Justice League: Cry For Justice #2 Review

Justice League: Cry for Justice #2

Roll Call: Green Lantern (Hal), Green Arrow, Atom (Palmer), Congorilla, Starman (Mikaal), Shazam, Supergirl

Guest Stars: Flash (Jay Garrick), Jason Bard

Villains: mostly a heap of C and D listers, shown defeated.

The issue, titled “The Gathering” opens with Hal and Ollie on a rooftop in Gotham. There is some banter about a night in Gotham that apparently involved Hal, Lady Blackhawk, Huntress, and alcohol. This segues into a conversation about them both missing Batman, even though Hal admits to not having liked him. That scene ends with the obligatory shot of Batman (presumably Dick Grayson) passing by, mostly in silhouette, as Hal remarks “You’d have to be nuts to live here.”

We then cut to Blackhawk Island, where we see an unconscious Houngan on the beach and, in one of the hangars, Congorilla and Starman re-enact the age old comic cliche of heroes misunderstand what is going on and have a huge fight. They pretty much beat each other silly, slump to the floor, and finally talk it out, first about preferred drinks, then on to why they are there. They fly off in one of the old Blackhawk planes together.

We return to Gotham, where Hal and Ollie get a tip from Jason Bard, a private investigator long associated with the Bat-family, about a gathering of villains. Not the usual Gotham ones, out of towners. We also hear that Prometheus is behind them, as well as the raids all over on high tech places, such as the one that killed Starman’s lover last issue. There’s even a nice line by Hal about “I know this is Gotham, where its’s law apparently that people conduct every important conversation on a rooftop, but is there a reason we couldn’t have met in your office?” Bard steers them to the nearby warehouse the bad guys are, and says this one is a freebie for the memories of both Batman and Martian Manhunter.

Next we move to Central City, where Jay Garrick meets with Ray Palmer. The Flash museum was also robbed by thugs after high tech gear, and three long time friends of Jay’s were killed. They’ve popped up off and on since the Golden Age, and were sort of caricatures of the Three Stooges I believe. Jay wants to work with Ray, but has to “look into something first.” There is a nice scene of Jay telling Ray that Al Pratt, the first Atom, was proud that Ray took the name on. Then they are joined by Shazam, who tells them that STAR in Fawcett was hit, and they took zeta beam technology- the long distance teleporter used by Adam Strange and the people of Rann. In an odd mixture of good trivia and ignoring things, James Robinson did his homework enough to know that Freddy and Ray used to be on one incarnation of the Teen Titans together, but Ray is at full size in his costume, which he isn’t supposed to be able to do, which they had down last issue. Freddy and Ray leave together. Back in Gotham, Hal and Ollie stand atop a pile of defeated villains, soon joined by Ray and Freddie. They compare notes on the high tech thefts and Prometheus. Javelin comes too and tries to attack, stopped by Supergirl, who suddenly shows up for the last page of the issue.

So, what I liked: The team are all being indirectly affected by the string of high tech robberies that Prometheus is apparently orchestrating, although I confess I’m not sure how the slaughter of Congorilla’s family factors in. The characterizations all seem good, and Jason Bard was a nice touch. I’m not sure why Jay responded to the Flash Museum break in, but I suppose with all the delays in releasing this series (is it just me or does DC stand for Delayed Comics these days?) that Wally and Barry weren’t available. The Jay and Ray scene was well done, as was the touch of Freddie and Ray acknowledging their previous working together.

What I didn’t: Ok…. its a miniseries, we’re at the end of part two, and the whole team still isn’t together. Everyone seems to be a part of the high tech hits that Prometheus is pulling off, except Congorilla. And honestly, his troupe getting killed off was very reminiscent of Catman in Secret Six a while ago. The team is also looking to have the serious Justice League imbalance issue going on: they are going to go up against something that will give Green Lantern, Shazam, and Supergirl trouble, but Green Arrow will still be able to contribute? As he himself keeps saying in his own title of late, he’s not Batman. Also, as I mentioned, they screwed up with Ray’s costume at full size bit again.

What I really hated was the implied threesome with Hal, Zinda/Lady B, and Huntress. It just seemed out of character, and it seems since Birds of Prey was canceled, those characters are all treated badly.

I’ll give this a 3 out of 5.

Such are my thoughts— what do y’all think?

Tags: Cry for Justice