Heroes in Crisis: The Price and Other Tales

Heroes in Crisis #Companion

by Joshua Williamson

Tom King's event of the year - Heroes in Crisis - has rocked the DC heroes to their core. While the events at Sanctuary play out in Heroes in Crisis (now available in a collected Hard Cover edition), Batman and the Flash work together behind the scenes to solve a mystery surrounding the death of Wally West. But can they solve the case before turning on each other?

An old case has reopened, and it's up to the DCU's top detectives to solve it! Gotham Girl is missing, and it will take both Batman and The Flash working together to find out where she's gone ... and if she has anything to do with the horrifying events at Sanctuary.

Though old friends, the case and the disturbing events surrounding it, are tearing Batman and the Flash's friendship apart. Both Batman and the Flash have lost their sidekicks, will they also lose each other?

Contains Batman #64-65, The Flash #64-65, Green Arrow #45 and #48-50, and The Flash Annual #2.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Batman, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

248 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2019

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, let's talk about how poor of a decision it was to pull these single issues out of their own collections forcing you to buy this book if you want to read the entire run of The Flash, Batman, or Green Arrow. Green Arrow ends its 50 issue run in this book and the last 3 issues are only included here. What a shit show! To make things more odd, they did print Green Arrow #45 in this and in the regular Green Arrow collection.

First is the Flash Annual. The original version of Impulse pops up from the mid 90s, but we don't get any answers about what's going on. It's mainly about Barry dealing with Wally's death. Then we get a Batman / Flash crossover where they fight Gotham Girl. There's lots of allusions to more going on without revealing anything. It's all pretty frustrating. Last up is Green Arrow melting down after Roy's death, burning all his bridges.

None of these books really tie in to Heroes in Crisis much. It's about the heroes dealing with the death of their proteges. I wish they had just collected these in the characters' regular books, instead of this hodge-podge of a collection.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The events at Sanctuary during Heroes In Crisis have left superheroes in mourning. Grief takes many guises, and for superheroes, that's even more accurate. How do Batman, The Flash, and Green Arrow deal with the deaths of those closest to them?

We open with The Price, the second Batman/Flash crossover story. This one's entirely written by Joshua Williamson, and it's...fine. It's nothing special, like The Button was, and it feels more like a precursor for a later story than anything else. The character interactions between Barry and Bruce are what sell it really, because they're grieving in their own special ways and this causes even more friction between them than usual. The art is split between Rafa Sandoval and Guillem March, who don't really mesh well together due to their vastly different styles, but they're both good artists in their own right.

The 'And Other Stories' of the title here include The Flash Annual #2 which is a far more personal story as Barry deals with the death of Wally West. This is pretty sad, if we're being honest, and the little side plot about Impulse kind of makes it sadder. It's a nice look at the Flash Family dynamic though, and propels the ongoing Flash story forward. Not sure how it'll read on its own, though. The art's Scott Kolins, who is a Flash master, so no complaints there.

Then there are some Green Arrow issues included, such as #45 which is an in memorium for Roy Harper in one of the best single issues I've read in a while, and then we skip ahead to #48-50, which actually feed back into No Justice more than Heroes In Crisis, to be honest, as Oliver and Dinah's lives come crashing down around them as his solo series comes to an end. I'm not sure of the rationale of including these issues is, especially since they're not particularly Heroes In Crisis-y.

The main draw here is meant to be The Price, I expect, which is fine. The Flash Annual and the single Green Arrow issue are actually better overall I think, but I think if you come here looking for any extra Heroes In Crisis material you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Ronald · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst stories DC Comics published was Heroes in Crisis (yes yes the ending to Dark Knights Metal was lame) by Tom King. It literally takes a story that could have been told in two issues and was stretched out to 12. But like most "event" comics nothing really came of what happened at Sanctuary, without spoilers I can't tell you why but the story did include Booster Gold.

