Brad Meltzer: IDENTITY CRISIS

So you liked Watchmen? Well, that means one of two things: either you're not normally into comics, but hell, it's Alan Moore, and anybody with a head on their shoulders can appreciate Alan Moore...or you are already really into comics, so of course you love (or hate, admittedly) Alan Moore (A note: it is possible to fall into both categories. I read a lot of comics growing up, but fell out of the habit when I started spending time with other human beings [that didn't really happen until high school, to be honest]; reading Watchmen in college got me back into the comic book game). If the latter is true, and you're totally into reading a watered-down version featuring all your favorite superheroes, then Brad Meltzer's "Justice League of America" (JLA) miniseries Identity Crisis is totally the book for you, fanboy. While reading, it's easy to forget, or at least to ignore, the ripped-off aspects of the book, and just fall into it (provided you're up on DC continuities). After reading, well, it's hard to ignore those very same ripped-off aspects. The rape scene, the cover up, all of it just seems so, well, easy. But then there's Sue Dibny's funeral, and a two-page, Where's Waldo-style spread that's enough to make any DC-diehard cream their pants. If this book went on forever, if you could never put it down, I'd give it an A; since it has an ending, and since putting it down caused me to realize how, again, easy the whole thing was, I'm not going to be able to do any better than, say, an even B. Oh, and it looks nice. Real nice, actually.