new issue, even a one-word summary, should be un-whitefonted when you're citing it the day it comes out, PC. And my feeling about the speech that other people found moving was that it was a speech. A long speech. What makes comics special as a medium is that it can combine words and images for effect. There are so many things they could have done with what Dick is feeling, and they use a speech? Meh.

Also, the flashbacks to the *previous day* are fine as far as they go, but there doesn't seem to be a strong narrative reason for making them flashbacks, other than getting to start the story mid-fight. I tend to think that if Dick were remembering things at this point in the story, it wouldn't be things that happened the previous day, it would be things that have happened in the nearly 20 years he's tried to live by the Batman's code.

But, not much really happened in this issue, so, whatever, I'll wait for the next one.

I think my favorite part of Identity Crisis #1 was the two-page spread at the funeral. Geek central. I will continue picking this up, though I don't imagine I'll spring for the bound volume when it comes out.

I don't think my opinion of a new issue, even a one-word summary, should be un-whitefonted when you're citing it the day it comes out, PC.

Rectified.

About Tarantula, do you think that they're going to kill her off? It would be one more loss -- just when you think Nightwing's hit bottom. I thought of this re-reading the place where Copperhead bites her and she makes some comment about how he just happens to have snake venom antidote. I would guess that her lack of preparedness might do her in.

I found NW #94 a good post-93 lull. Dick is so very still for most of this, which really struck me. I'm so-so on the art--92 was worse, and Amych is right about the colorist. Given this summer's big crossover event, there's not much they can really do right now in terms of involved storylines. I'd have liked to see an artist I'm fonder of doing the pencils, because this was a very visual issue, and the artist wasn't quite up to snuff.

Amych! I read Legends. And yes, you're right, I needed to. Also, need scans. Because Icons Ahoy!

Re: Identity Crisis #1 I was unexpectedly gutted by it. I like the writer, so I thought for a Big! Event! Book! it would be okay, but it had me near tears. Mind, I'm hormonal and wept at the Spidey trailer, and spent about an hour and a half reading Young Justice and crying two nights ago, but still.

Re: Green Arrow #39 Mia. Killed. Someone. I am pausing to allow this to sink in.

Yeah, Identity Crisis rocked pretty hard. I was not completely surprised about Sue's death--I'd heard rumors, and there was speculation abounding as to who dies, but really, the death's not the big part of the story. What I DON'T know is what the JLA's secret is. That, I'm curious about.

Agreed, Victor. I stumbled (err, okay, googled) across the identity of the victim, and realized right away that that wasn't the big deal thing. It's clearly what's going to kick off a hell of a lot more.

Yep, it's not the death that's significant, it's the circumstances of the death. Plus, old school JLA is always cool, and it's interesting the characters who were evidently OUT of the loop on the big secret--Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman (who, in current continuity--would have come alter) Aquaman. Pretty much the core of the team was out in the cold on whatever it is.

Nightwing #94:

There was less focus on Tarantula than I expected, from reading the initial reactions here; maybe I'm just not used to the conventions of superhero comics yet. I do think that the action scenes are Tarantula-focused rather than Nightwing-focused because Grayson is continuing to emphasize that Tarantula sees herself as a hero and considers what she does as morally justified. This was, for me, one of the most fascinating things about the story arc climaxing in #93: Tarantula isn't actually an anarchic force, she has quite a strong moral philosophy -- it's just one that's really messed up. She actually sees everything she does in #93--from shooting Blockbuster to fucking Nightwing--as being, not just fun, but the Right Thing to Do. And she's not oblivious enough not to notice that Nightwing is a mess, but she's oblivious enough to interpret it entirely through her own biases, which are that he's not used to facing The Real Hard Truth of the World, and he still needs to loosen up.

The previous arc led up to a climax in which definitions of heroism/questions about vigilantism/concepts of maximum allowable force clashed -- and Dick caved, in part because he never did see how seriously Tarantula took her own definitions. I think there's a lot farther for him to fall, but along with the personal conflicts of this arc, it still looks like one of the central concerns is going to be Dick's (re)construction of his own idea of morality -- which may end up reaffirming the ideas of Batman & Babs (or his own perception of their ideas), but which is going to have to take Tarantula into account as well.

I think she's probably going to be dead by the end of it, because in plot terms her recklessness is an unfired gun and in symbolic terms she seems to be the limited and selfish view that needs to be sacrificed in order to create a more mature philosophy.

But, as I said, I don't know that I get superhero comics yet; so maybe I'm coming at this from a completely cracked perspective.

[edited for typos]

Micole! You've said what I've wanted to say so much better than I ever could.