Set Description:
CGC Identity Crisis Comics that I own.
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| The gallery tab shows only items with images. Click the thumbnails to enlarge. |
| Slot: |
Identity Crisis 1 |
| Item: |
Identity Crisis 1 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2811735001
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Owner Comments
August, 2004
"Chapter One: Coffin"
Brad Meltzer - Writer
Rags Morales - Penciler
Michael Bair - Inker
Michael Turner - Cover Artist
Alex Sinclair - Colorist
Ken Lopez - Letterer
Mike Carlin, Valerie D'Orazio - Editor
Dan DiDio - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
In Opal City, Elongated Man and Firehawk are on a stakeout overlooking the black market sale of one of Lex Luthor's Warsuits. This deal is being engineered by the Calculator, between supervillain Bolt and two street thugs Benny and Trey. Their discussion turns personal while they wait, and they get begin talking about love and secret identities. Firehawk asks Ralph to tell him the story of how he met his wife, Sue Dibny. It is truly one of the great modern romances. Since the first day they met, when she saw him across the room at a party, she's only had eyes for him.
They've been deeply in love, and despite spending time with all of the other stunning gentlemen in the League, their interest has never strayed from each other. It is of course complicated by the fact that because Ralph has a public identity, Sue is always going to be a target for his enemies.
Notes:
- Signed by Rags Morales on 09/06/2014
- Signed by Brad Meltzer on 10/12/2023
- Sue Dibny is killed in this issue. She will return as a Ghost and be reunited with her husband in 52. During Blackest Night, she is resurrected as a member of the Black Lantern Corps when a power ring takes control of her body, for usage in the armies of Nekron. They are finally put to rest when they are destroyed by the Indigo Tribe.
- This issue reintroduces an updated version of the Calculator. In his first appearances, he was a regular costumed criminal who wore a suit with big buttons on the chest and fought Batman. Most recently, he was seen as a resident of the criminal nation Zandia still wearing this costume. Here, he is shown to be a villainous counterpart to Oracle, operating from a remote headquarters where he has access to every computer system in the world.
- This story is collected along with the rest of the series in the Identity Crisis graphic novel.
- Retailer Incentive Edition - Turner Sketch Cover
Trivia:
- Firehawk mentions that someone has an Amazo android on the black market. This plot thread will be further explored during Batman: Under the Hood when a Gotham City crimelord the Black Mask gets hold of it and uses it against Batman and Nightwing.
- Ralph talks to Firehawk about how Sue sets up fake mysteries for him on his birthdays, and he references a mystery that largely revolved around Barry Allen being dressed up as an old man, which happened in an earlier story.
- Jack Drake only recently learned that his son is secretly Robin.
- Black Lightning mentions stepping down from his position as Secretary of Education.
- Ray Palmer mentions his divorce with Jean Loring.
- It is brought up that Sue Dibny was actually made an honorary member of the Justice League, an offer which has been extended to extremely few people. This happened during her time on Justice League Europe, when she effectively ran things from the Embassy and Captain Atom recognized how much work she did for them.
- The suspect list for the murder includes a number of supervillains. Heat Wave, Heatstroke, Doctor Phosphorus, Plasmus, Scorch, Firefly and Firefist are suspected for their flame-related abilities. The list also includes the teleporters Warp, Bolt, Mirror Master, Peek-a-Boo and the Shade.
- Guy Gardner's costuming is problematic. He is wearing his Green Lantern garb at the funeral, which he has not worn since he was dismissed from the Green Lantern Corps a number of years ago. At the time of this issue, he should be in his Warrior attire. It is of course entirely possible that this outfit was simply the best thing he had to wear to the ceremony. Gardner will eventually make his return to the Corps during the Rebirth storyline.
- Ralph and Sue Dibny were last involved in the Super Buddies, a series that spins the superhero team in a humorous direction. A running gag throughout their storyline is that everybody believes Sue to be pregnant, although she adamantly denies this with increasing frustration. That story actually didn't get published until after Identity Crisis, and as a result the funny comes off more maudlin than it was originally intended to be.
