Justice League: Cry For Justice Off To A Weak Start

I'd really been looking forward to this miniseries, and yet after reading the first issue, I'm left with mixed feelings.

The artwork in Justice League: Cry for Justice # 1 is generally quite outstanding, but occasionally rather ugly. Painter Mauro Cascioli is definitely up to the task of portraying the colourful costumes of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the Atom (two of them in this issue, actually) and their Justice League buddies in a very appealing manner, but he struggles with some of the regular folks that show up. Overall, though, the visuals are more than good enough.

Where the comic suffers is in some of the choices made by its writer, James Robinson. If this were an ongoing title, then I wouldn't be quite so bothered by the fact that only about half of the team shows up in the first issue... but considering that it's a miniseries (originally billed as 6 issues, then expanded to 7), I don't think it's unreasonable for the reader to expect that the setup would be complete by the end of Part 1. After all, if it takes Robinson two (or more) issues just to set the stage, then how much room is there really going to be for the main thrust of the story, as well as the denouement? Once again, I'm left unsatisfied with an approach that seems more filler or padding than four-colour adventure.

The other problem I had with the comic was the forced similarity across unrelated events. First Green Lantern pisses all over his fellow Justice Leaguers because they're not doing enough to "seek justice" (really, vengeance) for the murder of the Martian Manhunter (and subsequent disappearance of the Batman), and then storms off with his buddy Ollie Queen in tow. Then the Atom busts up a crime ring of some sort and declares that he's out avenge his murdered friend. Blue Starman Mikaal discovers his lover has been killed and goes on a rampage. And Congorilla (don't ask!) finds his tribe murdered and plots how to get even. Wow, what a handy coincidence that all four (five, if you count Green Arrow) would simultaneously come to the same emotional place, just in time for a miniseries about heroes banding together to "cry for justice!" It all feels so contrived that I can't help but cringe imagining how issue # 2 is going to showcase Supergirl, Batwoman and Captain Marvel (the remaining three team members who didn't fit into the debut issue) all experiencing similarly sudden and uncharacteristic revenge-rages. When I first heard the concept of this title (then, an ongoing series), I just assumed that the membership would be built up by appealing to the superhero community for support... not that we'd be asked to believe that every member happened to go on to a revenge kick of their own at the same time! That aspect of this launch issue was terribly disappointing to me.

I still enjoyed Justice League: Cry for Justice # 1 enough to keep buying, but my excitement toward it is now a full notch lower than it was, going in. Hopefully the second issue will move the story forward a lot more and dispense with the ridiculous coincidences that required so much suspension of disbelief in the kickoff chapter.