JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE #4

The Fix

December 2009

Written by James Robinson

Pencils by Mauro Cascioli

Inks by Mauro Cascioli

Cover by Mauro Cascioli

Synopsis

In Gotham City, Freddy Freeman barely saves the lives of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Captain Marvel, and Supergirl when bomb explodes from within Clayface that was planted by Prometheus.  But while they know who did it, they are still at a loss to know why.  In France, Congorilla and Mikaal Thomas have tracked down and captured Arak and Penny Dreadful the ones who killed Bill’s pack and Mik’s lover.  Arak explains it was Prometheus who killed the apes in search of Malavar and it was Prometheus who killed Mik’s lover at STAR Labs when he was looking for the Zeta Beam material.  Angry Arak talked, Penny Dreadful kills Arak, then tries to kill Bill, but Mik saves him, but kills Penny to do so.  Elsewhere, Jay Garrick (aka The Flash) circles the Earth twice, contacting various heroes about troubling news.  Meanwhile, Hal and the others torture Prometheus’ gang to get answers, but are not getting anything.  Ollie is against the torture and tries to convince them to seek another way. Freddy than offers then offers the wisdom of Solomon and suggests they need help.  In Keystone City, the Shade appears at Jay’s house, offering the answers to Jay’s questions.  At JLA headquarters, the Justice League tells Hal, Ollie, and others they have some explaining to do.    

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I can’t quite get into this series.  It is not hooking me in.  Part of the problem is the art.  While it is nice to look at it and amazing detailed, it is also very static, sitting on the page without the sense of any movement.  The characters don’t really come to life.  But I also think part of that feeling is due to the writing as well.  Robinson’s portrayal of the various characters has left me cold.  Distant.  It almost feels as if Robinson knows what he wants to do and understands how to accomplish that goal, but somehow doesn’t quite know how to get that across.  The perfect example of this is the torture scene.  Again, it doesn’t grab me in any way.  Maybe it is because I don’t get the sense that characters are being tortured.  We are being told they are, but we are not seeing it.  The same for the way Ray Palmer is acting.  There is a lot of hurt and pain in Ray, but it doesn’t come through on the page that well.  We are told he is changed but we are not really seeing it.  Just like we are being told Prometheus is setting up something big, but without seeing it….  It is a basic precept in creative writing, “show it, don’t tell it.”  And I think we are getting in this series so far is that we are being told a lot of things, but we are not really seeing it.  We need to see something other than characters just standing around talking about it.

What in the world is with the romantic/sexual references between Kara and Freddy?  The first mention, when Ollie remarks about Kara’s infatuation, took me out of the story completely because it absolutely had nothing to do with the story.  The second mention, when Kara wants to fly next to Freddy, worked a little bit better in the context of the story, but not much.  Now, I don’t mind romance in comic books and it can be done, but Robinson is in the midst of a big story with a lot of heavy themes (vengeance, torture).  To then add in a romantic subplot (actually not even a plot, just spoken asides)?  It doesn’t fit.

What in the world are Hawkgirl and Hawkman doing there?  When is this supposed to take place?  Remember, Hawkgirl left the team for personal reasons and Hawkman was kicked out of the Justice Society because he was getting more violent and aggressive.  Neither was part of either team until the beginning of Blackest Night, where they were killed.  Actually, the entire team is a little strange.  Red Arrow also quit the team and returned to the Titans.  I am not sure about the Flash mostly because I am not sure who that is supposed to be, Wally or Barry.  The Firestorm as shown is too white to be Jason Rausch and Ronnie Raymond is dead.  Of course, all of the above doesn’t really matter if this is supposed to be after Blackest Night, in which case all of the “dead” characters could be back to life. 

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