JLA Comics

Congorilla/Starman One Shot Review

Congorilla/Starman One Shot

Spilling out of the pages of James Robinson’s Justice League title comes a one shot about Starman and Congorilla, explaining why they aren’t part of the Crime Syndicate, inside the energy dome mess. “Now and Then” employs the bordering on overused story telling device of jumping around between the fight in the “now.” and all the events leading up to it. What we gradually learn is that Bill was out looking for Mik, as we saw in JLA early in the current story. Mik was out drinking and picking up random men.

Bill then gets Mik to help him find his missing friend Malavar, last seen in Cry For Justice. Bill thinks Malavar’s tech will let them get inside the barrier keeping everyone out. Bill retraces his path between scenes of the fight, which is between Bill, Mik, and various gorillas. Bill goes to see Green Arrow, who is no help, tries to speak with Shade to find he’s been missing since the “Heart of Darkness” story. Somehow, Bill ends up with Sirocco, a metahuman friend of Superman’s. Malavar came to Iran seeking a Lazarus Pit, apparently toting a “vat of human remains” around with him. Sirocco points Bill in the direction of the “Fountain of Youth,” which has popped up before in DC Comics. This leads them to one of the recipients of the Fountain’s gifts, Rex the Wonder Dog. Rex has apparently lost his former ability to talk, so Bill and Mik bring him to Animal Man.

They finally manage to trace down Malavar, who needs “an hour” to make the Fountain work on a metahuman who was a prisoner alongside Malavar, but kept his spirits up. Malavar intends to bring him back, but has been pursued around the world by terrorists from Gorilla City who want his tech. So, the big fight throughout the issue has been to stall for time for Malavar to stage his resurrection. The Fountain apparently blocks energies, so Congorilla can’t grow and Animal Man can’t call for reinforcements, but Animal Man and Starman’s powers still work fine. The fight is going badly, but finally, the resurrection works, and the battle is joined by… the Tasmanian Devil, one of Robinson’s more controversial kills from Cry For Justice, and proof that the alleged “dead is dead” rule is utter nonsense, as most fans suspected. Oddly, Tas now looks a great deal like the younger Wildcat over in JSA- he’s much leaner, with a tail now. Malavar says he managed to escape from Prometheus when IQ hit a switch, and all’s well that ends well, with a note that this will continue in JLA 53.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

Well, at least we finally find out what happened to keep Bill and Mik from the current JLA story. While I despise resurrections and retcons, I also found Tas’ death in CFJ to be utterly pointless, so I’ll call it a wash for his return.

This is a weird little story with random bits that don’t seem to hold up to me. The Fountain of Youth that created Rex the Wonder Dog and Detective Chimp is now a Lazarus Pit that somehow or other escaped the notice of Ra’s Al Ghul in his centuries of life, and Bane in his quest to destroy them all? And this one, unlike all the others, “blocks energy,” but not Animal Man or Starman’s powers, which seems off to me. We don’t know why Rex has lost the ability to speak, although Detective Chimp still can. It’s also a bit odd that Mikaal has no body hair, but seems to grow stubble on his face, but only in the scenes where he’s in the aftermath of his partying. And, I have no idea why Tasmanian Devil looks so different now from all his prior appearances. So much for the rumored “Dead is dead” rule- I knew DC wouldn’t keep to that, but I didn’t think it would go THIS soon.

Justice League of America #49 Review

Justice League of America  #49

Justice League of America 49 is sort of a catch your breath issue- a one shot with no major storyline in it. It’s a little bit “day in the life” with one minor battle carrying the bulk of the issue. The issue is framed by the aftermath of a not shown team up between Batman and Supergirl, as she helps him mount a new trophy in the bunker under Wayne Tower he’s operating out of. There’s one page of some of the rest of the team- Congorilla in Central Park, Jesse Quick with her husband Hourman, and Starman in a bar still mourning the loss of his lover as shown in Cry for Editing… Errrr Justice.

The majority of the story is Donna and Jade going to San Francisco to check up on Shadow Thief, somewhat ominously chanting “Soon he will, soon he comes.” over and over again. After determining that whatever ails him is not Starheart related, the two go on to see an old Teen Titans foe, Bogeyman (who as far as I can tell is made up for this issue). He sends them into various nightmares, Donna facing old friends turned against her with all the usual random accusations to produce feelings of guilt and insecurity. Jade is brought down memory lane in a mist filled street, taunted by her adoptive parents, her father, ex-boyfriend, and fallen team mates. Donna manages to resist the mental barrage and free herself, then forces Bogeyman to free Jen as well. The two recover, and talk over plans to move in together and start a photography studio, while Kara and Dick ruminate about how people handle loss, the type that gets over it (Dick), vs the type that doesn’t (Bruce), and Kara wonders which she is.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

While I think Robinson still leaves a bit to be desired, I will give him points for doing some homework here. Donna at least mentions her brief move to Miami as seen in her solo issue of Titans. The scene with Dick and Kara was nicely done, and the panels devoted to the others were interesting, although why Congorilla is spending his off time jumping around in trees in Central Park I’m not sure.

What I didn’t like was the made up Bogeyman. The Titans have fought lots of foes over the years, any number of whom could have produced this type of attack- Gargoyle/Antithesis or Phobia both leap to mind off the top of my head. Also, is it just me that finds Jen and Donna living together a bit creepy? Let’s see… Jen grew up ignorant of her past, is a photographer, used to date Kyle Rayner, has died and come back, and has family connections in the hero business. Donna grew up not knowing who she was in at least some of her histories, is a photographer, used to date Kyle Rayner, has died and come back, and has adopted family in the hero business. Did anyone else see “Single White Female”? Oh well, it should be interesting to see what calamity befalls their proposed photography business- sorry, but with two JLAers working together, and being written by James “watch me break things/kill people” Robinson, you know something bad will happen.