So this "The Price" story is bad because it was written by people who did not know how Heroes in Crisis was going to end. Because if you read HOC you would know there was no reason for Batman and the Flash to be on the outs and "angry" and no longer "trust" each other. Really using Gotham Girl as the villain going on and on about how she is the "hero" all the while destroying people and things is just pathetic and bad storytelling. But despite the title this story is more about Event Leviathan and not HOC. Anyway another lame tie-in to a troubled yearly "event" that will change the universe forever and ever, but in this case did not even result in reboots of all comics to a new number one.

The Green Arrow issues were kind of bad X-Men teen angst level story telling than grief about a dead friend.

Reading this just left me feeling all "Ugh". It is as if once Batman and Superman comics in rebirth hit issue 50 everyone at DC just decided to stop making good comics and do the other thing.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shame how this is packaged, because some of it is great, some good, and some boring as shit.

Let's talk about "The Price". This book starts off with Flash Annual 2 where Godspeed comes back. I like him so this was refreshing. More so we have Barry have to deal with the fallout of losing Wally. He's so caught up in a fight that he can't even process it yet. Not till the final pages where he goes to see Iris. Then we deal with Barry and Bruce working together through the Heroes in Crisis time period. Obviously both riddled with guilt as to what happened and working through it...somewhat. Then the next is Green Arrow and his story I already read but was really solid tribute to Red Arrow. Last but not least is a 3 parter Green Arrow story that feels SO out of place and not very good.

So there you have it. A great starting issue, a really solid Green Arrow issue. And also a good 4 part "The Price" story that revolves around Barry and Bruce dealing with loss. But then in comes the horrible 3 part green arrow story which drags this overall collection down to a 3. Sad, I was about to give it a 4.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

The ambitious and destructive nature of Tom King’s Heroes in Crisis event was a pleasant read that allowed some chaos to the ongoing status quo since the launch of the Rebirth universe over at DC Comics. While they sparingly explored the cause of the reboot throughout some of DC’s comic book series and is still covering it in the ongoing Doomsday Clock epic event, Heroes in Crisis was an entertaining story that covered heavy topics while also killing off some C-list superheroes. Unfortunately, with every event comes tie-ins that are usually subpar or irrelevant in the grander scheme of things. This time around, there were some interesting ideas that are explored but not sufficiently mind-blowing to make this an obligatory detour for fans of King’s latest controversial story arc.

What is Heroes in Crisis: The Price and Other Tales about? Collecting Batman issues #64-65, The Flash issues #64-65, Green Arrow issues #45 and #48-50, and The Flash Annual #2, this story arc is a tie-in collection of stories taking place during Tom King’s controversial Heroes in Crisis event. Split into two stories, the first brings Batman and The Flash to work together to solve a mystery surrounding the death of one of their comrades while their friendship now lies on fragile grounds, unable to establish the amount of trust they are willing to put into one another now that they’ve both recently lost someone dear to them. The second explores Green Arrow’s pitiful self-depreciation following his own loss after the terrible events at Sanctuary.

The odds that this collection could remotely surpass the main event in terms of quality were slim, to begin with. It would be quite stunning if it proved me wrong on that front. Where this volume could be relevant is if it succeeds in sharing stories that are akin to the main event’s message. Surprisingly, The Price story arc turned out to be a sequel to The Button crossover event and it isn’t bad, per se, but brought back some of Tom King’s creations that weren’t particularly memorable in my books (Gotham and Gotham Girl). However, it’s not only through the artwork that the story arc managed to be entertaining but also through the dynamic relationship between Batman and the Flash that allows us to understand their misperception of one another and how much struggle the latter has in trusting the former in his methods.

The second part of this volume looks into the Green Arrow’s recent loss during the major event that launches him on a furious outburst against all the heroes who couldn’t save the person in question, and against himself for not having given that character the time and attention that they required. The visual style for this arc is quite different but still pretty good, giving it the tone it needs to capture the burden on the character’s shoulders following his loss. It also ended up being a story arc that featured a villain who played with perception and that seemed like an excellent idea to play with to me, considering the main theme of grief and understanding that were explored.

