So far in Cry For Justice separate small groups of heroes have become aware that the villain Prometheus is preparing some unspecified, yet dastardly revenge plan against all superheroes. He has coerced a score of super villains to do his bidding and there have been fatalities on each side. This issue makes the point where the separate group opposing Prometheus come together for the first time.
This issue opens with Donna Troy and Starfire (Kory) relaxing in their swim suits around Buddy (Animal Man) Baker’s swimming pool as Congorilla (Bill) and Starman (Mikaal) come calling. Buddy, Kory, and Donna agree to help Mikaal and Bill once they convince them that they no longer want to murder Prometheus. The Shade has approached the original Flash (Jay Garrick) in his home to tell him that Prometheus is deliberately distracting heroes with his stream of attacks.
Meanwhile, Hal Jordan’s JLA splinter group has, at the suggestion of Captain Marvel (Freddy Freeman), turned to the main JLA group for help in combating Prometheus. Black Canary is initially hostile to their approach, but Freddy and Hawkman (Carter Hall) smooth things over. Hal explains that Prometheus is organising something big. He’s been forcing villains to attack heroes that they wouldn’t normally fight. As if to illustrate his explanation, Batwoman contacts the Watchtower to say that she just fought Endless Winter, but the villainess was killed by Prometheus before she could talk. Firestorm is sent to Gotham to pick up the body.
Winter is an old character turned into a relatively recent, but rather unpleasant JSA foe. Delores Winters was a 1940s movie star until the Ultra-Humanite stole her body, but he saved her brain and it was transplanted into her daughter’s body. She later gained super powers by literally stealing the second Ice Maiden’s skin (the blue one, Sigrid not Tora).
The Atom’s analysis of Winter’s corpse shows that Prometheus is using Suicide Squad technology to enforce his allies compliance. Another call comes through and the Guardian transfers to the Watchtower with a device that had been left by Plunder (a mirror universe version of a detective from Central City) in Metropolis. Analysis of it by Will Magnus and his colleagues shows that it a prototype teleportation device that has amalgamated several different technologies. It could theoretically send an entire city anywhere in time, space, or dimension, but it requires an immense amount of power and computer control.
Just then Animal Man, Donna, Kory, Mikaal, and Congorilla arrive to compare notes on Prometheus. Before anybody can say anything Congorilla bounds off down the corridor. Red Arrow had left to pick up his daughter and Supergirl had gone to find Freddy who had also wandered off. Congorilla rushes past Supergirl as he follows a bloody trail. They are shocked to find Roy with his right arm torn off. Supergirl cauterizes his wound with her heat vision, but they’re attacked before they can investigate further. Congorilla’s cry brings the rest of the assembled heroes running. Green Arrow is shocked to find his unconscious son, but is determined to find the person responsible. Doctor Light and Animal Man rush off to check the security cameras. Elsewhere, Captain Marvel and Supergirl square off beside the unconscious bodies of Congorilla and the Flash.
This issue is odd. It’s really the last phase of bringing the band together – assembling all the heroes on the JLA Watchtower – but, they don’t do anything except talk and argue. Every plot development (Batwoman, the Guardian, etc) comes to them. I really want to like this issue, but you can help wishing that Prometheus would just get on with whatever it is that Robinson and co have built towards.
The further we get into this series the more I’m conflicted about Mauro Cascioli’s art. Yes, it does look great, but some of the artistic choices Robinson/Cascioli make are odd. The biggest example is the amount of cheese cake in this issue – from the obvious pool scene with Kory and Donna, to the Batwoman/Winter Fight, and the endless odd angles on Supergirl. There is one particular panel (the splash on pages 12 and 13) where Supergirl looks impossibly thin. This isn’t too dissimilar to what Ed Benes use to get up to, but it really isn’t necessary in a serious story.
Hal references that they’ve been running around hunting criminals for several weeks and Black Canary says she disbanded her League. Both of those would imply that this story take place parallel to or after Len Wein’s recent JLA arc. Yet the JLA present on the Watchtower when Hal’s group teleports in is quite random. Why are Canary, Roy, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl just hanging around when they’re not currently members. There is also the issue of randomly appearing heroes. Firestorm and Doctor Light just pop up to say “I’ll handle that” without it previously being established that they’re on the Watchtower. The same happens to the Flash on the last page. He’s shown unconscious next to Congorilla without it being established how, when, or why he’s on the Watchtower.
When I first read this story I understood that it was Freddy Freeman who had attacked Roy, Congorilla, Flash, and that it was Supergirl who was heroically confronting him. However, now I’m not so sure. Could it be that Kara, or somebody impersonating her, is really the mole?
The Verdict
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