- Firehawk is mistaken for Flamebird by civilians.
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| Slot: |
Identity Crisis 2 |
| Item: |
Identity Crisis 2 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2811735002
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Owner Comments
September, 2004
"Chapter Two: House of Lies"
Brad Meltzer - Writer
Rags Morales - Penciler
Michael Bair - Inker
Michael Turner - Cover Artist
Alex Sinclair - Colorist
Ken Lopez - Letterer
Mike Carlin, Valerie D'Orazio - Editor
Dan DiDio - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
Alone for the first time since the murder, six remaining members of the Justice League meet to discuss their secret, kept well for a serious number of years. The group includes Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Green Arrow, Hawkman, and Zatanna. They are discussing the man they believe to be the true killer, Doctor Light. Suddenly, they realize that they are being spied on. Kyle Rayner and Wally West reveal themselves, and insist that they be told whatever information is being held back from everyone else, or they will expose the group. Forced to reveal their story, Elongated Man talks about what happened so long ago, while they're on their way to Light's last known residence.
It was during the early period when the League operated from the Satellite. One night while the rest of the team was on a mission, Sue Dibny had gone up into the station to have a quiet evening with the stars. At the same time, Doctor Light had sneaked aboard with the intention of stealing back one of his old guns. Finding Sue instead, he attacked her, and although she struggled against him, he blinded her, pinned her down, ripped her clothing, and brutally raped her from behind.
Returning to find the violent encounter taking place to their horror, the Leaguers quickly ran in and subdued him together, although he fought like an elephant. Ralph himself brought Light down with a mace to the back of the head, then quickly rushed to comfort his wife and take her to the hospital. Light was restrained and put to sleep while the heroes argued about what to do with him. Zatanna erased his memory of the intimate encounter so he couldn't share it with anyone else. Hawkman reminds the rest of the group that dealing with such a psychopath, an incident like this is bound to happen again. They have families and loved ones to protect, which they can't do with people like him on the loose. Carter suggests that instead of simply handing him over to the authorities... Zatanna could clean up his mind a little bit first. Instead of using her powers for a simple memory wipe, she could fundamentally alter his personality so that he wouldn't continue to do things like this in the future. Sides are quickly picked, and it comes to a simple vote. Black Canary, Green Arrow and Green Lantern all oppose the mindwipe, while Atom, Hawkman and Zatanna support it. The final vote belongs to the Flash, and having recently lost his wife, he concedes. Zatanna alters his mind, turning Light from a serious threat into someone who's significantly more harmless, simpler and even stupider. Implications are made that, being her first time, she did not perform the procedure with enough skill.
Elsewhere, a number of professional supervillains hold a meeting in the old Injustice Gang Satellite. Mercenaries and assassins come together to discuss their business and trade information. Merlyn observes the situation as Doctor Light arrives through a teleporter, having been sent by the Calculator. He is aware that the heroes are going to try to bring him in, and attempts to hire protection from the group.
As the League members have reached their destination, they continue to argue over whether or not what they did was the right thing. The newer members find their actions reprehensible, but begin to understand the gravity of the situation and why it was necessary... until Green Arrow reveals that Doctor Light was not the only time they messed with someone's mind. As they get ready to storm Doctor Light's house and bring him in, an explosion goes off completely incapacitating Elongated Man. It is revealed that the bodyguard he had hired is none other than the infamous Deathstroke the Terminator.
At Justice Society Headquarters, an autopsy is being performed by Doctor Mid-Nite upon Sue Dibny's body to determine the cause of death. He discovers that despite her body being badly burned, that could not have been the cause of her death. The killer torched her body after the murder had already been committed, to cover their tracks. Doctor Light does not kill Sue Dibny, and Oracle puts out the word.