["some nods to other stories, good scenes with Dick and Kara, nice to see Donna shown as strong" cons="yet another made up foe and psychic guilt attack, and Congorilla just wandering in the park?" score=70]

Justice League of America #48 Review

Justice League of America #48

The Dark Things, the multipart crossover between the JLA and the JSA, concludes this week in JLA 48. Basically, the assembled heroes fight against the strange Jade/Obsidian hybrid being and the Starheart-possessed Alan Scott. Back on Earth, Mr. Terrific has come up with an explanation about how the Starheart is affecting metas, and has Supergirl and Power Girl build a gizmo to give them, Lightning, and Congorilla at least temporary immunity. There’s a scene of Dick being surprised at how Jesse can fight (more on that later) as the battle rages on. Dr. Midnight manages to heal Starman by reuniting him with the gem the Starheart tore out of his chest. Jade suddenly shifts to White Lantern mode and manages to separate her and Obsidian (as well as briefly getting what is far and away her ugliest costume ever). Jade is charged by the White Lantern with “Balancing the darkness,” the words being accompanied by a vision of herself, Obsidian, and oddly, Eclipso.

Jennie realizes she needs to keep herself separate from Obsidian, who is already succumbing to the power again, and she re-charges Kyle’s ring to allow him to carry Obsidian off. Kyle also seems to be massively backpedaling, suddenly claiming he would never kill Alan no matter his orders, which is not at all the way he was acting in the previous two chapters. Batman figures out the Starheart fears Jennie, and uses her powers to defeat it and allow Scott to control himself again. Just as the fight starts tipping in the heroes’ favor, Supergirl, Power Girl, Congorilla, Lightning, and Mr. Terrific pop up to help wrap it up.

Jade siphoning off some of the power is enough for Alan to regain control of himself, and he is described now as “the most powerful human alive” since the Starheart is now even more powerful than before, with so much more of it on Earth. We then have an epilogue wherein Batman invites Jesse to join the JLA, although his recruiting technique needs work (“The JLA needs a speedster?” Really?), and she instantly accepts. Apparently there is lingering instability from the Starheart mess, and Jade and Obsidian can’t go near each other, which presumably leads to her also joining the JLA, completing what some have been calling the League of Stand-Ins. Supergirl patrols Metropolis, also about to join, wondering why she was never possessed, and as she flies by a window, we see the reflection of the dark Supergirl she briefly became in the past.

The back up wraps up as well, as the fight between Cyborg and the nanite possessed Red Tornado concludes. Vic figures out a risky maneuver, and taps into the imprisoned consciousness of the Construct, an old JLA foe that has tried to take over the world several times. The Construct allows Reddy to stabilize, and all seems to end well. Until the last panel, when we see a nebulous cyberspace, presumably inside Reddy, and something starting to form “thoughts” on a binary level. My guess? At some point in the future, the Construct will emerge and start screwing with Red Tornado again.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

The battle was handled well enough, and some characterizations were good. Dr. Midnight being more concerned with saving Starman’s life than with fighting made perfect sense, and Jade having some lingering resentments, if only subconsciously, about her relationship with Kyle ending, also work, even if she is the one that cheated on him. The story had the epic feel of the JLA/JSA crossovers of old, even if it was stretched out a bit (in my view, this could have been at least one chapter shorter, maybe even two). Batman adding more power to the League is a good step, and his recruiting Jesse evoked serious deja vu (back in the Titans days, Dick was responsible for recruiting Jesse on to that team as well).

The bit with Dick commenting that he never realized what a fighter Jesse was is a bit odd- as I said, they’ve been teammates before. Kyle comes off wishy washy (I’m not here to help Alan, I’m here to kill him… oh wait, things are ok… I never would have killed him). Mr. Terrific’s pseudo science for figuring out what happened to people under the Starheart’s influence still has a hole in it. It gaining control of magic types, I can see. Screwing with elementals… well, I guess that’s close to magic. Influencing Kryptonians via their link with the sun is pushing things a bit. And why was Lightning effected? She’s not magic, her powers are inherent/latent (she’s a mutant, but I understand DC isn’t supposed to use that term anymore), and she’s never been described as an elemental before. I’m also getting a bit sick of White Lantern power as the source of random visions and an almost dues ex machina effect, but I suppose if they didn’t do that, they couldn’t slap “Brightest Day” on the cover. Robinson also continues his inability to grasp detail, by having Power Girl call Dr. Midnight “Charles” (the name of his deceased predecessor), and more disturbingly have Jessie call her husband “Rex,” the name of not only the previous Hourman, but her husband’s father. That’s just… disturbing.

Overall, I think Robinson is still showing signs of improvement, but still has a ways to go to get back to the quality he’s capable of (Starman, Golden Age).

Zatanna #2 Review

Zatanna #2

Justice League: The Rise Of Arsenal #4 Review

Justice League: The Rise Of Arsenal #4

The Rise of Arsenal concludes this week, with an issue titled “Point of No Return.” We see Roy, still strapped down at the Virgil House, where Dick and Dinah committed him last issue. He’s still talking with his hallucination of Lian, who taunts him, saying she was never the most important thing in his life, that he’s simply a”thrill junkie.” She goes on to say she’s probably the girl in his life he cared least about, then urges him to break out and find the Electrocutioner. He manages this, heroically beating up several orderlies who were doing their jobs and trying to take care of him.

Roy gets suited up (inexplicably, the boots on his new costume have changed color), and breaks into Star City Penitentiary, finding it ironic that this is where both Electrocutioner and Ollie are. Goaded on by the decaying ghost of Lian, he breaks in, and beats up several guards, including knifing one in the shoulder. Roy then finds out which cell block his quarry is on, and lets out everyone else in that block, or at least the ones that aren’t stupid enough to fight him.

