REVIEW: ‘Heroes in Crisis’, Issue #7

Heroes in Crisis #7 is written by Tom King, illustrated by Clay Mann, Travis Moore, Jorge Fornes, colored by Tomeu Morey, and lettered by Clayton Cowles. This issue brings us closer to towards the endgame of this mini-series. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are caught in a standoff with Harley Quinn and Batgirl with both teams having equal suspicions of the other. While Wally West, who was previously believed to be dead appears to, well, not to be?

As the mystery into who was responsible for the heinous murders at the Sanctuary Centre deepens, I have to say how beautiful and fun this book is. I wonder if that’s on purpose? It’s no secret that Heroes in Crisis deals with trauma, depression, and PTSD, but Clay Mann’s work continues to be awe-inspiring.

The book opens up with Wally West reciting a poem from his ‘wife’ Linda Park (does it still count as an ex if you never technically got together in this timeline?) in a field full of blue and pink flowers, drawn to spell out the titular series. Mann manages to make every utilization of the title in his artwork simultaneously blend in really well while also not being too “in your face.” It’s beautiful.

We’re also treated to Travis Moore and Jorge Fornes’ artwork in multiple pages which helps to add a Silver Age feel to the book. I personally liked this addition, particularly because those styles really do fit with Batman and Flash, but it’s also quite daunting in comparison to other issues where we have the more up-to-date Batman and Flash designs. With this storyline though, as with King’s Batman arc, this confusion almost feels like it is on purpose to help add more mystery to the dimensional-rifts that seem to be happening with Wally.   

But once again, it’s the oddball pairings of Booster, Blue Beetle, Batgirl, and Harley Quinn that’s most entertaining aspects of the story. Barbara wants to help Harley out, particularly with closure as to what happened with Poison Ivy, while Ted Kord is truly a friend to Booster. It’s a fun rival pairing that feels natural.

There’s an absolutely brilliant moment in this issue that made me go back and read over and over again in which Batgirl punches Blue Beetle, in the most cartoony way. Cowles’ lettering in this moment is completely on point and helps to reiterate the ridiculousness of the panels. King knows how to make you laugh and it works for the scene, especially when he’s balancing out quite a darker story.

Again, the ‘talk to camera’ dialogue moments is a really a great POV moment for the characters in Sanctuary and this issue focuses mainly on Wally West through a series of weeks. It’s a fascinating lens into Wally’s mind through therapy and what being open about trauma means. He seems willing to discuss everything but it’s not until time goes on that we truly see the effect this has had on his mind. I found it personally difficult to read at times and emphasized with Wally which I think suggests King did a good job here.

I can understand why some people aren’t a massive fan of this series. I think whenever there’s a DC story with ‘Crisis’ in the title, you’re forgiven for thinking that story would have universe-altering repercussions and despite being on issue seven, I’m not sure if that’s exactly the case.

Sure, we’ve seen the fallout in books like Batman, Green Arrow, and The Flash, but what this story does so well is providing a deep-dive into these character’s minds in a way we never quite have before. In that sense, It gets full marks from me.  

Overall, this is an interesting issue with some absolutely gorgeous colors and artwork, funny moments and a lot of Wally West. However, fans looking for a definitive answer still have an issue or two to get before we get that.

Heroes in Crisis #7 is available everyone comic books are sold now.