Notes:
- Signed by Rags Morales on 09/06/2014
- Signed by Brad Meltzer on 10/12/2023
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| Slot: |
Identity Crisis 3 |
| Item: |
Identity Crisis 3 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2811735011
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Owner Comments
October, 2004
"Chapter Three: Serial Killer"
Brad Meltzer - Writer
Rags Morales - Penciler
Michael Bair - Inker
Michael Turner - Cover Artist
Alex Sinclair - Colorist
Ken Lopez - Letterer
Mike Carlin, Valerie D'Orazio - Editor
Dan DiDio - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
The inner members of the Justice League are gathered, Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Zatanna. They have hunted down Doctor Light, believed to be responsible for the murder of Sue Dibny, to his home residence. In anticipation, the villain has hired top mercenary Deathstroke to be his personal bodyguard, which makes this about an even fight. Ralph is already knocked out from being hit in the chest with an explosive blast. Things don't look good.
Flash is the first one to react, and as he starts to run, Slade detonates explosives in the ground in front of him. Wally runs around them to attack from behind, giving Deathstroke enough time to pull out his sword and let him run into it, stabbing through the chest and twisting the blade as he goes down. Before the team can react, Deathstroke has already leaped across the ground to Zatanna.
He hits her with a pressure point in the gut, making her unable to cast any spells as she vomits blood uncontrollably. Hawkman dives in with his mace, and the sword cuts off his flight harness, bringing him crashing to the ground. Green Arrow fires at him, and Slade deflects the arrow point blank, then takes a swing at Oliver's head. Arrow has enough time to duck, but in the process his quiver is hit and his arsenal is next to useless. Hearing Black Canary take in a deep breath to give a sonic scream, Deathstroke hits her fast and has her handcuffed on the floor with a bag tied over her head before she knows what's going on. Next, he uses his incredible sight to pinpoint the exact location of the Atom. He hits him with a laser pointer, sending him flying back into Hawkman's skull. As the whole group is down for the count, Deathstroke faces their most powerful, Green Lantern. To test a theory, he catches Kyle's punch and breaks his fingers. Gripping his hand, he attempts to take control of the Green Lantern Ring by force with his own willpower. As the two of them struggle and start to crack over the sheer mental energy fueling them, Green Arrow leaps up from behind and plunges one of his broken shafts directly into Slade's eye socket. That fucking hurts. All of the tactics and strategy disappear, as the Terminator loses his temper and burns into a rage, trying to kill Arrow with his bare hands. This was the intention, and the rest of the League recovers and dogpiles onto Deathstroke, finally subduing him. As they fight, the situation finally sparks Doctor Light's memory and it all comes rushing back to him. He realizes that his mind has been taken from him for all these years, and in a blinding flash of anger as his powers erupt, the two supervillains escape.
As they wake up, Superman is already on the scene. He immediately knows that something is wrong, and they are at a loss for what to tell him, but Wally covers for them. Clark reveals that evidence found in Sue's autopsy shows that Light could not have been the killer.
After this, Flash directly pulls Green Arrow aside and interrogates him into confessing the rest of the inner League's secrets. It turns out that aside from the Doctor, they actually mindwiped a solid number of villains over the years. An early adventure with the Secret Society of Super-Villains resulted in their whole team needing memories erased when they switched bodies with the heroes and learned everything. This has occurred dozens of times. If secret identities are lost, there is nothing to protect families and loved ones from the monsters in the world. Every single time anyone has learned the true faces and names, they have performed mindwipes to protect everything they hold dear.
This is criticized as a clear moment of crossing the line, and violating human rights, which is something they obviously should not do. But Oliver insists that it was the only way they could defend themselves. He also asserts that it's completely unrealistic to expect them to act any other way and that people ignore the issue because they hear what they want to hear.
The murder proves not to be an isolated incident, as Jean Loring is assaulted in her home. There's a struggle in her apartment, and she manages to place a phone call to her ex-husband before she's strung up by the neck, and hanged with a noose in the door-frame.