We see most of the other guards trying to respond to the riot/jail break Roy has created, while one decides to get smart and frees Ollie. As Roy stands over an already somewhat beaten Electrocutioner, Ollie arrives and tells him he can’t kill the criminal. Roy says he’s going to anyway, and, naturally, they fight. Ollie admits that Roy is a better fighter than he is, but not when he’s on the drugs. Ollie is winning, until he carelessly throws Roy at one point. Roy lands near the Electrocutioner, and drags him off, slamming a barred gate down between them and Oliver. As Ollie looks on, horrified, Roy kills him.

In keeping with the rest of the series, the epilogue is creepy and disturbing. Roy wanders through the house he briefly shared with Lian, her ghost seeming to comment on things they meant to do but didn’t get to. Roy then locks her inside and burns the house down, with her calling for him. On the last few pages, Roy is in an unidentified city, stalking along the rooftops. He sees what appears to be a pimp beating up one of his hookers. Roy leaps down on the fight, blades drawn, and it ends.

What I liked: Well… good that Oliver tried to stop him. Points for that. There’s a two page spread near the beginning of points from Roy and Lian’s life together, and it was nice to see Roy’s Navajo past acknowledged, even if they have forgotten his tattoos.

What I didn’t: pretty much everything else, including the vast majority of this series. This was NOT a Rise. This was taking a hero with decades of experience, and making him a junkie and a thug and a murderer. Great, maybe he and Ollie can share a cell later. In the final issue, we see Roy beat up innocent men doing their jobs, fight his former mentor, commit cold blooded murder, arson, and seemingly burn up the ghost of his daughter. This was sickening.

We’re supposed to buy that Roy is so stricken with grief that he slides into drugs and criminal behavior… oh, but he’s thinking clearly enough to get a new costume. He seems to have eliminated all his range weapons, except for throwing knives, discarding one of his biggest edges in a fight. His costume changed from issue three to issue four (they dyed his boots in rehab?), and even his new cyborg arm looks different towards the end of the issue- smoother, less detailed, as if even the artist has said “Oh, who cares?”

We have nothing but unanswered questions at the end of this. Is Roy still on drugs? They never say. Is he wanted by the police now? Presumably. How’d he get out of the prison? Did Ollie just let him go? Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that this horrid nightmare they sent him on will result in him working with Cheshire (his ex) and Slade, who’s tried to kill him and his friends over and over again. Why is Ollie in his jail cell in costume? Did they think we wouldn’t know who he was if he was dressed like the other prisoners? Ollie gets his, but Electrocutioner doesn’t?

I have hated this series. I despise what they did to a character I’ve always really liked. Many of the changes they’ve done don’t make sense, as mentioned above. They leave far too many unanswered questions at the end of it. The series is wholly misnamed, almost as badly as that Oracle: The Cure a bit ago. Krul claims to like Roy as a character. Damn, I’d hate to see what he does to ones he doesn’t. So, we lose Roy as a hero, he loses his distance weapons, and we rarely (once) see him make use of his moo gi gon, the improvised weapon skill that helped make him unique. He lost his daughter, another thing that differentiated him from many other characters. Basically, as far as I can see, he’s now just another psycho with knives. And a mechanical arm. Oh, yes, THAT was an improvement.

Something occurred to me a bit ago, and I wanted to wait until the series ended to make the argument. I’m going to do something always a bit risky among comic fans, and bring up The Killing Joke. Now, I’m not getting into the whole “females are mistreated” rant that so many love in association with this story, nor debating Barbara as Batgirl vs Oracle, or if she should walk again. I’m focusing on the motivation behind the Joker’s actions in that tale. Joker kidnapped Gordon, shot, crippled, and according to most, sexually assaulted Barbara, taking pictures and video along the way, to prove a point. Joker’s idea was that all that separates a man like the Joker from a good man like Jim Gordon was one really bad day. Gordon proved him wrong, retaining his sanity and morality, later opting to not kill the Joker when effectively given permission to do so by the Batman.

Well, apparently Jim Gordon is a much better man that Roy Harper. Roy snapped utterly. He’s now a murderer, and a villain. He is no longer a hero, and really, no longer the character that used to have fans. I dread to see what they do to him next.

Rise Of Arsenal Reviews: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4

Rise Of Arsenal Tag: HERE

Justice League: Generation Lost #1 Review

Justice League: Generation Lost #1

Welcome to our first review of the new series “Justice League: Generation Lost”, part of DC’s current Brightest Day company wide storyline. This series follows Booster Gold, Ice, Fire and Captain Atom as they search for newly-resurrected Maxwell Lord. The beginning of the issue features a worldwide manhunt that forces Booster Gold to play the detective role and find Lord, resulting in Lord performing his mind control on the entire world, except the four previously mentioned heroes, and erasing their memories of him. Personally, I really liked this issue and I’m highly anticipating the next one. Anyway, I guess I’ll start reviewing now!

This series is being written by Keith Giffen and Judd Winick. As you most likely know, this series is basically a sequel to the Justice League International series from the ’80s, which was also written by Giffen, so he obviously knows the characters and has a good grasp on how they should be handled.  Giffen and Winick teaming up may not seem that big at first, but the proof is on the paper. These two know how to write comics and the story they are crafting here is going to be an amazing tale of what it’s like to chase an incredibly dangerous person while no one believes you. I really hope we get to see more JLI members like Guy Gardner, Martian Manhunter and Black Canary. The only thing I don’t like about the issue is that the Batman showed looks and talks a lot like Bruce Wayne, and I’m pretty sure Bruce hasn’t returned yet in-continuity.