While not necessarily essential to appreciate—or hate—Heroes in Crisis, this collection was still enjoyable for what it was. It is a bit odd that Batman, the Flash, and Green Arrow are basically extracted out from their respective ongoing series to go through this event but at least it wasn’t for something that most could agree on as a waste of time.

Heroes in Crisis: The Price and Other Tales is an entertaining tie-in collection examining the role of mentors of fallen heroes and their stance on promoting vigilantism among inspired youths.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just read The Flash and Batman crossover and that annual!

Its a pretty good story showing how Barry deals with Wally's death and well the costs that it has and facing Godspeed and the reuniting of the flash family and also enter Impulse and then we see that Godspeed is working for someone else and its a fun story but the main is when Bruce and Barry team up to fight Gotham Girl and her brother Gotham and the army of his brother, solving whose behind it all and maybe even saving her and the failing of friendship between the two and a discord that will change the both of them forever!

Its an epic story with so many moving pieces and really is the emotional fallout of heroes in crisis and I like the way Josh tries to make sense of the mess of the story that was HIC and how Bruce and Barry try to deal with it and it shows the price the loved ones of the heroes pay and it hits on themes similar to Identity crisis. Also Barry and Iris ahh! I have very mixed feelings on this volume tbh so idk you have to decide for yourself if you liked it.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but should have been included in the Heroes in Crisis collection. It is a shame I did not enjoy Heroes in Crisis because the artwork is some of the best in the industry. This collection of tie-ins is better than the main story itself. I especially enjoyed the crossover issues featuring Batman & the Flash. They are a rare team up we do not get to see in comics nowadays. I really hope DC comics considers bringing back the Brave & the Bold series. I really want more team up books. The Batman/Flash crossover was good but just not as good as the Batman/The Flash: The Button Deluxe Edition. The artwork was superb on both issues and I really like the colors. The only thing dragging down this story are Gotham girl and the awful connection this book has to Heroes in crisis. I said it in my review of the main story I do not like the depressing and less hopeful direction DC comics is going in. I do not mind the occasional disagreement amongst superheroes but Barry would have honored Wally best by keeping his optimistic point of view. The last issues focused on Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow's dealing with Roy Harper aka Red Arrow/Arsenal's death in Heroes in Crisis. The writers did a good job writing the character but once again I just do not understand why the leadership at DC Comics hates sidekicks so much. I mean Wally is a killer, Roy is dead, and Dick Grayson is brain damaged. Are they going to kill off Supergirl next. I wish I could say this book was fun but it has a depressing feel to the story. Williamson saves this book from being totally awful. DC Comics apparently have forgotten what a hero is. So instead we get heroes down and hopeless. It is a okay book that many will feel lost without reading it along side Heroes in Crisis. There was know reason to leave this out of the main story.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art was good, and this was a pretty good, emotional read. I did not really have any issues with the dialogue, which was my main issue in Heroes In Crisis. I am looking forward to reading The Flash Rebirth, and getting further in Titans, to see the aftermath of all that has happened at Sanctuary.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heroes in Crisis: The Price and Other Stories

Whilst Barry Allen and Bruce Wayne try to work through their differences after the Sanctuary incident, an overwrought Oliver Queen slowly loses control of the Seattle streets as he comes to terms with Roy Harper's death.

A fabulous addition to 'Heroes in Crisis', showing the long term consequences of the Sanctuary incident on the various members of the Justice League, told with obvious love for the characters and some wonderful frames of artwork.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3. Storylines - 3. Artwork - 3. The Batman/Flash story did not tie in with the Green Arrow/Black Canary story. I was expecting a powerhouse crossover book, I did not get that. This book could just as well been 2 separate books, or the GA/BC story could just as well been told in a GA compilation.

[Vicente Serrano Lespier · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book dealing with the consequences of the Heroes in Crisis event featuring Batman, Flash, Green Arrow and Black Canary... The Green Arrow/Black Canary story been the stronger of the 2 and the less tied up in continuity, Flash and Time travel makes a mess of things, saving the book from been a totally incoherent mess.

