My Take On...

Identity Crisis #6

The cover conveys several messages:

1) Bruce grieves for Tim's father Jack Drake.

2) Bruce blames himself for Jack's death.

3) Batman can't believe the writers decided to do this to him...AGAIN!

I understand the whole point of the story is about heroes whose work follows them home. That the dangers they face can turn around and bite them in their collective asses. I get it.

I also understand that key supporting characters had to die in order to prove the point.

But after what happened to Bruce, Dick, Barbara and Tim, did Jack Drake really have to die?

My answer: NO, he didn't.

Here's what I think.

Meltzer's original draft had the killer go after Jonathan Kent. Which makes sense. Lois getting the letter at the end of issue four lead us to believe that she was the next target. The twist would have been that with Clark focusing on Lois' safety, he would not have been there to protect Jonathan. It also would have worked with the Father's Day theme.

My guess is that someone at DC said "EH, eh" to that, and Meltzer had to come up with another father quickly to save the story.

They couldn't kill Oliver again, and Tim was already in the story, so no problem...easy fix.

WRONG!

I've already gone on about Tim in an earlier post, so I won't repeat it here.

But think about this:

1) Clark would have been devastated at the loss of the only father he's ever known (and technically the second father he's lost).

2) Clark would have certainly thought twice about putting Lois in danger, and maybe even considered divorce.

3) Bruce would have ABSOLUTELY been there for Clark, and have the same drive and determination to find the killer he has with Jack being the victim.

4) Jonathan's death would have had a huge impact on the rest of the JLA and the DCU. While it might have lessened the tragedy of Sue's death, consider that Clark would have had to grieve as Clark - meaning very few people would know that Superman was affected by the death of an old Kansas farmer, whereas Ralph could grieve openly.

5) Many villains would wonder why Jonathan was targeted in the first place, thus putting Clark's identity in jeopardy.

and 6) It's already been done in the movies and on television.

Switching Jonathan for Jack would not have changed the overall story, and would certainly have opened up lots of potential future stories.

Besides...they could always bring Jonathan back if they had to.