Pencils on this issue are done by Aaron Lopresti, Inks are done by Matt Ryan, and Hi-Fi takes the coloring. I think Lopresti was placed on the series because his work is similar to Kevin Maguire’s, who drew the JLI series, and it was a good idea to do the series in that fashion. Lopresti’s lines are uniform and detailed, but still convey the emotion and meanings behind it. Matt Ryan’s inks are beautiful, all the shading looks natural and all the art comes together brilliantly. I won’t lie, I am a huge fan of Hi-Fi, I think the books they color each week stand out even when they’re just sitting on the rack. All the colors are clear and distinct yet fluid and smooth. I have absolutely no complaints about the art in this book.

Overall, the pencils are detailed and meaningful, the writing is down to earth and informative and the only thing I don’t like is the Bruce-looking-Batman and the exclusion of quite a few JLI members. I understand they can’t use all of them but they should use more than 4. Anyway, here’s my rating:

Anyway, come back next week and each week after that for the latest reviews from us here at ACB. Make sure to check out our Brightest Day Coverage as well as The Return of Bruce Wayne and The Flash reviews.

–moyermason@yahoo.com

Justice League: Rise Of Arsenal #1 Review

Rise Of Arsenal #1 Review

Continuing the events from Cry For Justice, the four issue Rise of Arsenal series began this week. It opens with what will become Roy’s last time seeing Lian alive, a believably done scene about her eating her vegetables versus not getting dessert. Roy gets to finish the video call to her, and really, that’s probably the last good thing that happens to him for I don’t know how long. He gets attacked by Prometheus disguised as Shazam, and we already know the outcome- Roy loses his bow, the fight, and his arm. Much later, Roy finally awakens in his bed at STAR Labs, and understandably reacts badly to the memories that crash in on him. JT Krul does finally explain why Roy is the only person Prometheus fought who seems to have been poisoned in addition to being stabbed, the strange energy sword used to sever Roy’s arm was not used again later. Roy learns that Star City was destroyed, Prometheus is free, and then suddenly realizes Lian isn’t there. This goes… about as well as can be expected. Dinah calms Roy as best she can after the tragic news is accepted. There’s talk among his friends after Roy is sedated about not knowing what to do for him, the poisonous nanites in his system, and Ollie closing everyone out.

Roy has a nightmare, taking him back to his days as a drug addict, meeting with Corey, an old friend he did drugs with. Corey’s death was one of the things that helped pull Roy out of being an addict. The vision of Corey tempts Roy with the idea of going back to drugs, which he resists for now. Later, Roy, awake now, goes to see Dr. Midnight, and find the location of Lian’s body. Roy goes to the morgue alone, in one of the most disturbing sequences in the issue. Roy’s experience as a fighter, especially his talent for using anything around him as a weapon, lets him reconstruct her death in images as he views the body, and we see Lian die in much more detail. Roy can’t shake the haunting thought that he will always wonder if her last words were “Daddy, help.”

He leaves STAR, sneaking out after stealing a bottle of pain meds from Dr. Midnight, and wanders the streets, seeing the unrest, the loss, the injured. He gets to the house that was his and Lian’s, and interrupts two looters. Even injured and maimed, he drops them easily, although as a nice detail, he makes several mistakes in the fight from the lack of his arm. Canary comes in at the end of the fight, and there’s a very emotional scene between them. Roy rages at the looters, his losses, that Prometheus is free still, and that the heroes aren’t doing enough to find him. Dinah counters that they are doing all they can, and that the intense search for Sue Dibny’s killer didn’t go full swing until after Sue was buried. Roy finally tells Dinah he wants to spend the night in his and Lian’s former home, alone, and yells at her about it when she resists. Dinah leaves, and Roy spends time in the basement, attacking the heavy punching bad, seeing Prometheus’ face in flashback, and then hitting so hard the bag’s chains snap and it falls. He sits, grieving, and then opens the bottle of painkillers he stole that he already said weren’t helping him, and pops a few pills. Dead Corey returns, saying “Welcome back, buddy.” and the issue ends, having been called appropriately enough “A Father’s Loss.”

What I liked and what I didn’t:

Ok.. J T Krul is over all one of the better writers at DC these days in my personal opinion. He gets his characters, there are no major out of character moments, and his detail is good. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt, and hoping that some elements of this issue were included by editorial mandate.

The flashback to Lian’s death in detail was creepy, disturbing, and utterly not necessary. She’s dead, Roy’s lost in grief, we get it. Watching a six year old girl suffer multiple injuries and cry as she dies is NOT something we needed to see. Some who have been defending her death on the DC Message Boards have been saying it was tastefully done, and we only saw part of the body, and no lurid detail. Well, that’s no longer true.

They have maimed Roy, killed his daughter, destroyed his city, and poisoned him. His adoptive father has become a murderer, even if he doesn’t know it yet. Did we really need to complete the picture and have him slide back into drug addiction? All his strength, all his progress… gone. Yes, it makes sense, yes, it’s understandable he’d do it, but did they have to do this to him too? Especially in something called the “RISE” of Arsenal? And just to make sure we get the point, next issue is billed as “Roy Harper… ADDICT!” Enough. They’ve done enough to him. Kill him and put him out of his misery, or let him start overcoming these tragedies. He doesn’t need more problems dumped on him. I am very disappointed in how this has been handled, and this is, to me, not a hopeful sign of anything improving.

Rise Of Arsenal Reviews: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4

Rise Of Arsenal Tag: HERE

Justice League of America #41 Review

Roll Call: Vixen, Dr. Light II, Red Tornado (in pieces only), Donna Troy, Starfire II, Cyborg, Batman III, Mon-El, Guardian, Green Lantern (Jordan), Green Arrow

Guest Stars: Robin V, Wonder Woman, Tomahawk, Miss Liberty

Spoiler space here with the cover shot.

