Just finished IC #6... <spoilers>

[Zonker]

Has anyone established a concrete motive for why Sue was killed???

 

This gets right back to the Batman's question: "Who Benefits?"

 

On the assumption that things are playing out basically according to plan, who has come out ahead thus far as a result of Sue's death?

 

1. The Atom- back with Jean

2. Dr. Light- has his personality back

3. The Calculator- arguably, has an increased demand for his services

4. Elongated Man- beneficiary of the insurance policy (weak motive; he's already rich & would have required an accomplice to kill his wife anyway)

 

...anyone else??

[Fan4Fan]

Ray in her pocket.

 

Possibly reason enough for her to want him back...

[Kevin Boyd]

1. The Atom- back with Jean

2. Dr. Light- has his personality back

3. The Calculator- arguably, has an increased demand for his services

4. Elongated Man- beneficiary of the insurance policy (weak motive; he's already rich & would have required an accomplice to kill his wife anyway)

 

5 - Batman - a committed Robin

6 - Chronos - final revenge on his arch-enemy the Atom

7 - The Rogues - a younger and faster member

8 - Jean Loring - reunited with Ray (just like the old days)

[Zonker]

1. The Atom- back with Jean

2. Dr. Light- has his personality back

3. The Calculator- arguably, has an increased demand for his services

4. Elongated Man- beneficiary of the insurance policy (weak motive; he's already rich & would have required an accomplice to kill his wife anyway)

 

5 - Batman - a committed Robin

6 - Chronos - final revenge on his arch-enemy the Atom

7 - The Rogues - a younger and faster member

8 - Jean Loring - reunited with Ray (just like the old days)

 

Batman: but why was it necessary for Sue to die in order for Jack Drake to die?

Chronos:

The Rogues: but why was it necessary for Sue to die in order for Digger to die?

Jean Loring: as others have said, Ray was hers for the taking.

[Zonker]

Pulling on the Calculator thread a bit more...

 

Another thing that has bothered me: The way the Calculator tells the story, a call came in for a "hit," and he figured it was simply Captain Boomerang's turn.

 

But... assassination for hire isn't the game for the Silver Age Flash Rogues. That would be badly out of character, I think.

 

Also, if true, then the Calculator could just as easily have given the contract to someone else, and then there would be no Captain Boomerang Jr. Maybe Junior's origin is just an accidental by-product of Identity Crisis, but that seems odd given the amount of air time this sub-plot has been awarded by Meltzer.

 

And, in one of the earlier issues, Calculator admits to Merlyn that the Calculator planted the tabloid story linking Captain Boomerang, Golden Glider, and Junior. They have a laugh about the impossibility of GG ever going for Boomerang (more fodder for the real mother mystery). Calculator is also extremely supportive of Boomerang's attempts to reach out to his son.

 

My bet is Calculator told Boomerang something entirely different: Boomerang's message to his son talks about watching the news tonight and finally hitting the big time. Boomerang doesn't expect to survive, but how does breaking in to a private home and murdering a civilian leave a legacy? Now maybe if Boomerang thought he was taking out the Batman...

 

Calculator's pulling the strings on this one at least, I'm pretty sure.

[Kevin Boyd]

I was just listing those who have benefitted in some manner, not just those who have benefitted from Sue's death.

 

Sue's death triggered an unparalleled super-villain "clean-up". Doesn't that benefit Batman? Having the super-villains off the streets makes his job a lot easier. Plus, every hero is going to be a lot more protective of their loved ones (no more innocents die). But it's not Batman, I'm just playing devil's advocate.

[Kevin Boyd]

Now maybe if Boomerang thought he was taking out the Batman...

 

[Illiterati-migration]

Now maybe if Boomerang thought he was taking out the Batman...

 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

Now maybe if Boomerang thought he was taking out the Batman...

 

That also explains the sequence with Boomerang's son at the Drake house. We may not have heard the part of Digger's message where he says that tonight he's going to kill the Batman.

 

When his son arrives at the Drake house the first thing he sees is Batman there fingering the note to Jack. Since the son knows that Jack Drake was killed by his dad (who thought he was killing Batman), then "What's he doing here?" could imply "Shouldn't he be dead? My dad killed him!"

[Zonker]

It all hangs together, doesn't it?

 

Boomerang probably had some sort of evidence that Drake is the father of Robin. Well, naturally one would assume that means Drake is the Batman, yes?

 

Given that, Calculator is our man for this one, since he lied in describing how Boomerang wound up at Drake's house. He's also probably behind the threat to Lois Lane, given the similar M.O.

