Review: Justice League: Cry For Justice #7

Well, that was unpleasant.  Spoilers after the jump.

Reading this issue, something became clear to me about the Cry for Justice min-series.  Something that should have been obvious all along.  James Robinson was trying to push the boundaries of what is acceptable content for a Justice League story.  I mean that in the sense that he was actively trying to cross the established line and redraw it miles away from where it once had been.

There’s definitely an audience for stories that deconstruct super heroes.  Comic book readers and creators alike have been obsessed with doing so at least since the publication of Alan Moore’s Watchmen.  By this point, it’s almost refreshing when you get to read a traditional super hero story that doesn’t involve graphic violence or “adult” themes.

I don’t object to telling a good story about the darker side of super heroes.  I love the balance Gail Simone has struck in her super villain book, Secret Six which is consistently my favorite book on the shelves.  Unfortunately, most attempts to tell “adult” or “realistic” super hero stories don’t live up to Watchmen or Secret Six.

Cry for Justice doesn’t even come close to those books.  It’s not even trying to be good.  This book was written for no purpose other than to shock the reader.  Every issue seemed to be designed to be more controversial than the one before it.  The series started with bawdy locker-room talk which escalated to torture.  Torture gave way to dismemberment which ultimately lead the way to murder.

If properly executed, a tale of the world’s greatest heroes slowly being brought down to the level of their enemies could have been truly gripping.  Instead, every note rings false.  We never see why established heroes like Hal Jordan or Ray Palmer suddenly decide to start compromising their values.  They just do it because Robinson decided that was the kind of story he wanted to tell.

 The Cry for Justice mini-series had a difficult path to publication.  It was solicited as an on-going series and then seemingly put on hold indefinitely.  The entire Justice League franchise was shuffled around before issue 1 finally debuted.  And clearly there have been bumps and delays along the way to the series final issue.

I bring this up because the book’s troubled history is apparent in the final product.  The series feels unfocused.  Most of the cast has no arc to speak of.  Mikal and Congorilla just kind of came along for the ride.  Batwoman was unceremoniously dumped from the team before she even had a chance to join.

The final chapter of the story focuses on Green Arrow.  His protege, Roy Harper, has been maimed.  His city is destroyed.  And one of the casualties is Lian Harper who Ollie views as a grandchild.

(Yes, Robinson is so desperate to shock that he killed a child.  A character who has a rich history in the DCU has been sacrificed as motivation to push Ollie Queen over the edge.)

The issue ends with Ollie taking matters into his own hands and killing Prometheus in cold blood as an act of revenge.  Once again, this is supposed to be shocking.  But by this point, the reader is on to Robinson.  Time and again, he has forced characters to behave out of character in order to shock the reader.  And that trick yields diminishing returns.

Once you’ve maimed Roy Harper and murdered a child (not to mention made a throw-rug out of a C-list character) the shock value of Ollie Queen killing Prometheus is non-existent.

It might have carried more weight if Robinson had been building to this moment since the beginning of the series.  But he hasn’t.  He hasn’t even been building to it since the beginning of the issue.  Instead, the issue is filled with random cameos that only serve to distract from the central story.

Rather than focusing on the moral ambiguity of the situation, Robinson presents scenes of various heroes trying to defuse Prometheus’ bombs.  As much as I love Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers, I really didn’t need a reminder that the Bulleteer was once in the Justice League. 

And how are Hawkman and Hawkgirl on hand?  Last time we saw them, they were Black Lanterns.  Guess that doesn’t last.  Or maybe it does.  Cry for Justice has never been a good fit with the rest of the DCU.  See also: white Firestorm.

The more I think about this issue or the series as a whole, the less it holds up.  What was Promethues’ motivation?  For all his time and effort, the only thing Prometheus asks for is to be set free.  If he hadn’t gotten himself captured, he wouldn’t have had to kill thousands to secure his freedom.

Presumably, Prometheus did all of this to hurt the Justice League.  But really, this is about the worst revenge scheme ever.  The people he hurt are by and large people he has no history with whatsoever.  Shouldn’t he be scheming against Batman?  Or maybe Catwoman for cracking him in the nuts with her whip?  Why would Prometheus want to plant bombs all over the world just to make Green Arrow cry (for justice)?

And the end of the day, Cry for Justice never wanted to be good.  It just wanted to be shocking.  But in trying too hard to shock, it wound up being an unfortunate and forgettable chapter of the Justice League.

read/RANT