This issue is part one of two of a story called “Team History.” This is basically what seems to be the set up for the major reshuffle of JLA membership. At the start, Vixen is ruminating about the Blackest Night chaos, and then the major fight with Prometheus over in Cry for Justice. Because that mini has been delayed so many times, JLA is now “ahead” of it and there are major spoilers here. For the last few issues, JLA has been revealing the outcome of the fight, which just happened this week. They also spoil that the big dramatic scene next issue will be the heroes voting to let Prometheus go because he’s holding cities hostage. Vixen still sports her injuries from the fight (why she can’t heal herself is not discussed), and she tells Dr. Light she’s going to leave. Tornado is also on a table in pieces, which he wasn’t in CFJ 6, so I guess more happens to him.

Donna shows up next, turning up at a hospital with a crisis situation going on. She says she’s not there for that, correcting the detective when he calls her Wonder Girl, and it seems like she’s not going to act until he tells her they are in the children’s ward. She wades through some color coded terrorists (who look a lot like the ones the Secret Six fought a while back) and is greeted by Wonder Woman. They argue up on the roof, Diana persuading her to join the League. Again, why Diana herself is no longer in the League is never explained.  We do learn that Donna was there to rebury her son, brought back during the Blackest Night creepiness.

Suddenly, we’re back in 1777 Virginia, during the American Revolution, where Tomahawk, Dan Hunter, and Miss Liberty run across a strange artefact that has already incapacitated a British patrol and then gives Tomahawk visions when he touches it. Miss Liberty shows up and suggests bringing it to Ben Franklin. Much later, as in the present, Darwin Jones, a minor DC scientific character, is cataloging things in the Smithsonian, and he, of course, finds it and triggers it. Set up for later, I suppose. Some strange man with a rather archaic speech pattern shows up to take it, displaying some kind of energy powers.

Elsewhere… Donna has evidently taken Diana’s advice to heart. She’s not only joining the JLA, she’s recruiting. She gets Starfire and Cyborg to come along, and then pays a visit to Gotham. She watches the new Batman and Robin tear through some thugs led by Yellow Wasp, a former Wildcat foe, and then offers Batman the same membership. Robin, at least, is ecstatic, thinking the offer includes him as well. Personally, I really hope not, but I don’t like Damian the Wonder Brat (yes, some do, fine, it’s my review). Donna then brings Starfire and Cyborg to League HQ, and convinces Dr. Light to not quit. Light even debuts her new costume, needed since the writer had her blasted out of her old one while fighting Black Lantern Dr. Light, in what I think was one of the worst done scenes in quite a while. Apparently Hardware can design armor that lets him fight meta humans, but not a costume that won’t leave the wearer naked. Also, IMHO, having a rapist strip a hero of her costume is in really poor taste.

The Guardian, apparently now a Leaguer.

Off to Metropolis, where Mon-El beats Atomic Skull down, and is then persuaded to join by Dr. Light and Guardian. Points for Dr. Light, she says “You want to be like Superman? Superman was in the Justice League.”

Elsewhere, Hal recruits Ollie, who’s apparently been going after every thug he can find after letting Prometheus go. We don’t know where this is, as Star City is gone. Hal is joined by Batman to press Ollie into joining. News to me that Hal was a member at this point, but oh well. Also no sign of Congorilla, despite him being in the cover and his membership being debated hotly on the message boards.

Ok… it was nice to see Donna getting some respect as a sort of leader, and made sense to see her think of her Titans friends for membership. She also got Dr. Light to not only stay but recruit also. Dr. Light’s line to Mon-El was well done, and the Donna/Dick as Batman scene was great.

The continuity here is weird. I guess Hal and Guardian join the League in the last issue of Cry For Justice. Hal hasn’t been a member in a while, and Guardian never has. How Donna went from “I don’t want to be a hero” (something else I guess happened in CFJ) to doing recruiting for a team she just joined I’m not sure. And yes, I said it before, I”ll say it again- I don’t like Damian. His calling Donna “Harlot” isn’t cute or endearing, it’s annoying. We’ll see how the rest of this goes. Robinson can be a great writer. He just hasn’t been lately.

Cry For Justice #6 Review

Cry For Justice #6 (of 7. Almost done)

Roll Call: Supergirl, Green Arrow, Zatanna, Black Canary II, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, Starman (Mikaal), Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Dr. Light II, Guardian, Vixen, Donna Troy, Atom (Palmer), Green Lantern (Jordan), Starfire II, Firestorm V, Flash (Garrick), Shade

Villains: Prometheus

Guest Stars: Are you kidding? Who’s left?

Spoiler space with this pic.

Titled the Game, this issue begins with Supergirl going after Freddy/Shazam, saying she figured out he was a bad guy back when the explosion happened, citing that her being that close to magic should have killed her, and that he’s said the word “Shazam” without changing. Admitting the game’s up, and he’s been found out, Shazam drops the disguise and is revealed as Prometheus. He drops Supergirl with bullets he bought from Mercy Graves, cast by Vulcan. The rest of the heroes around start charging in, and it’s a slaughter. He seemingly shoots Zatanna in the throat, poisons Plastic Man, does something wholly unclear to Red Tornado, tricks Starman into blasting Canary then shoots him. The next wave charges in, and Prom is off and running again, dropping Hawkgirl by bouncing a shot off Guardian’s shield, then blinding Guardian by redirecting one of Dr. Light’s attacks, shredding Hawkman’s wings with a different blast which makes Hawkman smash into Dr. Light, dropping them both. He’s about to kill Hawkman when Vixen attacks, and he breaks her leg with Hawkman’s dropped mace. Donna is next up, and he fires some weird spear things through both her wrists and her bracelets to pin her to a wall. Prometheus takes off, and Donna very impressively pulls her arms free in a spray of blood that looks most painful. He next makes Hal hallucinate about his dead father and then does something with the “Jordan trace DNA” that was mentioned back during the bomb blast and somehow takes him down.