 

Now, next problem... how does the Calculator tie in to the Atom/Jean/Dr. Light combination and the Sue Dibny murder?

[Aman619]

what are th echances that this whole mystery is just exactly that? Another birthday present mystery from Sue to Ralph? The fact that it got out of hand and people died will set up future repercussions in the DC Universe. Admittedly, this would suck! But at least no heroes will had donea Parallax like Hal and gone bad. And, of course, for this to be true, Sue would have to be hiding somewhere or a prisoner of someone or she would be coming forth crying how her innocent mystery led to so much death destruction.

 

So if it started as a Sue Bday present mystery, and she is innocent (assuming she is alive).... who's got her and who's manipulating events to their benefit???

[Zonker]

aman, as mentioned by other posters, that would be too cruel for Sue to pull as a prank on Ralph. Besides, she already had the pregnancy extra-surprise, why the need to add to it in such an over-the-top fashion???

 

So I've convinced myself Calculator is the one behind the Drake/Boomerang killings. Still puzzling his connection if any to the earlier attacks, using the completely different MO.

 

Now that I'm looking at the Calculator I notice that the first non-flashback appearance of Dr. Light is towards the end of IC2. He pops into the Injustice Gang satellite with this entrance: "Calculator sent me... Please I need help. I've got money." So the Calculator set Dr. Light into motion as well. Why? Based solely on Calc's knowledge that Light was a likely suspect for Sue's death? How did he come by that knowledge, when that memory was erased from Dr. Light? Or did Calc have some reason for pointing the finger at Light and then directing Light towards Deathstroke & co?

 

Another thing that still bothers me: the ease with which Bolt was shot by those kids. Bolt is another one set in motion by Calc. And he is a teleporter. And his shooting precisely coincides with Sue's death.

[chrisco37]

So I've convinced myself Calculator is the one behind the Drake/Boomerang killings.

 

He definitley was involved. But, he still noted that it was an anonymous client that took out the contract on Drake. Why would he lie? He's driven by the almighty dollar. If he knew, you can bet that info would be available for a (hefty) price.

 

I'm of the opinion that whoever took out the hit on Drake, is the same person that sent him the warning letter.

 

I've been toying with how much does Calculator really know? He's obviously the most intelligent villain in the series. As others have pointed out, he has cameras everywhere (or has tapped into surveilance cameras) tracking the movements of the heroes.

 

At this point, he;s the only one that we have seen directly benefit from what is going on. He's provided information for cash. His prices have seemed to increase from the beginning (he went from $700-1000 per answer with Bolt to $3000 per answer with someone else, that didn't end up using him).

 

The only problem I have w/ Calculator being the architect of this whole thing is that Batman has basically cleared him.

 

And, I just can't believe that Metlzer would have Batman running around in circles. As I said before, despite what DC has said, Batman is the key to this. He's tied into all the sub-plots (except the Boomerang "paternity crisis"): the mind wiping, the murder mystery, Jack Drake's death.

 

I don't think, by this time, Meltzer has Batman on a wild goose chase. We know he's one of the (if not the) best detectives in the world. At the end of Issue #6 he's solved the murder. He knows who did it. And, based on his comments, whoever it is has a direct connection to Ray if it's not Ray himself.

 

BTW - Great sig line, Zonk. I almost did a similar one yesterday.

[Zonker]

Thanks Chris! This stuff is fun!

 

I can think of a couple of reasons for Calculator to lie.

a) he's a villain!

b) I think he deliberately sent Boomerang to his death (by also supplying the gun to Drake). While he claims doing so would be bad for business, in fact it is only having Merlyn know that he did so that would be bad for business. So he lies. Boomerang dies, and Calculator loses an over-the-hill client, but gains the new, more powerful Boomerang Jr as a client/protege.

 

Consider the chain:

- Boomerang thinks he is about to score a major, career-defining hit.

- Killing Drake would be no big deal.

- Killing the Batman, even if Boomerang dies too, would be a huge legacy.

- How did Boomerang get misled into believe the Drake hit was bigger than it really was? Clearly, he was lied to and manipulated by the Calculator.

[Zonker]

Another angle, looking at the Sue/Jean attacks.

 

Classic murder mystery convention: Look for

 

1) Motive

2) Means

3) Opportunity

 

We've gone round and round on Motive, with no really satisfying resolution.

 

The Means seems well established as microscopic brain invasion via Atom's telephone travelling technology. (Unless that is a major red herring). Clearly points to Jean and/or the Atom. Combine that with all the doubts about Jean's attack, the changes in Jean's eye color, and Ray's similarity to Dr. Light's facial expression, and the Loring/Palmer couple clearly represents the prime suspects at this point.

