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.

Stargirl Spring Break Special #1

This 2021 special was released to do three things: 1) build on the popularity of the Stargirl TV series on TheCW, 2) act as a lead-on to the revamped Stargirl mini-series and 3) be a sort of bridge for yet another revamp of the Justice Society of America. I like to think that this one-shot has a 4th purpose- explain how Green Arrow and Speedy were members of the Seven Soldiers of Victory in the Golden Age way before the two characters even existed in the modern DCU.

The answer it turns out is time travel. Okay. Mystery solved. Still, that wasn't all this book was about. But it did do a very good job explaining a plot hole that's been dogging DC Comics since the CRISIS.

The remaining Soldiers are planning a reunion- in Myrtle Beach of all places. Pat Dugan is eager to see his old friends. Just as eager is Stargirl, who can't wait to get out of school for Spring Break and meet some other super heroes and hopefully, their younger sidekicks. The reunion starts off fairly well until one of the newer heroes makes an ominous proclamation resulting in the disappearance of Pat, Green Arrow and others. 

Together with Arrow's newest sidekick, Red Arrow, Stargirl begins a search for the missing Soldiers. The prime suspect behind all of this is the Clock King. Add some time displaced dinosaurs, the unsolved mysterious death of one of the Seven Soldiers and a time loop thanks to a malfunctioning time machine and you've got an exciting story that could be read as a stand alone or be your introduction to Stargirl #1. 

Only, there never was a Stargirl #1. 

Thanks to COVID related delays, the follow-up series to this special didn't debut until late 2022. With a cover date of January, 2023, Stargirl and the Lost Children continues the search for the missing member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory as well as a whole bunch of child sidekicks from the Golden Age who also went missing. 

As of right now, that 6-issue miniseries has not been collected as a hardback or trade paperback. But if it did, I would pick it up to read for sure. Just as this special was, the miniseries was written by Geoff Johns. I've said it once and I'll say it again: Geoff Johns could write the phone book and I'd read it. But don't think I won't read that story in single issue form. If I was to find these issues in a dollar bin, I'd definitely snatch them up for a read. Not knowing until now that The Lost Children was the follow-up to this book is why I hadn't read the mini before. 

Fun in the sun with some time travelling mishaps thrown in. Plus a preview of Justice Society of America #1, which was also delayed until 2023 and a fun page by the great Fred Hembeck!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.