[Keegan Schueler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The flash and Batman story is really good especially with the trauma they are both dealing with while handling a case. The green arrow story was good at the start connecting with Roy but just eventually went into his main run story which didn’t deal too much with the crisis.

[John Yelverton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very sad and dark story more in the vein of "Identity Crisis" than "Crisis on Infinite Earths."

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bizarre choice to publish all these issues together. Sure, I'm glad that the Batman and Flash crossover was collected here, because it really is one continuous story that wouldn't have made sense if each book's issues had been collected separately. This is a decent story, and it works as a companion to Heroes in Crisis and the Gotham Girl storyline. The main Heroes in Crisis book alludes to the conflict between Bruce and Barry that gets fleshed out a bit more here. The other issues in this volume didn't need to be here. Sure, they're affected by the Heroes in Crisis story, but they'd be much better off collected with the rest of their respective books. This is especially true of the Green Arrow issues. Sure, the funeral is directly tied to the event, and it's a moving issue, so I guess I get the argument for that one. But the three part story that follows really needed to be with the other Green Arrow stuff. It doesn't actually make sense here, and the book was already big enough. It just feels like padding, which is weird in a book that doesn't need it.

[Orhun · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half is Batman and Flash being mad at each other and mourning a friend. The second half is Green Arrow being mad at the Justice League and mourning a friend.


Not the best not the worst


Overall: 3/5

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following the events of Heroes in Crisis, this mainly tells two stories. The first involves Flash and Batman having to deal with Gotham Girl who's gone off the deep end in an attempt to bring back her brother and become a superhero once more. The other has Oliver Queen trying and failing to cope with the loss of Roy Harper. While both stories got off to shaky starts, in the end they were actually pretty compelling. The biggest problem I had was the fact that I wasn't up on either Flash or Green Arrow at that point of time, and this graphic novel was pulled from crossover issues in the three heroes' individual titles, so that left me a little lost on some things. But I ended up enjoying this more than I thought I would.

[Declan · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a pile of horrible rubbish. The story was mostly tolerable, with our three main protagonists, The Flash, Batman and Green Arrow, all suffering, having lost friends and loved-ones after the Sanctuary incident. It's understandable that people will struggle with loss, but 120 pages of whinging is about my limit, and this goes way beyond that.

Still, I might have stretched my rating to 3* if it weren't for the appearance of Jayce Riot, whose introduction in the story happens as Green Arrow captures her while she fire bombs a store. She then has the gall to correct him that vandalism isn't violence and chastises him to "read a book." This made me consider a 1* rating, but I really should know better than to read something written after 2015.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only read this because the Tom King Batman hardcovers frustratingly skip the Flash issues of this, though maybe that’s kind of a blessing in disguise. It’s really unfair to Joshua Williamson that he’s sharing writing duties with one of DC’s current best, because the second it gets to his issues I always go “What the hell is this?” and then quickly realize it’s no longer King writing. Really really basic stuff here.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this mainly to round out my reading of the Tom King run on Batman. Why, oh why didn't they put the 2 Batman issues in volumes devoted to Batman? The "event" nature of this is minimal and having to wade through stories about the Flash and Green Arrow, characters I could care less about, only makes it worse.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, this one was pretty bad. The folks at DC thought it’d be a good idea to group all these disparate parts in a single volume and call it an “event.”

The first half is Batman and Flash being mad at each other and mourning a friend. The second half is Green Arrow being mad at the Justice League and mourning a friend.

All in all, this felt overly long and snooze-worthy.

[Joshua Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joshua Williamson gave a good effort to work with the aftermath of the atrocious plot in Heroes in Crisis. It just doesn’t work, and there’s no saving. The Annual issue was pretty good, but The Price story was a slog to read

[RG · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not worth the read

[Cyril · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.49 stars
Totally skippable

[Norman Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should be read after Justice League: No Justice and Heroes in Crisis (or at least after issue #5 or 6), and before Batman, Volume 10: Knightmares.