Next up, Starfire and Firestorm fly in. Using information from “Stein log” Prometheus is reminded that the last Firestorm was killed by the Shining Knight’s blade, and fires a weapon made from the gauntlet of “Claw the Unconquered” a very obscure DC title from long ago. This creates some odd effect that splits Firestorm into Gehenna and Jason, and the backlash knocks out Starfire. Green Arrow then goes after Prometheus, shooting him in the leg, except that as he falls, Prometheus shimmers and turns into Donna Troy (boy, she can’t catch a break today). Ollie is stunned by what he’s done, and Prom shoots him from behind. He then says he knows Palmer is in his armor, trying to destroy it from within, and then goes into an explanation about the suit’s defenses as Ray is violently ejected and different parts of him grow or shrink at random.

Almost to the teleporter room and out of here, he then runs into Jay Garrick and Shade. He unleashes some odd virus against Jay, and then takes out Shade with a bright flash of light. Finally thinking he’s going to get out, Prometheus is tackled from behind by a much bloodied Donna, who pounds him to the floor and then begins ripping bits of his suit off. Shade steps in and stops her from actually killing him. We then move on to the interrogation of the captured villain scene. He’s held in a chair created by Hal’s ring as Canary, Hal, Ollie, Guardian, and Dr. Light look on. There’s a rather odd bit from Canary about “Any of them die, and God help you. Threats, yeah, always effective.” We finally learn that Prom’s big plan has been to combine the technology he’s stolen to displace cities in space and time. They’d be protected, sealed in force fields, but the heroes would never find them and be tortured forever. He needed the satellite to get high enough up to broadcast his signal, and needed a special computer to handle it all. Realizing they’ve been had, Dinah tells Jay to shut everything down, and Prometheus replies it’s too late, the computer program started about when the fight did. He then offers a trade- his freedom for the information on how to stop the devices. Ollie says no way, Dinah says hear him out, and Ollie says he’s bluffing. Prometheus says he thought someone would raise that point, and it was ironic that it was Green Arrow. When asked why, he says the other cities have an hour in which we can bargain for my release, but as a demonstration, Star City is already being destroyed.

The issue ends with a lot of text from Robinson, mostly explanation/excuse as to why Batwoman never really made it into the book, and a retelling of her origin, in case you missed it last month in her Detective story. He then heaps a lot of praise on random DC writers, and sort of more or less admits that Cry For Justice might not have been his “A game.”

This is when the summary stops and my commentary starts. If you’re a big fan of Cry For Justice so far, you may wish to stop reading at this time.

Still with me?

Ok… I hated this. When sitting down to do this review, my first inclination was merely to write “This sucked” and let it go there. But I try to take my reviews a bit more seriously than that. Working forward from the beginning, here are my problems with it:

Supergirl says that if she were near that much magic, she might have died and at least would have felt awful. By that logic, none of the Kryptonians can enter Fate’s tower or be near heroes like the Spectre, the wizard Shazam, or the Phantom Stranger I guess, although all those things have happened. She also calls him on saying “Shazam” with nothing happening, but as was shown in the Trials of Shazam series (one of the most polarizing among Marvel family fans ever), Freddy can, in fact, do that now. Prom’s bullets to drop Supergirl are from Mercy by way of Vulcan. OK… all those fights she’s had with Superman, she never used these? Not to mention that Mercy has never been shown to still be a part of the Amazon culture, so when did she get these? For that matter, when did Vulcan start making modern ammo? The magic character Son of Vulcan who drew his weapons from that same God always used more classic myth based weapons.

I have no idea how “pheno-chloroform” is supposed to have disabled Red Tornado. Last I knew, chloroform was a plant product, with no special properties to screw up machines. I can see taking your foes’ reactions into account, but knowing exactly how Guardian would hold his shield to bounce the beam into Hawkgirl is a bit far fetched. I also don’t buy these never even described spears pinning Donna to the wall. She can deflect bullets with her bracelets, but these were both too fast and able to punch through the arm bands and her Amazon muscle? Prometheus dropping Vixen with Hawkman’s mace also seemed odd and forced. What he did to make Hal hallucinate is never explained, and it’s implied that Prometheus briefly gets control of Hal’s ring, but then never uses it on anyone but Hal. The so called “Stein log” seems to be a reference to Martin Stein, formerly part of the first Firestorm, but Stein wasn’t around when Shadow Thief killed the Ronnie Raymond Firestorm, so this makes no sense. I will give credit that they FINALLY drew Firestorm in his correct costume and skin tone, first time in the series. Only took them six issues. Finding, and identifying, Claw’s gauntlet from 13902 BC seems… improbable. We see the two parts of Firestorm reaching for each other, but not able to re-merge. Why? Never explained. Ollie shooting Donna is just not gonna happen. Again, bullets and bracelets anyone? Atom can shrink into other universes, but Prometheus’ “nanobytes” are smaller than him? Then Prometheus debates with his suit about what to do when he finds Garrick and Shade, and that’s not enough time for one of the Fastest Men Alive and the master of darkness to do anything besides stand there and wait to get shot? And Shade, shown to be a major powerhouse more and more lately, is taken down by a light burst? After Donna tears Prometheus’ suit apart, in the very next scene, it’s completely fine. They sent out for a tailor for him? And Dinah saying the bit I quoted above about “If any of them die” followed by “Threats, yeah, always effective” make it sound like she’s disputing her own words in the same panel. The whole bit about Prom’s reveal of the computer program’s already been running is straight out of the end of Watchmen. Very disappointing. And all the text filler at the end seemed unnecessary, and could have possibly let us end this madness now instead of waiting another month. Oh, and the big suspense about do they let him go or not? Spoiled in JLA 41, also on sale this week.

I’m sorry, this whole series has been bad, and seems to me to be getting worse. Robinson showed he can still write well in the Starman Blackest Night special that just came out. What his problem is here, I have no idea. He’s better than this. Several years ago, in a series called Identity Crisis, there was a fight between Deathstroke the Terminator and several Justice Leaguers. Fans have gone back and forth about that fight, many saying they hated it. I rather liked it, and thought it was well done. This one… this was just ridiculous. I think done right Prometheus can be a very impressive villain, but really, this was way beyond over the top.

