What happens to the superheroes who have been through so much that they are at their breaking point? Where do they go? Who helps them?

Heroes In Crisis #1
Written By: Tom King
Art By: Clay Mann
Published By: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: 09/26/2018

What happens to the superheroes who have been through so much that they are at their breaking point? Where do they go? Who helps them?

These questions are asked and are started to be answered in Heroes in Crisis #1 from the team of Tom King and Clay Mann. The heroes that have reached these points are taken to Sanctuary, a secret superhero mental rehabilitation hospital. Something bad has happened at Sanctuary and heroes have been killed. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman arrive and start their investigation into what happened. While that is going on Booster Gold and Harley Quinn meet up in a diner and talk about what happened. Who killed these heroes and is there more going on at Sanctuary that the Trinity didn’t know about?

This story by Tom King is one I haven’t seen since Identity Crisis from Brad Meltzer. The stakes of the story are very personal. It isn’t about a cosmic threat this time but a threat that has come within. The heroes that are featured in this book are so broken from the things that they have seen. They are crying out for help and Clark, Bruce and Diana want to help. King has shown readers that even the most heroic of beings struggle with their choices and the things they have seen. I believe that King has used his own experience in the CIA to help lay the foundation.

Clay Mann absolutely nails the tone of the story with the artwork. Every panel in this book is gorgeous. The very few action scenes in this book are personal and they show the stakes of the story. My favorite panels in this book come from the one on one testimonies of the heroes that are at Sanctuary. Seeing each individual go from being their public personalities to them breaking down is so moving. The best example being the testimony of Harley Quinn. I can’t say enough about the art here.

I really enjoyed this book, but I did have two issues with it. My first qualm, is that I wanted to see more of Sanctuary established. I thought that this introductory issue would focus on the various heroes and their struggles and then show them dying at the end of the book. My second issue deals with Harley and Booster. There are times that their subplot seemed a little forced. Still, this is just the first issue in this event, so there is still time for these things to be addressed, and hopefully in a clever way.

As I stated earlier, I enjoyed this book but it is not for the faint of heart. It tackles some real (and really heavy) issues. I am looking forward to seeing where the story goes and what happens.

3.75 Booster Golds out of 5