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Oh dear. That wasn’t very pretty now was it.
Spoilers a plenty. You have been warned!!!
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Prometheus, he of the Dr Evil monologue, has stolen a host of super technology and built, rather badly as it turns out, a set of teleportation devices he intends to use to scatter our heroes’ cities through space, time, and last Tuesday. Unfortunately for him he was captured by the Justice League before he could use then. The bad thing for them is that Prometheus has a failsafe, an automatic countdown that started the moment he was captured. The first city hit is Star City, Green Arrow’s home. The heroes race there to try to stop the damage, but there is only so much they can do. Speedy, Arrow’s sidekick is saved, but the League are unable to save Lian, Green Arrow’s infant granddaughter, and 90,000 other inhabitants. The growing devastation continues and Prometheus refuses to anything to stop it until the League release him.
Between the twin cities of Central City and Keystone City the Flashes attempt to disable another devise, but it’s hidden at the bottom of the river and only accessible to the Sea Devils. The other heroes have found the devices in their own cities, but each is keyed so that it can’t be stopped by the obvious means – the one in Opal accelerated when the Shade tried enveloping it in Shadow and the one in Fawcett reacted to Freddy Freeman’s lightning (after he’d been freed by the Bulletteer and Mr Scarlett). Again Prometheus makes his demand that only by freeing him can they save their cities.
Vixen broadcasts Prometheus’s demand over the JLA radio system with some heroes automatically refusing to negotiate with murderers while others are more pragmatic. However, its Green Arrow, the person’s who has lost the most to Prometheus’s attacks, who speaks up. He convinces them to think of the living and to release Prometheus. The League reluctantly agrees to follow Arrow’s request and Prometheus honours his part of the Faustian-bargain by giving them the deactivation codes. The heroes “win”, the villain escapes, and everybody does back to rebuilding their homes. However, Green Arrow’s can’t. He tracks Prometheus back to his extra-dimensional hideout and shoots an arrow between his eyes, killing him instantly.
Is killing Prometheus justifiable? I certainly don’t think so. This wasn’t in the heat of battle to save another person’s life. This wasn’t Barry with Zoom and Iris. This was premeditated murder; just petty revenge. Something that a Justice League member should be above. Re-read that page again. Green Arrow surprised Prometheus with a clear shot. He had time to use a stun arrow, boxing glove arrow, or whatever he wanted to do. He could easily have captured the villain, but instead chose to murder him. One thing I would concede is that criticising Green Arrow for killing Prometheus because he caused Lian Harper’s death is a lot harder to argue against than if he’d just maimed Roy. And I guess from a plot point of view that is why Lian was killed off.
My friends who read Marvel comics use to use the phrase “Sledgehammer of Angst” (borrowed from the old rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks group) to described the hilarious levels of stress and angst that one writer could inflict on the X-Men. Well it looks like somebody’s smuggled the Sledgehammer into DC’s offices because it’s pounding on poor old Green Arrow throughout this entire series. I’m beginning to wonder if I should skip the Rise of Arsenal/Fall of Green Lantern as it’s going to be bloody depressing whatever they do. (No I won’t actually skip it – it’s not JT Krul’s fault he’s got to clean up this mess).
I think I’ve almost given up worrying about the quality of this train wreck of a series. The art has at times been great, but has unravelled towards the end with the usual influx of pitch hitting DC artists. The writing has at times been great, but at other times its been stiff and has used so many clichés that it bordered on parody. What I find hard to understand is that every person involved in the creation of this mini-series is incredibly talented, how could they all have had such a spectacularly coordinated collective failure? It just doesn’t make sense. I am seriously beginning to wonder if James Robinson has a split personality – one side writes Starman and the main JLA title the other one wrote Cry For Justice and the LEOG screenplay.
In one way this series should never have been commissioned. It is a big series, something that should really have been a headlining crossover, but its been scheduled opposite Blackest Night and has just faded into the background. The basic idea is sound, but the entire thing just needed a lot more polish, thought, and time.
Luckily the last two issues of the main Justice League of America series have been a lot, lot better than this.
