Just finished IC #6... <spoilers>

[Kevin Boyd]

Ollie was speaking in the plural, yes. But did Hal have to reply in the plural or did he choose to for a reason?

 

There's no real way to dismiss or accept Hal's reply until after #7 comes out.

[Jeffreykli]

One problem I have with the Jean theory is the end of #6...It sounds to me like she's not convinced the killer/attacker was Capt. Boomerang. If she's the killer, why the dialogue? Also, the way the final scene is set up, it looks more like Ray's the killer than Jean. Lastly, Jean's lack of gloves is troubling, and it's too easy to just say that she stuck them in her pocket and no one thought to look. Wouldn't they have been found at the hospital?

[chrisco37]

It sounds to me like she's not convinced the killer/attacker was Capt. Boomerang. If she's the killer, why the dialogue?

 

Classic mystery misdirection. She's seeing if she's really off the hook.

 

(I'm paraphrasing here)

Jean: "Wow! So it was really Capt. Boom.?"

Ray: "Yep. He's tried before."

(in Jean's mind): "Phew! Looks like I got away with it."

 

Jean's lack of gloves is troubling, and it's too easy to just say that she stuck them in her pocket and no one thought to look. Wouldn't they have been found at the hospital?

 

Maybe she wears gloves w/ her coat? She had just walked in from work. Stick your gloves in your pocket so that they're readily available when you walk out the door next.

[Aman619]

boy, w've been at this for days and we just cant seem to nail it!! So Im getting worried about a real letdown when we see what Meltzer has come up with. Kinda like those mysteries of the magicians TV shows that explain the elaborate illusions. They always were a letdown to me because they tended to rely of expensive craftmanship and lighting.... not that I expected REAL magic, you understand, but it was a letdown that the answer was so unsatisfying...

[Gisgo-migration]

Some useless miscellany that may or may not mean anything:

 

1. When Sue first hears the noise in her house, she asks if it's Ollie. Why?

 

2. When Jean is being revived by Ray, her belt is conspicuously undone. Why?

 

3. When Batman rushes off to (what is presumably) Calculator's old hideout in IC6, he finds only a single television set and a note addressed to him. How long has the Calculator been gone? Did he pack up and move as soon as Digger went down?

 

4. Not only do Jean's eyes jump around, colorwise, throughout the series, but also the Atom's. When he is first introduced, he has brown eyes; by the end of IC6 (and indeed, as EARLY as IC2, when he gives Jean the crossbow), they are quite blue. Unless this is some sort of allusion to Madame Bovary, it's most likely relevant.

 

5. Sue's hair changes from brown in IC1 to black in IC3, and thereafter.

 

6. In IC2, Hawkman asks, "How many times do we have to go through this with Light?" This seems to indicate that he may have done something like this before. If Sue wasn't his first victim, who was? Jean?

 

7. As to the problem of the different-sized footprints in Sue's brain... I refer you to IC4, in which Ray says, while trying to save Jean, "Coming out, I go to 1/12th normal size. By now, it's instinctive. Anything smaller and the proportions are off." Why, that's very interesting, Mr. Palmer.

 

More as they make themselves obvious.

[deathlok]

When Sue first hears the noise in her house, she asks if it's Ollie. Why?

 

This one is easy to answer. Oliver was supposed to trick Elongated Man to go to his surprise birthday party, planned by Sue. So Sue probably thought Ollie might have been coming by for the surprise.

[Kevin Boyd]

3. When Batman rushes off to (what is presumably) Calculator's old hideout in IC6, he finds only a single television set and a note addressed to him. How long has the Calculator been gone? Did he pack up and move as soon as Digger went down?

 

Or was he ever set up there in the first place? Calculator's a smart guy, I'm sure he has a bunch of a false leads in place to throw off the scent of heroes like Batman who might start looking for him..

[chrisco37]

3. When Batman rushes off to (what is presumably) Calculator's old hideout in IC6, he finds only a single television set and a note addressed to him. How long has the Calculator been gone? Did he pack up and move as soon as Digger went down?

 

Or was he ever set up there in the first place? Calculator's a smart guy, I'm sure he has a bunch of a false leads in place to throw off the scent of heroes like Batman who might start looking for him..

 

That's what I was thinking. A fake base.

[Zonker]

3. When Batman rushes off to (what is presumably) Calculator's old hideout in IC6, he finds only a single television set and a note addressed to him. How long has the Calculator been gone? Did he pack up and move as soon as Digger went down?

 

Or was he ever set up there in the first place? Calculator's a smart guy, I'm sure he has a bunch of a false leads in place to throw off the scent of heroes like Batman who might start looking for him..

 

This brings up something else bugging me: Are we supposed to know what made Batman believe Calculator was there or what clue led him there?

 

Or is it just a case of he's Batman dammit, he knows stuff?

[chrisco37]

3. When Batman rushes off to (what is presumably) Calculator's old hideout in IC6, he finds only a single television set and a note addressed to him. How long has the Calculator been gone? Did he pack up and move as soon as Digger went down?

