Identity Crisis #2
Identity Crisis #2 is the issue where writer Brad Meltzer detonates the story's central moral bomb: a close-knit inner circle of Justice Leaguers — Atom, Black Canary, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Elongated Man, and Zatanna — is forced to confess to younger heroes Wally West and Kyle Rayner that they once allowed Zatanna to magically lobotomize Doctor Light after he raped Sue Dibny aboard the JLA satellite, retroactively retrofitting a celebrated Silver Age buffoon with genuine menace and forcing readers to interrogate whether DC's greatest heroes had always been capable of profound ethical betrayal. The issue also contains the forensic autopsy sequence in which Doctor Mid-Nite confirms that the burning of Sue's body was a post-mortem cover-up — clearing Doctor Light as the killer and pivoting the whodunit toward its more disturbing truth. Together, these two narrative detonations made issue #2 the thematic core of DC's defining 2004 event: the issue that transformed a murder mystery into a crisis of institutional trust, setting in motion the paranoia that would ripple forward into Infinite Crisis and beyond. Few single issues of the era did more to establish that superhero universes could sustain genuine moral ambiguity without abandoning their ensemble casts.
In "Chapter Two: House of Lies," the aftermath of Sue's funeral brings half the old Justice League together, united by a single, devastating belief: Doctor Light is responsible for her death. As tensions rise and long-buried secrets begin to surface, the team’s unity is tested by a dark truth that will reverberate across the DC Universe. Written by Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Rags Morales, with inks by Michael Bair, colors by Alex Sinclair, and letters by Ken Lopez, the issue’s haunting tone is matched by Michael Turner’s striking cover art for Aspen Studios.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 7 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
Raw — NM- ▾ $10–$29.98 2 listings
Raw — VF/NM ▾ $2.24–$3.25 2 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $1.79–$14.99 16 listings
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Brad Meltzer, a New York Times-bestselling thriller novelist who had previously written Green Arrow for DC, originally conceived Identity Crisis as a small, personal superhero story rather than the company-wide event it became; after Dan DiDio and Geoff Johns read the script, they folded it into the editorial architecture leading toward Infinite Crisis. Meltzer has described the project as shaped by post-9/11 anxieties about vulnerability and the human cost of heroism, and he deliberately chose Rags Morales — an artist known for grounded, emotionally expressive figure work — to anchor the noir tone. Former DC assistant editor Valerie D'Orazio has spoken publicly about the editorial climate in which the book was developed, noting that DiDio's stated goal at the time was to remove lightness from DC storytelling, context that helps explain why a beloved supporting character like Sue Dibny was chosen as the story's inciting victim.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published July 14, 2004 (cover-dated September 2004); written by Brad Meltzer, penciled by Rags Morales, inked by Michael Bair, colored by Alex Sinclair, lettered by Todd Klein, with cover art by Michael Turner.
- Issue #2 is the first chapter to reveal the Justice League's darkest secret: that Zatanna mind-wiped and partially lobotomized Doctor Light after he raped Sue Dibny on the JLA satellite during the satellite era, with Atom, Black Canary, Hawkman, and a reluctant Barry Allen among those who voted to proceed — and that Batman was later mind-wiped separately for objecting.
- The forensic subplot introduced in this issue — Doctor Mid-Nite's autopsy of Sue Dibny at JSA headquarters confirming that the burning of her body was post-mortem — exonerates Doctor Light as her killer and plants the first clue pointing toward someone with access to shrinking technology.
- Owen Mercer, the illegitimate son of Captain Boomerang (Digger Harkness), is introduced in this issue; he would go on to become the second Captain Boomerang following his father's death later in the series.
- The issue's cover is by Michael Turner, consistent with his role as the primary cover artist for the entire seven-issue run — covers which became independently sought-after as Turner's profile rose.
- The complete Identity Crisis series was collected in a hardcover edition (September 2005) featuring creator commentary and a Rags Morales sketchbook; a paperback followed in August 2006. DC Comics also reprinted individual issues in April 2005 with recolored covers, and later released an Absolute Edition in October 2011.
- The miniseries was selected for the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) 2007 recommended list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens, reflecting its crossover appeal to non-traditional comics readers.
- The events seeded in this issue — particularly the revelation that Batman's memory was wiped — directly informed his decision to build the Brother Eye surveillance satellite, a plot thread that became central to The OMAC Project and Infinite Crisis (2005–2006).
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Batman & Superman #1 (2005), Crise de Identidade #2 (2005), Identity Crisis #[nn] (2005), Identity Crisis #[nn] (2005), Absolute Identity Crisis #[nn] (2011), Justice League - Crise d'identité #[nn] (2013), Identity Crisis 10th Anniversary Edition #[nn] (2015), Identity Crisis #[nn] (2016), DC Comics Graphic Novels – Sagas Definitivas #4 (2018)
Variants (2)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.