By Koppy McFad
March 5, 2010 - 22:33
This is the final chapter of a controversial miniseries that its creators openly admit, went through many revisions. What should have been the launching device for a new JLA book instead became a story that eventually continues into the the main JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA title. There were clearly some massive changes in the plot and some of them can be seen in this issue.
The villain, Prometheus has been captured but he reveals that a series of disaster-creating devices have been planted in cities all over America. The League must free him or see these cities destroyed. It is a horrible dilemma that sees the team suffer through terrible losses before it is resolved.
Perhaps the creators had something more cohesive planned out but in this issue, new characters are introduced, new plot twists unveiled and new dangers are faced, all in such rapid succession that it really looks like DC Comics is just throwing everything including the kitchen sink at the readers, in an attempt to overwhelm them. Characters who we thought were important to the plot, like the blue Starman and Congorilla, turn out to be mere decoration and play no role in resolving the threat. Various plotholes are left open, gaping widely with the reader left to wonder what happened.
The art also clearly was rushed. Even Cascioli's work looks sparse compared to his previous issues. Other fill-in artists were also brought in to help finish the job in time.
Perhaps the best part of this entire issue-- maybe this entire miniseries-- is the ending which caps the whole "Cry for Justice" story off with finality, definitely telling us, what happened to the key villain....so we know this plotline isn't something that isn't going to turned into another eight-issue summer event. It provides a great deal of satisfaction after we were led along for so many issues.
Rating: 6 /10