This compilation starts with Flash Annual #2 wherein Flash is grieving over a death from Heroes in Crisis. Meanwhile, Godspeed returns to fight Flash and several other speedsters for some unknown reason, but likely on the orders of some other supervillain. This apparently is part of the set-up for DC's Year of the Villain event. There's lots of angst, especially over Flash keeping a big secret from his wife, Iris.

The Batman/Flash crossover from Batman #64-65 and Flash #64-65 continues to examine the grief and angst over the deaths from Heroes in Crisis, Batman's imminent hallucinatory breakdown (in Batman, Volume 10: Knightmares), and more foreshadowing of the Year of the Villain. Lots of questions, very few answers, in the tradition of serialized comics.

The final sequence from Green Arrow #45 and 48-50 is more grief and angst over the deaths from Heroes in Crisis, as well as lots of implausible action around a holdover McGuffin from Justice League: No Justice. I suspect much of this is also foreshadowing for the Year of the Villain.

This collection is filled with our heroes going through the denial and anger stages of grief, which is actually done fairly well, but it does get a little tiresome. There's probably not much in this volume that's essential to DC continuity, but the art is very good throughout and there are enough character moments to make it fun.

[Rolando Marono · Rating 4 out of 5]

El año pasado leí Heroes in Crisis de King y Mann, y aunque me gustó, esperaba más de ese equipo creativo. La trama era interesante, pero el desenlace me pareció muy volado y exagerado y no me dejó satisfecho. El peso emocional de los personajes es lo que mejor maneja King y aunque Heroes in Crisis tenía muchos de esos momentos, en el último tercio de la historia no vemos eso.
Luego llega este tomo que a mí parecer funciona como un epílogo de esa historia, y al nos muestra las consecuencias de lo que le sucedió a WAlly en Sanctuary, además amarra aspectos interesantes de las series de Flash y de Batman. En city of Bane vemos a Gotham Girl trabajando con Bane pero la última vez que la vimos en la serie de Batman, era transportada a Sanctuary, aquí podemos ver cómo decidió dar el salto a unirse al mal.
La historia se llama el precio y se revisa precisamente eso: ¿Cuál es el precio de ser un súper héroe? y Williamson evalúa esa pregunta a través de los héroes y sus aprendices, ¿Si alguien quiere ser un héroe, cómo lo detienes? ¿Cómo le dices a alguien que hay un precio a pagar? ¿y quién lo paga? Esta serie ésta llena de acción y de momentos emotivos; me gusta mucho ver a Flash y Batman colaborar en un caso, esa idea se presentó bien en The Button pero me quedó a deber en muchos aspectos que sí se cubren en The price.
Este volumen también trae el funeral de Roy Harper en Green Arrow y los últimos tres números de Green Arrow. No estaba siguiendo la serie de este personaje porque los primeros dos volúmenes de Rebirth los trajeron a México y me decepcionaron bastante, pero estos tres últimos números me gustaron lo suficiente como para querer leer más de lo que llevó al personaje a ese punto. Esos tres números presentan el final de la serie de GA y también hablan sobre el precio de ser un héroe y cómo afecta a sus familiares.
Quedé más satisfecho con ésta serie que con el crossover original de Heroes in Crisis, creo que si juntamos ambas series como si fueran una sola, tenemos una historia mucho más fuerte.

[Hugo Emanuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book collects Batman #64-65, The Flash #64-65, Green Arrow #45 and #48-50, and The Flash Annual #2.

The Flash Annual, chronologycally speaking, sits mid-way through the "Heroes in Crisis" event, and it focuses on how Barry Allen Flash deals with the news of his protegé Wally West's death. Altough I don't really follow the flash titles, it was still an emotional read, especially within the context of Heroes in Crisis. Artwork is satisfactory.