Notes:
- Signed by Rags Morales on 09/06/2014
- Signed by Brad Meltzer on 10/12/2023
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| Slot: |
Identity Crisis 4 |
| Item: |
Identity Crisis 4 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2811735003
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Owner Comments
November, 2004
"Chapter Four: Who Benefits"
Brad Meltzer - Writer
Rags Morales - Penciler
Michael Bair - Inker
Michael Turner - Cover Artist
Alex Sinclair - Colorist
Ken Lopez - Letterer
Mike Carlin, Valerie D'Orazio - Editor
Dan DiDio - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
Jean Loring has been attacked by the same killer who murdered Sue Dibny, she is strung up in her own apartment and hanged by a noose. Atom rushes through the phonelines to save her, getting there to cut her down just in time. As he resuscitates, he begins to pray for her a little bit. She revives, and the two share a romantic moment.
The crime scene is investigated by Superman, Green Arrow and Mister Miracle. For the second time in a row, their highly advanced security system has been beaten, leaving no trace of the assailant. Superman recognizes the knot, and Oracle establishes that it is the trademark of Slipknot. They find him in his cell, and Wonder Woman interrogates him with her Lasso of Truth, but he doesn't know anything either. The only connection between the active suspects is that they have been members of the Suicide Squad, which is still not much of a lead, but it's the best that they have.
There is a large stir in the supervillain community as well. A group of the professionals are getting together, and sitting around playing risk, including Black Spider, Chronos, Deadshot, Mirror Master, Merlyn and Monocle. Although some of them seem to be enjoying the chaos, the consensus is that this is bad for everybody. There's hostility towards whoever is responsible, because riling the heroes like this is simply bad for business. Nobody benefits. Rumors have also spread of Doctor Light's mindwipe.
Captain Boomerang is still trying to connect with his long lost son, Owen Mercer. Calculator helps him work up the nerve. Noticing him parked on the street again, Owen approaches his father and confronts him. He reveals that he's already aware of their relation, because tabloid reporters have been stalking him all week. The two connect immediately, Boomerang apologizes for not raising him properly, is forgiven, and they drive off together to talk.
Batman is performing his own investigation of the murder, using the Batcomputer. He does not believe that it could have been the Suicide Squad, because there's absolutely no gain there. And that's the first rule of solving any crime. You have to figure out who benefits. But there doesn't seem to be anything good coming out of this crisis for anyone at all. At the very least, across the country, the danger is bringing family members closer to their loved ones.
Oliver Queen confronts his old best friend Hal Jordan, who is now the Spectre. He asks that the Spectre's powers, which are used to find and punish the guilty from a divine perspective. Hal apologizes, and tells him that he can't pick and choose who to take vengeance upon, it's all dictated by a higher power. He can't even reveal who the murderer is, which pains him greatly. Hal tells Ollie to make sure that the bastard pays. As they sit together and talk as friends, Ollie asks Hal when he's going to be coming back from the dead, and the response is that he's working on it.
Lois Lane worried about the emotional toll that everything is taking on Clark Kent. He puts on a brave face for the rest of the community, but it's clear that he's scared. For all of his powers, he can't be there to protect everyone all of the time. At the Daily Planet, she receives an anonymous threat in the mail. The killer knows her husband's secret as well, and plans on coming for her next.
Notes:
-Signed by Rags Morales on 09/06/2014
-Signed by Brad Meltzer on 10/12/2023
-Hal's response of "working on it" is a reference to Green Lantern: Rebirth #1, which came out the same month this issue did.
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| Slot: |
Identity Crisis 5 |
| Item: |
Identity Crisis 5 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2811735004
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Owner Comments
December, 2004
"Chapter Five: Father's Day"
Brad Meltzer - Writer
Rags Morales - Penciler
Michael Bair - Inker
Michael Turner - Cover Artist
Alex Sinclair - Colorist
Ken Lopez - Letterer
Mike Carlin, Valerie D'Orazio - Editor
Dan DiDio - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
In reaction to Lois Lane's death threat, the superhero community becomes significantly more aggressive in their efforts to find the killer. Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Superman have gotten together to go after some hired killers, and they take down Deadshot, Merlyn and Monocle. Everywhere, tensions rise, and there's a brutal backlash as villains are beaten and brought in to find any information they might know.