 

For Opportunity, let's look at the Atom and Jean again:

 

Sue's murder

- Atom has the opportunity. He is 1 hour late for his meeting with Jean. That meeting occurs 1 hour after Sue's death.

- Jean appears to be waiting on the Atom. She might have had an opportunity, but she could not have counted on that opportunity, having scheduled the meeting for the precise hour of Sue's death.

- For that matter, if either are guilty, why would either Jean or the Atom plan to meet at the same time when Sue was to be murdered? That time was fairly predictable, given Ollie's impending arrival.

 

Jean's attack

- If faked, Jean obviously has the opportunity.

- Atom does not appear to have any opportunity, as he is on the other end of the phone line.

 

Looks like we are looking at two different perps for the Sue and Jean attacks.

 

Unless.

Jean leaked Atom's technology to someone, perhaps her ex-boyfriend "Nathan" the architect? Is Nathan one of the Calculator's secret identities, as the "architect" of this whole thing??? (I think someone else suggested this earlier in this thread)

EDIT: props to Kevin for the original idea a few pages ago: What's more likely is that Jean's former boyfriend was the Calculator (and he's not former

[chrisco37]

- Killing Drake would be no big deal.

- How did Boomerang get misled into believe the Drake hit was bigger than it really was?

 

I'm not so sure. Drake's death was front page news. It seems as if he was pretty well known (doesn't the newspaper say "Famous adventurer killed" or something like that?). That would suggest he was pretty well known to the public, ie. A "Big Time Hit".

 

Boomerang dies, and Calculator loses an over-the-hill client, but gains the new, more powerful Boomerang Jr as a client/protege.

 

Now this is interesting. It was Calculator that put "the wheels in motion" for Boomerang to find his son.

 

The only thing I'm having trouble with is how did the gun get into Drake's place? It obviously wasn't there before Robin left, was it? Is it just coincidence that he opened it momnets before his attack?

 

I think we all agree on one thing in regards to this - Boomerang was set up (by either the Calculator or the anonymous client). But, was it for the reason you stated above or was it to take the fall for Sue's killing and Jean's attack?

 

Atom and Jean's conversation shows us that the heroes (apart from Batman who is still working on the case) believe Boomerang was behind it all. We know he wasn't (we know he was contracted to take out Drake), so it's more than likely he was set up to take the fall for the murder as opposed to being killed to pave the way for a more profitable client for the Calculator.

 

If they Calculator wanted him dead, why not just kill him? Why the elaborate set-up? Something doesn't quite add up.

 

And you're right....this is a blast! I can't remember the last time there were so many people caught up in a series.

[Illiterati-migration]

Never ASSUME that Batman is infallible. Wouldn't that be a great twist to take the unexpected turn and prove the mighty Batman being WRONG for once?

 

He doesn't HAVE to be right just because he's Batman, and frankly, I was getting a bit sick of the "assumption" that no matter what was going on in ANY story, Batman would just step in and figure it out.

 

I don't think Meltzer would go that route, and that's why we're seeing Bats as confused as he is right now.

[Aman619]

batman just screwed up royally in that interminable War Games crossover, too. Maybe, th eIdentity Crisis will lead into a new Batman phase where he loses heart and confidence in his mission after these two failures....

[deathlok]

Never ASSUME that Batman is infallible. Wouldn't that be a great twist to take the unexpected turn and prove the mighty Batman being WRONG for once?

 

He doesn't HAVE to be right just because he's Batman, and frankly, I was getting a bit sick of the "assumption" that no matter what was going on in ANY story, Batman would just step in and figure it out.

 

I don't think Meltzer would go that route, and that's why we're seeing Bats as confused as he is right now.

 

In one of the newest Batman books, he is fighting Mr. Freeze. At one point Freeze says to him, "Having an Identitiy Crisis, Batman?"

 

[Zonker]

Another puzzler: the burning of Sue's body. Batman's analysis is this was done in an attempt to hide something. But hold on a minute, there are only 2 possibilities, right?:

 

1) The killer meant to completely destroy the body, so that evidence of Sue's brain invasion would have been wiped out. That would make some sense if the killer is Atom or Jean. But the killer failed miserably, only burning about half the body, and leaving enough for Doc Mid-Nite to verify a) she was already dead at the time of burning and b) she had those scars in her brain. So maybe the killer did not count on the sprinkler system putting out the fire prematurely, but the Atom would certainly be able to anticipate that safety feature, and probably Jean as well.

 

...or...

 

2) The killer meant to do a half-assed job of torching the body, so that the autopsy could be done and reveal the evidence pointing to the Atom.

 

Any other possibilities?