While the DC and Dark Horse volumes are filled with competent and in
some cases stunning artwork, the implausible scale of the day’s events inspired
mostly timid scripts in which characters talk on the phone, stare at the television
screen, and struggle to find something meaningful to say. “My thoughts immediately
go to friends in New York,” writes Stan Sakai in one of the volumes’ innumerable
monologues. “Man, what a beautiful day,” Mark Crilley says to himself, as he
strolls his safe suburban streets. “What a beautiful . . . horrible day . . . ,” he then
corrects himself, as he pictures a passenger jet crashing into a World Trade Center
skyscraper.