The Verdict
| Site | Reviewer | Original Score | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews Portal | Comic Book Resources | Doug Zawisza | 2/5 | 40 |
| Reviews Portal | IGN | Dan Philips | 1/10 | 10 |
| Community Reviews | Comics Vine User Reviews | Ave of 5 review/s | 3.3/5 | 66 |
| Community Reviews | iFanboy | 388 pulls | 3.4/5 | 68 |
| Character Site | Supergirl Comic Book Commentary | Anj | D+ | 10 |
| Character Site | Superman Homepage | Michael Bailey | 1 (story) & 4 (art)/5 | 50 |
| Reviews Blog | Comic Book Bin | Koppy McFad | 6/10 | 60 |
| Reviews Blog | A Comic Book Blog | Wayland | 20/100 | 20 |
| Reviews Blog | Comics Per Day Reviews | Timbotron | Poor | 20 |
| This Site | Captain’s JLA Blog | Jason Kirk |   |
40% |
| Grand Average |   |
38% |
Fine review, Jason. I’ve not heard the ‘sledgehammer of angst’ phrase but it’s so appropriate. The heroes in this book were so constantly over the top it was if the were possessed by the super-ham of Abra Kadabra. I’m so glad it’s all over.
I hate heroes killing but this is one area in which Ollie has fallen below the standard of the JLA many times, back in the Grell days, yes? So I’m OK with him executing smug old Prommie, especially if it means we won’t see him for a year. He’s rubbish.
I agree with most of your points. It is a terrible series and appears to have been written quickly to accomodate what they wanna do to Green Arrow. I do, however, love the end. This is what makes Green Arrow a great character. He is willing to kill when he deems it necessary. Prometheus got what he deserved for murdering all those people and nobody else may ever know. I do believe that Ollie’s conscience will get the better of him and he will probably tell Hal or Dinah.
I don’t like the ending, but that’s not because I don’t agree that its a very powerful moment. It’s just not a route that I’m particularly interested in seeing Green Arrow go down again.
I accept that killing in extreme circumstances is within Green Arrow’s established personality, but it is this particular circumstance that I can’t get around. This isn’t killing a few pushers or hoods during the foiling of a robbery – that would be justifiable for a legally recognised law enforcer (e.g. a cop with a gun). In that sense, I had no problem with Wonder Woman’s killing of Maxwell Lord.
But, this is premeditated murder that takes place weeks after the first crime happened. It was an execution style hit that Ollie had to plan in detail before committing. At least the Spectre has divine authority when he pulls this type of stunt. Green Arrow’s actions have taken him into a far, far darker place than he’s gone before and my fear is that he don’t feel guilt.
I found it very hard to believe that the same man who could invade the JLA satellite and take down 20 heroes in 10 seconds and who could block both telepathy and magic, could be so easily surprised and destroyed by Green Arrow. For me to buy that plot point, I’d need a 4-issue Batman-styled narrative that shows how Ollie gets passed all the defenses and finds an arrow that will penetrate the armor.
I understand Ollie going too far. What I don’t believe is that he could actually pull it off without super-extraordinary preparation. (And simply getting Shade’s help doesn’t suffice in my book–besides, wasn’t he in a different costume when Shade transported him?)
Knowing comics, this was probably not Prometheus, but a clone, a double, or his “evil” twin…oh, wait, that would make him doubly evil…maybe it was him and he becomes a Black Lantern and gets resurrected like Professor Zoom…regardless, I didn’t like the series overall…I liked the start, hated the middle, but loved the end…3 out of 5 stars
They will probably retcon this by revealing that it was another one of Prometheus’s sidekicks that Green Arrow killed while the real one is still locked away in an asylum again.
Overall though, this storyline felt like a shock and awe cluster-fuck all over. Lian’s death was just nothing more than a plot device to get Green Arrow to go rogue and little else. Even Prometheus himself was a plot device meant for the same ends when they made him go out too easily against Green Arrow-How exactly would he able to sneak into Prometheus’s lair so easily without being detected beforehand?
I use to think that Orpheus easily getting his throat cut by Black Mask or Tony Daniels turning Jason Todd into an Azbats ripoff were bad storylines but this one makes them both look good. The Didio Regime has outdone itself again with this brickpile of a story.
What I do think is interesting is that – love it or hate it – Cry For Justice has got people talking and fired up. It might not necessarily be for all the right reasons, but the debate is there.