Justice League: Cry for Justice #2(of 7)

I'm getting a bit of a late start tonight, so it looks like this will be the only new comic I post. Last issue was primarily a set-up issue, and I figure this issue is going to be practically the same. The writer is James Robinson and the artist is Mauro Cascioli.

-We start things off with Hal and Ollie hanging out on a rooftop in Gotham City waiting for someone to arrive.

-From there we head to Blackhawk Island where Starman and Congorilla are having the obligatory "two super-heroes meet, have a misunderstanding, fight, learn they are on the same page and team-up" meeting. After talking they learn that they are both hunting the same enemy and they head off to Paris together.

-Hal and Ollie meet with Jason Bard, who tells them that Prometheus has been sending several groups of super-villains to steal various pieces of advance technology. Bard tells the two heroes where Prometheus' goons are hiding out and the two head off, ready to bust some heads.

-The Atom meets with Jay Garrick at the ravaged Flash Museum in Central City. Apparently, Prometheus sent some of his men into the museum where they killed three guards(all friends of Jay)and stole some technology from the Cosmic Treadmill. While Atom and Jay catch up, Captain Marvel drops in. Atom called Capt. Marvel to help him hunt Prometheus, and Atom and Marvel leave Jay behind and head to Gotham City, which is where Prometheus' trail leads.

-Back in Gotham, Ollie and Hal have taken down a mess of c-list villains and are met by Marvel and Atom, who tell Ollie and Hal that they to are looking for Prometheus as well. While the 4 heroes are talking about what their next step should be, some loser named Javelin throws a(you guessed it)javelin at the distracted heroes. Before the javelin can strike anybody, Supergirl arrives on the scene, intercepts the javelin and knocks Javelin down and out, ending this issue.

James is still setting the table in this series, but so far I like what I see. With the exception of Congorilla(come on, do we really need a talking monkey on the team?)I like each of the characters who have shown up thus far. During the aftermath of the super-villain beatdown orchestrated by Hal and Ollie, the two spoke about Prometheus and what a c-lister he was. Of course they don't realize that Prometheus isn't the laughingstock he once was, as seen in the "Faces of Evil: Prometheus" one-shot from a while back. I get the feeling that when the heroes finally do track down Prometheus, they are going to be in for quite the surprise!

So far, the team itself looks pretty good, my only complaint would be the fact that there are already three powerhouses on the team. I like Capt. Marvel, and so far Supergirl is the only female on the team, so I'm cool with the both of them being there. If it were up to me, I'd toss Congorilla off the team, but once again, that is due to my overwhelming hatred of talking monkeys. For a score, I'll give this issue an 8 1/2 out of 10. I'm a really big fan of slowly building up a story, and James is doing a great job of that here. Oh, and Mauro's artwork is still mind-blowingly fantastic.Jeez I get that Hal didn't like Bats and all, but give it a rest, the guy's dead!