Firestorm fights against Shadow Thief alongside Captain Marvel, Shining Knight, and Vixen. The Thief grabs the Knight's sword, spins around, and plunges it directly into Firestorm. Because he's a punctured nuclear reactor, Ronnie Raymond realizes that he's going to blow up and die. He flies off into the night sky, asks them to say goodbye to his dad for him, along with the rest of his friends and family, and explodes.
Ray Palmer and Jean Loring share time together in her apartment. She thanks him for saving her from the murderer, and they are clearly falling in love again, having bonded over the crisis. She also reveals that she heard when he was praying for her. The two of them embrace in a kiss, their relationship rekindled.
Captain Boomerang bonds with his recently discovered son, Owen Mercer. He is teaching him how to throw Trick Boomerangs, which Owen has a natural talent for. One throw of a razor-tipped blade strikes too true to form and nearly takes the Captain's head off, but his son rushes out in time and saves him from it. They discover that Owen has some latent super-speed abilities and that his mother was not Golden Glider as previously believed.
In Gotham City, Robin argues with his father Jack Drake. Although Jack wants him to stay indoors, Tim thinks that he would be best going out to help his friends until the crisis is over. They've been spending a lot of quality time together lately, but the only way to stop this is to go out there and catch whoever is responsible. But he wants his dad to make sure that he doesn't open the doors under any circumstances because he's a target just like everyone else.
After his son leaves, Jack Drake goes into his kitchen and finds a package, containing a note showing that the mysterious killer also knows his identity. There is a gun included, with a message telling him to protect himself. Realizing his life is in danger, he calls Oracle to get his son on the phone. Just then, Captain Boomerang busts in, having been hired through Calculator to make a hit on Drake. Batman and Robin speed back in the Batmobile, and Bruce is desperate not to let it happen again. Jack tells Tim that he loves him, that he's incredibly proud of him, that it's not his fault, and that everything he does is worth it. At the same time, Owen receives a phone message from his dad explaining the job he's taken, and Mercer realizes that he's going to lose his father as well. In Drake Manor, the two men face off. Jack Drake dives out and guns Captain Boomerang down, but is caught by a razor-tipped boomerang in the chest as the villain goes down. Both men lie there dead.
Notes:
- Signed by Rags Morales on 09/06/2014
- Signed by Brad Meltzer on 10/12/2023
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| Slot: |
Identity Crisis 6 |
| Item: |
Identity Crisis 6 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2811735005
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Owner Comments
January, 2005
"Chapter Six: Husbands & Wives"
Brad Meltzer - Writer
Rags Morales - Penciler
Michael Bair - Inker
Michael Turner - Cover Artist
Alex Sinclair - Colorist
Ken Lopez - Letterer
Mike Carlin, Valerie D'Orazio - Editor
Dan DiDio - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
Batman tries to find the killer of Robin's father.
Notes:
- Signed by Rags Morales on 09/06/2014
- Signed by Brad Meltzer on 10/12/2023
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| Slot: |
Identity Crisis 7 |
| Item: |
Identity Crisis 7 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2811735006
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Owner Comments
February, 2005
"Chapter Seven: The Hero's Life"
Brad Meltzer - Writer
Rags Morales - Penciler
Michael Bair - Inker
Michael Turner - Cover Artist
Alex Sinclair - Colorist
Ken Lopez - Letterer
Mike Carlin, Valerie D'Orazio - Editor
Dan DiDio - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
Finale
Notes:
- Signed by Rags Morales on 09/06/2014
- Signed by Brad Meltzer on 10/12/2023
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