Batman #64-65, The Flash #64-65 are the main draw of this collection. "The price" is a nifty and poignant Batman/Flash crossover. Its a pretty good story. Its got some emotional weight, and its much better than I had anticipated. It again deals with grief and loss, altough in a sligjhter and more supeficial way than Heroes in Crisis. The Batman and Flash back and forth banter is replaced with a sour, accusatory exchange of words, as they process the events of Heroes in Crisis. A third character, Gotham Girl ,comes into play, with her own grief and loss to process, and she is far from handling it in a healthy way. I was surprised at howe good this story was. The artwork is pretty good too.

Full disclosure: I did not read the Green Arrow portion of the book, so I can't really comment on it.

But the rest of it was a very good read.

[Clay Bartel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of people were really pissed at what King did in Heroes in Crisis...

And another group is pissed that HiC The Price and Other Stories doesn't much have to do with Kings work, they say, and that this book awkwardly collects the issues from these heroes, Batman, Flash and Green Arrow.

The classic problem is how should a comics publisher collect the inter twining stories from the various runs.

King's orignal work Heroes in Crisis offended many, particularly the handling of Wally West and some deaths in that book.

It didn't bother me, I found the story quite good regardless of the strange and convoluted ending and deaths.

Well The Price follows Flash, Batman and Green Arrows responses. Flash and Green Arrows stories were easily the strongest and for me Arrows story really landed. It was this story that pushed my rating from a 3 or 4 to a solid 5 star. I just loved Arrows story.

I'm off to google which books most directly continue this story, if any, I believe I can say I enjoyed The Price even more then Kings HiC.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just jumped into this tie-in while reading Heroes in Crisis. It's more a deeper dive into how Flash is dealing with the death of Wally. The Annual kind of picks up where the Flash War ended up with Bart Allen coming on the scene, although that story really went nowhere. But the interesting story was Godspeed appearing after Barry jumps into the speed force in despair. He has some special blue gauntlet supposed from another speedster and tags Wallace, Avery, and Flash to get their Flash signature before returning to the guy who apparently went missing from Iron Heights Penitentiary in the Flash War. I guess the next Flash volumes are going to dig into that story. Of course, it tugged at your heartstrings a little when Flash tells Iris about the death of Wally.

The Price is another sob story about the Gotham twins from way back in the Batman series. It wasn't bad but was more about how the death of Wally is really impacting Batman and Flash. Total identity crisis on steroids and amplifying the theme of Heroes in Crisis. Gotham is back on ice, but I initially thought it was Bane as a background shadow in a scene, pulling the strings manipulating while helping Gotham Girl get back her brother by having her wreak havoc on the Flash Museum. Lots happening as all these stories start to weave together.

[Andrew Garvey · Rating 2 out of 5]

An odd mixed bag of stories that are, to varying degrees either directly tied into the divisive Heroes in Crisis main story or are thematically linked to it. There’s good and bad, and everything inbetween. I both enjoyed and got much more out of the Green Arrow story than I expected, especially as this is a character I’ve never had any real interest in. Its themes of grief, guilt and regret played right into the really quite depressing Heroes in Crisis story. The Batman/Flash mystery story had its moments – the return of Gotham Girl being the highlight for me – but overall it felt disjointed and the Flash annual threw far too many variant/adjacent characters around the place. There’s no really bad artwork here, but nothing really stood out either. I’d say this is an odd collection that should probably just have had it’s individual issues added to the respective main characters’ collected editions but, in the grander scheme of DC editorial decisions, this is little to complain about.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

These stories are only loosely related to the Heroes in Crisis story. We get Batman/Flash doing detective work to take their minds off the crisis, and Oliver overreacting to the death of Arsenal, including a reintroduction of Count Vertigo. Both of these stories relate more to the series they were borrowed from, and add basically nothing to the Heroes in Crisis story - we get zombie Gotham and a reappearance of Impulse, and something about Green Arrow and a box from Martian Manhunter. None of these things stem from the crossover event, and none of them really get resolved in the collection either. This feels like a dumping ground for issues that they didn't want to include in the main series volumes. Some of the story beats and moments are okay, but ultimately, this feels like a collection that didn't need to exist.