Justice League of America #40 Review

Justice League of America #40

Roll Call: Dr. Light II, Vixen, Gypsy, Zatanna, Plastic Man (sort of), Red Tornado (only in pieces)

Spoiler warning below.

Villains: Black Lantern versions of Dr. Light I, Steel, Vibe

This continues where last issue left off, as the Blackest Night(mare) continues. As seems to be happening with most of the crossovers, in this one we see the life and times of the former JLA Detroit hero Steel, ending with the “download complete” as the black ring resurrects him. We then return to the fight in the much the worse for wear Hall of Justice as Vixen and Gypsy face off against their dead teammates, Steel and Vibe. Much of the rest of the issue is spent with Vixen fighting Vibe, Gypsy fighting Steel, and both the Black Lanterns taunting them about being worthless as heroes. Elsewhere, Dr. Light I, the evil version goes more in character as the slimy rapist he was retconned as during Identity Crisis, and fights Dr. Light II, with her costume being slowly destroyed as the fight goes on. Also throughout the issue, we see the Black Lanterns reading the shifting emotions in the heroes, corresponding to the colors of the other lantern corps in this event.

Vixen tries to use her animal mimic powers to generate light like one of the lantern fish from the depths of the ocean, but Vibe heals from it, saying she’ll need something stronger. Elsewhere, the Doctors Light go at it, arguing about the costume and who is more powerful, as Kimiyo loses more costume. Gypsy finally shows some fighting skill, abut time with all the training she’s had from Martin Manhunter and later Bronze Tiger, using a knife on Steel. The fight ends up at the base of the memorial statue to the JL Detroit, ironically. Plastic Man recovers enough to tell Gypsy to hold up and stretch out the lens of his goggles to magnify the light Vixen is producing. This disables the Black Lanterns briefly, but they reform, both taunting, Vibe adding “Maybe that was the problem with Justice League Detroit the whole time… It wasn’t us, it was you two. You just don’t got it.” He is cut off by “Wouldn’t know, I’ve never been to Detroit!” as Dr. Light II shows up and fries them both, now wholly naked from her earlier fight. Dr. Light and Vixen both pass out, Zatanna teleports in, crying, asking how many times she must see her father die (she left last issue to fight her Black Lantern’d father, Zatara) and collapses, leaving Gypsy the last League member “standing” as she tries to tend to her fallen friends.

Ok this is going to sound like a rant. Let me preface with this: James Robinson wrote Starman in the 90s. It is one of the best series I’ve ever read. He did amazingly well with that. I am not, as the phrase goes, a “Robinson hater.” That said, his work of late on JLA and Cry For Justice has been horrible, in my humble opinion.

Credit where it’s due, as I said, it was nice to see someone remember that Gypsy isn’t limited to turning invisible, which is how most folks write her. So he gets points for that. As to the rest of the issue…. not so much. The majority of the issue a big slugfest, just endless fighting and bad guys taunting. Robinson seems to have forgotten that Vixen can heal herself, as she’s still all beat up from whatever fight we haven’t seen in Cry For Justice. The fight moves through the Hall of Justice as heroes are knocked backwards all over, yet somehow the nearly out cold Plastic Man, spread out on the floor, is there for the final scene. Zatanna is gone most of the issue, and ‘ports in at the end to just sort of fall over. But my biggest problem with this issue is the Dr. Light war.

First off, I’m curious about how this works. Dr Light has light powers, light destroys the Black Lanterns, but Dr. Light is still a threat as a Black Lantern? How’s THAT work? That to one side, this was just a creepy scene with some really unpleasant overtones. Dr. Light I, Arthur, was recast as a rapist in Identity Crisis, and has been acting like it ever since. Points for them keeping him in character I guess. But really, was this necessary? The two Lights fight, and Kimiyo keeps losing more and more of her costume as it goes on. By the end, she’s totally naked, gotten there by a man who assaults women. This is just… exploitative doesn’t seem right, but I’m not sure what is. Now, I’m a big fan of the female form, and I have no problem with nude scenes done right. This was just sort of a metaphorical rape. Last time they met, Arthur Light supposedly permanently de-powered Kimiyo, now he blasts her costume off? What’s next?

Overall, I think this was just a poorly executed issue, with some really disturbing imagery. If this is what Robinson is going to be doing, I don’t want some of my favorite characters anywhere near him, like Dick Grayson and Donna Troy. Maybe it’s just me, but I think this is going downhill fast, and this was a really poor issue. Such are my thoughts- what are yours?

JLA #39 Review

Justice League of America #39

Roll Call: Red Tornado, Vixen, Gypsy, Plastic Man, Zatanna, Dr. Light II

Villains: Black Lanterns Zatara, Vibe, and Dr. Light I

As ever, spoiler warnings.

This issue is titled By My Black Hand, Reunion. Following the format of many of these tie-ins, we go over the life and times of a dead character, this time Vibe of Justice League Detroit fame. After he is commanded to “Rise,” we see the Hall of Justice, half destroyed by earlier battles. The team is still wounded from the as yet to happen battle in Cry For Justice. As the walking wounded examine the wrecked base, they are attacked by Black Lantern Zatara, who Zatanna faces off against and tells everyone else to run. Their duel continues, her denying he’s really her father, him recalling details of their life together. Finally, she seems to beat him and teleports them away.

Dr. Light II, the good one

The group continues into the Hall when Dr. Light suddenly splits off by herself, confusing the others. Tornado and Plas make jokes about it being a Scooby Doo adventure, and then they meet Vibe. Tornado cuts loose on him with his full power but, as they tend to do, he regenerates nearly instantly. Vibe drops Red Tornado and then rips out Plastic Man’s heart as Vixen and Gypsy look on shocked. BL Steel then shows up to continue the JL Detroit trend.

