JLA Cry for Justice #5: Watchmen
A killing spree by the villain Prometheus has pissed off enough superheroes to the point where all the members of Robinson's JLA are brought together aboard the JLA watchtower. Is this the rebirth of a more proactive League or are they playing into Prometheus' hand?
What's amazing is, through 5 issues, Prometheus hasn't appeared. He's almost Keyser Soze-esque with the way he stays 2 steps ahead of the league. This is the Prometheus that terrorized the league when Grant Morrison wrote JLA. He's a master chess player and the League is the only game in town that's beaten him before. Can the League defeat Prometheus without the one man who single handedly defeated him, Bruce Wayne Batman?
Well aboard the satellite, Prometheus played one of his trump. When the league thought that only one member who wasn't affected by the Krpytonite bomb that went off in issue #4, they thought wrong. Turns out as that member was hit with someone to turn that person against the league. A massacre ensues after we find one member forever mangled by the assailant.
In this issue, its glaringly obvious Robinson is cleaning the deck of Metzler's JLA and putting in his own league. This issue alone rips apart the first 4 issues of Metzler's JLA. Certainly the confrontation between Hal and the other league members is going to alienate quite a few. You can bet after the battle against Prometheus, the hospital will be full of JLA members leaving nothing left but Robinson's crew.
The art has a nice finish but it doesn't fit this kind of writing.
This is a book about the pursuit of justice. Its about these scarred characters who have something to prove to themselves to unload that guilt. It's also about the rebirth of one of the league's more interesting adversaries in the last 15 years.
Rating: Borrow it. The shocking mangling of a league member is worth a look but not the buy.