I Know What You Did Last Crisis #1

When is a Halloween special not a Halloween special? When it's this year's All Hallows Eve offering from DC Comics! Each October, for at least the past 7 or 8 years (maybe more), DC has presented fans with a horror themed annual of 8 stories. Generally 6 or 7 are set during Halloween or Dia De Los Muertos. I Know What You Did Last Crisis offers 8 tales, set during the various Crisis events that DC has published since the biggie way back in 1985. But to call most of these stories 'horror' are misnomers at best. They're more like thrillers and only 1 is set during Halloween.

The lone Halloween story occurs during Zero Hour when the Justice Society of America is attacked by an unknown foe who has the ability to rapidly age their enemies to the point of near death. It was okay. But had I already read Zero Hour, I'd probably like it and understand it better.

The cream of the crop includes CRISIS set story starring Batgirl who finds that as Earth-1 is about to die at the hands of the Anti-Monitor, Killer Croc has kidnapped the parents of a scared little girl. Black Canary rushes to save innocents from the Silver Banshee who is exhibiting powers unlike her during the events of 'The Final Night'. Kimiyo Hoshi, the Doctor Light of Japan, tries to save her STAR Labs co-workers from a malfunctioning Man hunter during the Millennium event of 1988. 

A couple of stories starring villains Lex Luthor and the Scarecrow were mid-level reads. They had great premises. But they remind me of how long ago it was when I read Final Crisis and Blackest Night that I've forgotten a lot of the less finer details. 

I really thought I was going to hate that Midnighter story. I'm just not a fan of the Wildstorm stuff and I'm so tired of DC trying to make the Authority a thing in this current melded timeline. However, this is not the Batman knockoff that looks like I imagine Wolverine smells. His story takes place during the alternate timeline events of Flashpoint and sees Midnighter playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with Professor Pyg. It was a pleasant surprise and one that I would be interested in reading a follow-up of!

The absolute worst story is a sort of Elseworlds twist on the ending of Infinite Crisis. In the original story, Dick Grayson was fated to die but Conner Kent sacrificed himself. Kinda a bad move because had Nightwing died, it would have issued in a new age of peace and prosperity for the DC Universe. Great for the superhero community. No so ideal for sales. Anyway, an alternate Conner goes rogue and kills all the Dick Grayson's in the multiverse to ensure that all timelines experience this golden age. 

In what would have been a great 'What If' type tale if it was done as a standalone special and not part of a supposed Halloween anthology, it's a jumbled mess. Not scary at all. And it's written by Dan DiDio, who just absolutely hates Dick Grayson with a passion and nearly destroyed the House that Superman Built. When can we stop making Dan DiDio a thing?

I can't really rate this book fairly based on that one tale. I need to average the quality of all 8 stories and then remove one more star for not being a Halloween special! And after making some calculations, I came out with an average of 6.5. So not quite worthy of consumption. But a decent read and for once, it doesn't try to push the envelope nor alienate established fans.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 stars.