 

Or was he ever set up there in the first place? Calculator's a smart guy, I'm sure he has a bunch of a false leads in place to throw off the scent of heroes like Batman who might start looking for him..

 

This brings up something else bugging me: Are we supposed to know what made Batman believe Calculator was there or what clue led him there?

 

Or is it just a case of he's Batman dammit, he knows stuff?

 

I believe so. He had to know that Boomerang didn't figure out who Jack Drake was on his own.

[deathlok]

After flipping through the series yet again, I might have to buy a new set of books.

 

What about the possibility that the villain is using the bodies of others to commit his crimes (i.e. Jericho, Eclipso, etc.)?

 

This would explain the panels where the characters have the strange eyes.

 

Although I think both Jericho and Ecli[pso need to be within sight of the person to be controlled. Any other vilaains that can accomlplish this?

[Zonker]

Maybe it's Boston (Deadman) Brand gone over to the dark side?

[chrisco37]

A couple more random thoughts.....

 

-Meltzer is a mystery writer. One of the main conventions in a mystery book is that all of the clues should appear in the novel. That is, the mystery should be able to be solved by just reading that particular book. I think he's attempting the same thing here. Whoever picks up Identity Crisis should not have to know all the past continuity in order to solve the mystery. That's why, IMO, it cannot be a shape-shifter, body jumper, whatever.... It has to be someone that is directly involved in the IC books. Not in the crossovers, etc...The killer isn't going to be some random baddie out for revenge for past events (this rules out the Top as well).

 

-Also, whoever killed Sue wasn't trying to set up the Atom. "They" ( ) were trying to set up Dr. Light. If they were trying to set Ray up, why not just have Sue die of "natural causes", and when the autopsy was done, the true cause of death would be found.

 

Deathlok was right on the money a few pages ago when he said that surviving her attack makes Jean the #1 suspect.

 

I'm convinced it was Jean. The real Jean.

 

And, I'm even more convinced that the "eye coloring" is a mistake. I think the "Persons" magazine was colored incorrectly, and DC is using the same 'stat' (digitally) over and over.

[Kevin Boyd]

-Also, whoever killed Sue wasn't trying to set up the Atom. "They" ( ) were trying to set up Dr. Light. If they were trying to set Ray up, why not just have Sue die of "natural causes", and when the autopsy was done, the true cause of death would be found.

 

Even if they didn't want the footprints in Sue's brain discovered, the fact that they are there automatically makes the Atom a suspect (to us and those that discovered them) and "sets him up" as the killer (true or false).

 

If it was Jean using a version of the Atom's shrinking tech who would automatically think that Jean was a suspect? Even Ray would have a hard time accepting her guilt without a "smoking gun".

[Kevin Boyd]

What about the possibility that the villain is using the bodies of others to commit his crimes (i.e. Jericho, Eclipso, etc.)?

 

We haven't seen either Eclipso or Jericho yet, plus, you would know if you had been possessed by Eclipso or Jericho as soon as you were released from their control.

[AlexH]

What about the possibility that the villain is using the bodies of others to commit his crimes (i.e. Jericho, Eclipso, etc.)?

 

We haven't seen either Eclipso or Jericho yet, plus, you would know if you had been possessed by Eclipso or Jericho as soon as you were released from their control.

 

Unless they were mind wiped.

[Kevin Boyd]

Automatic mind wipes? Not likely.

 

Only person capable of doing them is Zatanna, and she has to be in the room to utter one of her reverse spells. Plus, she's one of Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory and will be in the spotlight as a hero next year.

[Silver Surfer]

Kaiser Soze? I need to pick these books up.

[chrisco37]

 

Even if they didn't want the footprints in Sue's brain discovered, the fact that they are there automatically makes the Atom a suspect (to us and those that discovered them) and "sets him up" as the killer (true or false).

 

Yes, it does. But, why make it look like an attack by Dr. Light if the Atom was supposed to take the fall all along? More killer misdirection? I don't think so.

 

I think that the real killer intended for the burning to cover up the actual cause of death.

 

If it was Jean using a version of the Atom's shrinking tech who would automatically think that Jean was a suspect? Even Ray would have a hard time accepting her guilt without a "smoking gun".

 

Exactly.

[deathlok]

What about the possibility that the villain is using the bodies of others to commit his crimes (i.e. Jericho, Eclipso, etc.)?

 

We haven't seen either Eclipso or Jericho yet, plus, you would know if you had been possessed by Eclipso or Jericho as soon as you were released from their control.

 

The only reason I was thinking of this is because there seems to be several different characters that have the same expression and look in the series. In issue 3 one of the villains that was part of the mind-exchange, Wizard I think, says "Where are you taking us, HAL?" Implying that he knows that GL is Hal Jordan. In that panel he has the same look that Dr. Light has and Ray has at the end of issue 6. Now it could just be the way Morales draws.