Identity Crisis: 9 Things It Got Right (And The 1 Big Thing It Didn't)
4. It's Bigger Than Any One One Team Or Hero
The heroes of the DC Universe are a single community and when someone murders one of their own, every hero comes together to track down the culprit. The fact that the killer knows the identities of the biggest heroes in the world only compounds matters.
The problem is that if the villain of a story doesn't appear in a one hundred foot spaceship hovering over the White House, having every hero in the world working on the case makes very little difference.
Brad Meltzer wisely chooses to focus on several crucial characters while telling the story. Both heroes and villains get time to shine, and no one character feels more important than any other, with a few notable exceptions towards the end. Identity Crisis feels like an event book rather than a Justice League story because Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are ultimately just as powerless and lost as the likes of Fire Hawk and Robin.
Leaning into the idea of heroes as a community allows for beautiful moments like Doctor Mid-Nite and Mister Terrific acting as coroners or Mister Miracle, Doctor Fate and the Metal Men forensically examining the crime scenes.