DCU Comic Book Reviews

JUSTICE LEAGUE: RISE OF ARSENAL #3

Domestic Disturbance

July 2010

Written by J. T. Krul

Pencils by Geraldo Burges, Kevin Sharpe, Sergio Arino

Inks by Marlo Alquiza and John Dell

Cover by Greg Horn

Synopsis

Blaming Roy Harper for the death of their daughter, Chesire tries to kill him.  The two fight, then the fight turns into seduction.  However, Roy is unable to perform, so he decides to patrol the street and fight drug dealers.  The hallucination of his old friend and junkie-mate Corey suggests to Rou that getting high might feel better.  So, Roy steals heroin from the local dealer.  While high, Roy has a vision of his daughter, then a vision of five Prometheus’.  To protect his daughter, Roy beats them up.  Just then Batman arrives, to break Roy of his hallucination, revealing Roy was beating up five drug dealers to protect a dead kitten.  Batman confronts Roy, who attacks his friend.  Batman knocks him unconscious, then takes Roy to a local detox center.  There, he sees an imagine of his daughter, who wants to know if he heard her crying.  

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This is a horrible, horrible comic book.  I understand what Krul is trying to do.  He wants to show Roy slowly but surely sinking to the depths of despair and depravity so that when he rises (per the title of the comic) it will feel like a victory.  Sadly, the execution fails Krul’s intentions.  The issue is poorly structured, poorly written, poorly executed comic with events that serve no real purpose other than to reach an ending we knew was coming (even Roy is not, ba da boom!)

It is not so much that it is predictable (who couldn’t tell Roy and Jade were going to kiss) and it’s not so much that it is too adult oriented (like the Hawkgirl remark or the skank remark) or too literal (did we really need to know that Roy couldn’t get it up), although it is both of those things.  No, the real problem is that Krul is going through the motions of Roy’s descent without, you know, exploring the emotions behind it.  You may disagree and that is fine.  After all, Krul has Roy acting pretty emotional and there are a number of scenes that are meant to show what Roy is feeling.  But that is superficial.  We aren’t getting into the heart of the matter. 

Take for instance, Chesire, who appears out of nowhere to attack Roy, make love to Roy (or attempt to), then disappear without being heard.  This is Lian’s mother, for crying out loud.  But she is not given any hint of characterization or emotion.  Yeah, okay, she is upset and wants to kill Roy, but come on, that is superficial, lacking any depth or meaning behind it.  To see how the scene could’ve been played (and played better) then take a look at this issue of Secret Six, in which Chesire and Catman discuss the loss of their child.  She wants the killers dead, just like here, but it is so much more emotional.  See how it plays out and pulls the reader into the moment.  You can feel her pain, her anguish.  That is the mark of good writing.  Which this comic lacks.  I mean, really, she wants to kill one minute, love him the next, and reassure him the following.  How did we go from “kill you” to “that’s okay” in the span of four pages?

Take for instance, Roy’s feelings about taking heroin again after being clean for so long.  I mean, we don’t actually see Roy take it (or even prepare the heroin; I don’t think you can free base it the way you can with cocaine).  We only see the effect of taking it.  Plus, and I may be wrong, after all I have never taken heroin, but I always thought that taking drugs robbed you of energy.  Usually drug addicts tend to take drugs, then lay back and enjoy the vibe.  It seems odd (and dictated by the plot) for Roy to take the drug and then suddenly beat random characters.  Anyway, here you have a clean and sober character suddenly taking drugs again, and we don’t get his reaction (either before or after).  It is a good example of what is wrong with this comic.  A scene that could be powerful, but instead is just another plot point.