The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1808: Invasion Book Three, 1988

The final issue of Invasion isn't so much about the invasion itself, but about the aftermath of a rogue Dominator trying to destroy Earth's superheroes. One of the ways in which this crossover, though not a great crossover, succeeds where the Arrowverse version doesn't quite is the scope. There are very few large-scale crossovers in comics that follow only a small group of heroes. There are, rarely, any "main characters" in such crossovers. Instead they tend to give glimpses of the events from throughout the shared universe, with the more specific adventures happening generally in the team or character's own title. Even when there is focus on a particular group, that group does their job and then the focus shifts to another character or team of characters. As such, and even with the recent Crisis adaptation, it doesn't quite communicate the scope of the event when we are focussed on a single group of heroes throughout the crossover. It might almost have made more sense for there to be individual episodes of each series between the crossover episodes, in order that we might see the more personal stories, but not have them intrude upon the larger-scale storytelling that the event precipitates.

Aside from that, this issue is significant for the death of yet another Doom Patrol character. Poor Scott Fisher, whom I have numerous times said deserves better, passes away as a result of complications from the Gene Bomb and his recurring leukemia. I'm fairly certain, like Garguax yesterday, that Fisher hasn't shown up in the DCU since. One thing that is a bit odious about his death, and something that speaks to the tangential nature of these kinds of crossovers, is that he is the only casualty of the Gene Bomb, a device that puts the majority of Earth's heroes in mortal jeopardy. Had a couple of others dies, Scott's death would be more affecting, I think. But instead we see it as a token effort to show the seriousness of a device that, in the end, doesn't turn out to be that serious.

Done with the Patrol for the time being. More to follow.