Heroes in Crisis #2 Review and **SPOILERS**

Yes Father, I Shall Become a Rat

Writer: Tom King 

Artists: Clay Mann & Travis Moore 

Colors: Tomeu Morey & Arif Prianto 

Letters: Clayton Cowles 

Cover By: Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey 

Variant Covers By: Ryan Sook 

Associate Editor: Brittany Holzherr 

Editor: Jamie S. Rich 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: October 31, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Do you think they’ll kill Wally West…again??!

Find out when you read my review of Heroes in Crisis #2, right here!

Explain It!

The heroes being treated at Sanctuary have been viciously murdered, and we all have two questions: “What??” and “What the hell, man?!” It’s time for the Super-Trio of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman to find out! Namely Batman. Sure, they’ll probably make use of Supes’ X-ray vision at some point, but the deducing is gonna be all Batman. To that end, he’s doing a little autopsy on Commander Steel, to remove something lodged in his throat. While in surgery, Clark and Diana ask him where the list of patients is kept. He explains that Sanctuary was meant to be anonymous, so there is no list. They’re all like, c’mon man, we know you kept a list, you literally keep methods to kill everyone in the Justice League on deck at all times. Bruce is all no, no really, I totally don’t have a list and stuff, and plus here’s what was jammed in Commander Steel’s neck: some novelty chattering teeth.

Speaking of novelty chattering teeth, Harley Quinn has made a deal with the Penguin to hide her away in one of his Gotham City waterfront warehouses, complete with a King Penguin there to play cards with. I don’t mean King Penguin, I mean an actual penguin, with a beak and bird feet and that. I guess without explaining anything substantial, he gives up this spot, which is discovered instantly by the Trinity. Harley says she planned it that way, when grabs Wonder Woman’s lasso and yokes up Batman, forcing him to expose the Kryptonite in his belt that he claimed wasn’t there! This incapacitates Superman and—blinds Wonder Woman or something? Harley gets away, saying that Booster Gold was the one who killed everyone as she escapes.

Speaking of Booster, he’s awake in the cow pasture he was dying in the last issue, all patched up and repaired by Skeets. He explains the situation to his hovering Roomba buddy, and Skeets thinks he should turn himself in. Instead, Booster decides to hit up the Flash and ask him if he has any information regarding the death of his best friend at the secret installation for heroic recuperation. For his part, Barry didn’t even know such a place existed, and when he gets back from some super-speed reconnaissance, he socks Booster one in the face. Over at the Daily Planet, they’ve received a video interview from Sanctuary of Arsenal admitting some sensitive information. And the issue ends with Clark’s Sanctuary interview, which ends with him literally about to expose his costume—in the interview! Like, they know who you are, dude, that’s why you’re here in the first place!

And, of course, the issue is cut with interviews featuring Batman and Wonder Woman, as well as Poison Ivy at the beginning, who I’m sure will figure in prominently in this story somehow. This isn’t a terrible issue, but no one is behaving the way I expect them to. Harley Quinn is a slippery soothsayer, and I can forgive her besting Batman and Superman, but why wouldn’t Wonder Woman have followed her out of that warehouse? Booster Gold seems like a complete idiot. Why would the Penguin just give Harley a hideout? Is he friends with her or something? Why would she bother hiding out if she wanted to contact the Super Friends in the first place? And then once she contacts them, she runs away to drop a rose in the Gotham River? Too many questions surrounding weird personality shifts across the DCU. If it turns out that they’ve all been possessed by spectral brain microchips or something, then maybe I’ll reassess this issue from earlier in the series.

Bits and Pieces:

The story widens in scope a little, but I find it difficult to see this as a story happening in the DCU. It's more like a super-dramatic episode of Hogan's Heroes. Like super-dramatic, like Colonel Klink's head was removed mysteriously. And then Corporal LeBeau punches Corporal Newkirk? I haven't worked out the allegorical details.

6/10