If I were to get rid of all my comics but 2 of my favorites, I would still be able to read James Robinson's books. Robinson is almost singlehandedly responsible for bringing back a touch of the golden age of comics to the DC Universe. His work on The Golden Age with the great Paul Smith (Uncanny X-Men), followed by his legendary Starman series eventually fed into an ongoing Justice Society of America series (JSA).
He wasn't on the book long. It was eventually taken over by then- co-writer Geoff Johns (himself now a big name over at DC). After leaving the book, Robinson took a sabbatical from writing comics. He returned briefly in 2005 to write Facing the Face, a crossover in Detective Comics and Batman, but then once again became quiet up until a proper return working once again with Geoff Johns in the Superman family of books in 2008. While Robinson's fans are many, the response to his new work has been mixed. His work on Superman, while respectable, hasn't always felt like it had his distinctive "voice".
Then came Cry For Justice.
Originally the title was pitched as a second ongoing Justice League title, however in the year between the announcement and release of the book, it was downgraded to a 7-issue miniseries and set to be a pre-cursor to Robinson's run on the regular Justice League of America title (which is currently on sale). It's also Robinson's first book since his return which is exclusively his series instead of a collaboration with other writers. More to the point, it finally feels like we're reading a James Robinson book.
The basic premise of Cry for Justice is that the JLA isn't proactive enough. After the deaths of the Martian Manhunter and Batman in Final Crisis, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) decides to start his own branch of the League dedicated to proactively hunting down villains before they can kill. Unfortunately this puts them and several non-leaguers including Robinson favorite Mikaal Tomas on a collision course with the so-called Anti-Batman, Prometheus.
It's easy to see why DC wouldn't want C4J to be an ongoing. This may be (to quote Robinson, himself) the darkest Justice League story ever done. The last issue ended with former original Teen Titan Roy Harper (Red Arrow/ Arsenal) beaten nearly to death and having his arm ripped off. To put it succinctly, this isn't your father's Justice League. But of course, that's what makes it so very good. Most writers are afraid to go to those dark places with a title as storied and important as the JLA.
This penultimate issue of the series features a full-on battle between Prometheus and the entire functioning Justice League. For your score cards, that about 15 to 1.
And Prometheus nearly wins.
To be honest, this issue isn't quite as good as the last few, and I believe a lot of the problem is with the art. The other 5 issues were painted by Mauro Cascioli (The Trials of Shazam), while #6 was done by Scott Clark (The Outsiders). Clark's usually dynamic style is replaced by an unfortunately bad attempt to paint his art similar to Casioli's. Here his work is competent, but uneven. Obviously the decision was made to keep the book on time without an unprecedentedly drastic shift in art styles. The problem is that Robinson's run on JLA has already started, so the book is late anyway. All things considered, I would have preferred they waited for Cascioli or an artist who is more suited to this style.
The other problem is that the 'villain exposition' scene felt a little hollow and cliche'. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure there's a way to do a scene like that better, but it felt like Robinson sort of phoned that part in.
That said, the fight was outstanding. Clark's finished work may be uneven, but his pencils were great. Aside from a few confusing panel layouts, the sequences flowed nicely. It was also fairly brutal towards the end, keeping with the tone of the rest of the series. I also appreciated the way Robinson used Supergirl. The character felt a little more 3-dimensional here than she has in the past.
The reveal of Prometheus' end game was very bizarre and off-putting. I suspect there's much more to it than was explained, but we'll have to wait until next issue to find out. Still, it is refreshing to see that there's am attempt made to avoid the series ending with blowing up the JLA Satellite or something equally trite.
Overall, this issue was a tiny bump in the machine, but I suspect this very dark, strange Justice League tale is going to be fantastic when read in trade form.
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