“Justice League: Cry For Justice” #1 Review

“Cry For Justice”

Writer: James Robinson

Artist: Mauro Cascioli

Announced two years ago, Justice League: Cry For Justice has had a fairly rough time.  First it was an on-going series.  Then it was an on-going series pushed back to debut after Final Crisis.  Then it was a six issue mini-series.  And now, often delayed and yet still anticipated, Justice League: Cry For Justice is here.  And the first issue?

….mmeh.  Spoilers within! 

Picking up shortly after the events of Final Crisis, (roughly several weeks ago in DC continuity) Green Lantern is hopping mad.  The deaths of The Martian Manhunter and Batman have been felt in the superhero community, but he doesn’t feel like anyone is doing anything about it.  He declares that the Justice League isn’t seeking justice.

Pay attention to that word, you’re going to hear it.  A lot.

Green Lantern decides he’s going to take charge of things, seeing as how he is the Green Lantern of the space sector.  Green Arrow joins him (curiously, wearing a costume he’s not worn since before the “One Year Later” some 3 odd years ago). and the two set off to not appear in this book again.  Elsewhere, we catch up with Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi, both still calling themselves The Atom and both harboring just a little bit of a man-crush on the other.  A friend of Ray’s has been murdered, and they’re plying information from Killer Moth.  Ray gets a name and sets off to get vengeance, shrinking down and yelling justice.  We then catch up Mikaal Tomas, former Starman, who is at the wake for a friend of his.  He’s enraged by this death, and leaves wanting justice.  And over in the Congo, Congorilla stumbles across his dead clan, and runs into Freedom Beast, also dead despite being alive and well in last week’s issue of Superman.  He wants…do I really have to say it?  The story ends there, failing to show Supergirl, Batwoman and Captain Marvel II, despite all three being hyped to appear in this book.  There’s also a 2 page origin for Congorilla, with promises to do them for other characters in the book, similar to 52.

The first problem is that there’s a lot of talky talky in this book, but the only action is a one page appearance from Atom 1 and 2.  Considering this book has been constantly billed as a focused, action-oriented Justice League title, that’s a bad sign.  There’s also a number of continuity issues, considering that this book fits in to the timeline before books that came out 3 months ago.  Its a shame, too, since Robinson has been kicking so much ass lately, as I pointed out in my glowing review of Superman #689.  And while Mauro Cascioli’s art is certainly pretty, everyone looks stiff and incredibly angry, with lots of weird Liefeld-esque shadows in random spots on their faces.

As a first issue, Justice League: A Cry For Justice#1 falls flat.  As the first issue of an incredibly hyped mini-series, it falls even flatter.  If you’re a fan of any of these characters, you may enjoy this, but the few characters that do show up are barely in the book, and the characters whose appearances were the most hyped don’t even show up, despite being featured prominently on the cover.  The book has potential, but the first issue gets a C.