We then see where Dr. Light got off to. She can somehow or other sense the Black Lanterns, and wants to prevent the others from having to face Aquaman. However, she was wrong, as she ends up confronting the original Dr. Light. He is rather grotesquely licking the detached head of Gehenna, girl friend and part of the most recent Firestorm, slain in Blackest Night awhile ago. He turns and blasts Kimiyo, knocking her down, and says “Now let’s see how you taste” as we once again see the dreaded ending “To Be Continued.”

I liked the history and for once references to the Detroit League that weren’t cutting on it. The art was good, and the Black Lanterns are nice and disgustingly zombie-fied.

I am really not interested in Blackest Night, and am a bit annoyed that it’s crossing over everywhere.
And as I said last issue, I’m a bit irked that we have our heroes staggering around from wounds that they haven’t actually gotten yet due to all the delays on Cry For Justice.

Such are my thoughts, what are yours?

Cry For Justice #5 Review

Cry For Justice #5

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

Villain: Endless Winter (WHO?)

Guest Stars: Jay Garrick Flash, Shade, various Titans and JLA members

As ever, caution, there be spoilers.

The story opens at the Baker household (as in Buddy, Animal Man), where Kory and Donna are hanging out, as Kory used to before the Titans reformed. Congorilla and Mikaal turn up here, Congorilla having known Buddy back when they were both in the Forgotten Heroes together. In another nod to history, Kory even makes a reference to the short lived “Justice League of Aliens” she and Mikaal were both in. All the heroes here agree to help hunt Prometheus, and go for help to the Justice League, which is where we go next, as Hal’s team meets up with the League he and Ollie stormed out on back at the beginning of the series. Roy agrees to help, Dinah and Ollie bicker about how he left, and there are some good characterizations here. There’s a summary of the vague “Prometheus is doing something bad with high tech” plotline, as more heroes fight villains they don’t know, like Stargirl and Cyclone against Kull the Beastman for example.

At this point, they get more information from Batwoman, finally doing something more than posing in the background. She fought Endless Winter, beat her, and was finally getting information on what was going on when Endless was killed by some remote control device. The body is going to be brought to the JLA for Ray Palmer to examine. Meanwhile, in Keystone, Jay Garrick and Shade share their own information before Jay is summoned by the League, and offers to bring Shade along.

Ray examines the dead body, and learns she was killed by a device based on the tech Amanda Waller used to use to keep the Suicide Squad under control. Shazam and Supergirl keep up their sort of flirting. They hear that Guardian has stopped a bad guy in Metropolis who was setting up some kind of device, and both he and it are brought aboard. There’s a neat consultation scene by video monitor with Cyborg, Dr. Magnus, and a few other scientific heavyweights, who agree the device blends Time Pool and Zeta Beam tech with other things to create a massive teleporter that is capable of sending a whole city anywhere in time or space or to other dimensions. They also agree the device doesn’t work, as it would require an immense computer and huge amounts of power.

Supergirl suddenly notices Freddie/Shazam is gone, and Roy leaves to go call Lian and wish her good night, a nice touch. Canary and Arrow bicker more, and then Buddy and company arrive. The League starts to say “We’re kinda busy” before everyone realizes they are after Prometheus. Bill/Congorilla suddenly takes off after scenting something, yelling “Where is he?”

He passes Supergirl, who is asking who Bill is, when they both see a blood trail on the floor. They follow it to find Roy, bleeding, burned, and missing most of his right arm, who passes out at their feet. Bill gets Kara to cauterize the wounds and then roars out his attack cry, which echoes throughout the base, so the main group of heroes hear it. They follow the sound and find Roy, which is when Ollie understandably freaks out. Ollie swears they are going to find who did this and make them pay. Ahead, in another room, we see Supergirl pass the defeated Congorilla and Flash (when did he get here? First time he showed up in the base) to square off against who seems to be the villain…. Freddie. You guessed it, To Be Continued.

What I liked- lots of nice history touches by Robinson, like the Forgotten Heroes and the JL Aliens references. Kory maintaining her friendship with the Baker family is nice, too. All in all, the characters are acting more like themselves.

The mastermind who still hasn't actually shown up yet in the issue

What I didn’t- Robinson really seems to have become the most dangerous force in the DCU behind only Dan Dido himself and Superboy Prime. Now he’s crippled one of the “Fab Five” Titans who is also a personal favorite of mine. Also, the ongoing errors with Firestorm in the background are just annoying. Every single appearance he’s made in this series, it’s the Ronnie Raymond version. To head off one argument that keeps popping up, it’s not just “Oh, they colored a black man white.” There are differences in the costumes, and this is the long dead Raymond version, NOT the current Jason Rousch. This has happened too many times to be a mistake, it’s either the artist being well over a year behind and the editor being asleep, or they’ve decided to bend continuity for no real apparent reason. Trivial detail? Maybe, but still irksome. This also seems like an attempt to shoe horn in the foundation for Robinson’s later JLA team. Kory, Donna, Congorilla, and Guardian all being members of it and turning up on the satellite this issue seems a bit strained.

And really now- “We don’t know what’s going on, some villain is planning something with high tech we can’t figure out. Oh, I know, lets take a wholly unknown device and bring it into our base. Hmm.. It needs special computers and a major power source? We have both those things here. I know, let’s KEEP IT HERE!” Batman should come back from the dead or the past or whatever they did to them and slap them all for this. Also, Flash showing up for the first time out cold on the floor was just… odd.

My prediction- getting the device on board is part of what Prometheus has planned to get to those other things, and this is NOT Freddie. It would explain how his powers have been working a bit differently. I think this issue was better than the series has been, but still not that great. What did you think?