Justice League: Cry for Justice #7(of 7), Justice League: Rise and Fall Special #1 & Green Arrow #31.

Since I finally got my hands on Justice League: Cry for Justice #7, I figure I can FINALLY start reading all of the various post-Cry comics I've had laying around. So basically, this post is going to tackle the final issue of Cry, as well as the aftermath with Green Arrow... Now, I read Cry #7 last night, and to be honest, even as I read this, I'm still not sure what I should score it... Why? You'll find out after I voice my thoughts on this comic after the review. Alright, with the intro out of the way, let's get down to business.

Justice League: Cry for Justice #7(of 7). Writer: James Robinson. Pencils: Mauro Cascioli, Scott Clark & Ibraim Roberson.
Last Issue: 9 1/2 out of 10.

We get started with Prometheus demanding his release from the Justice League or face the prospect of several other cities being destroyed like Star City was. The JL doesn't want to free Prometheus, so instead they spread out and head to various different cities, hoping that they can disarm the bombs Prometheus's henchmen had planted. From there, the scene shifts to Star City, where Speedy is battling against the villain responsible for placing the bomb there for Prometheus, the Electrocutioner. Before she can wrap him up, the building they were fighting atop collapses and the Electrocutioner escapes. By this time several heroes have arrived in Star City, but there is little they can do to halt the widespread destruction occurring due to Prometheus's bombs. Speedy runs into Donna Troy and asks Donna to take her back to Green Arrow's house, where Roy Harper's daughter was staying, in order to make sure she was all right. Upon arriving at the scene, they find GA's house had collapsed and GA and Black Canary are standing there with the body of Roy's young daughter Lian, who was crushed during the building collapse... It's going to tough to finish this review after having to type those words... Several other bombs in other cities begin to go off, and the JL spreads out trying to minimize the damage and prevent another catastrophe such as what happened in Star City. The whole time, Prometheus tells the heroes that if the release him he'll provide them with the codes to deactivate the bombs. After several non-successful attempts to stop the bombs, GA finally gives the word to his fellow Justice Leaguers that they need to release Prometheus, or they'll be facing several cities destroyed and a death toll in the hundreds of thousands. With that, the heroes release Prometheus from the Watchtower, he provides them with the codes and they manage to stop the bombs from detonating any further, while Prometheus returns to his extra-dimensional base. This mini-series concludes with Prometheus, back at his headquarters, plotting his next move. He winds up turning around, and standing behind him is Green Arrow, who sends an arrow right between Prometheus's eyes, killing him.

I'm not really sure what to write here... I guess I'll start with my gut feelings. The death of Lian Harper was one of the most disgusting, despicable acts I've read in a comic book for quite some time. I want to compare it with Yost and Kyle's actions in New X-Men when they murdered off half the population of the Xavier school, but the comparison isn't valid, because what happened in this comic was far worse, and I never thought I'd ever call anything worse then the deaths of 20+ innocent mutant children... I can accept anything in a comic book provided it makes the story better, from murder, to rape, to genocide. Killing off the 7 year old daughter of Roy Harper added NOTHING to this story. And before you say, “Well it fueled Green Arrow's actions”, I refute that by saying that GA STILL would have been more then justified in his killing of Prometheus based solely on his maiming of Roy, along with the fact that Prometheus was responsible for the deaths of 90,000 people in Star City. No, Lian's death was unnecessary, wrong and out and out sickening. The only saving grace in the comic was the ending when GA put the arrow through Prometheus's head, because if this comic would have ended in any other way, I would have had some real doubts as to whether I'd want to read anything written by James Robinson again. The guy is(was I guess)one of my favorite writers before this mini-series started, but all he did here was maim and kill off characters I cared about... You can only be slapped in the face so many times before you start to get pissed, and yeah, that last slap really pissed me off. As for GA killing Prometheus, it was well within his character, if you don't believe me, just pick up some of the early issues of the GA series from the late 1980's, because all Ollie did back in the day was kill people who deserved it. As for my final thoughts on this comic, I guess all I can say is that it disappointed me. I think this story could have easily played out without the maiming of Roy Harper or the death of his daughter, and still had a huge emotional impact.

Score: You know, I've been thinking about what to score this comic for almost 24 hours now, and I've gone back and forth numerous times. I don't think I've ever had a tougher time giving a comic a score then I've had with this comic... After MUCH deliberation, I'm going to give this comic a 0 out of 10... It's definitely not the worst comic I've ever read, not even close. Hell, there were parts I really enjoyed, but killing off Lian Harper will forever sully this comic to the point where I don't think I'd ever want to read it again...Justice is served...

Justice League: Rise and Fall Special #1: Writer: JT Krul. Pencils: Mike Mayhew.

This issue kicks off with a quick recap of the closing moments of Cry #7 where Green Arrow puts an extra hole in Prometheus's helmet... While Prometheus was still in it! After killing Prometheus, Ollie heads back to STAR Labs where Roy Harper was being treated after the loss of his arm. However, Ollie can't stand to remain there, and decides he needs to go out and hunt down the man who placed the bomb in Star City at the behest of Prometheus, the Electrocutioner. Not trusting the look in Ollie's eyes, his wife, Black Canary decides to go with him to make sure he doesn't cross any lines(even though unbeknownst to her, he already had). While Ollie and Dinah travel through the decimated streets of Star City, SAINT Barry Allen and Hal Jordan decide to pay a visit to Opal City in order to see if the Shade knew more about Prometheus's evil schemes then he let on during the Cry mini-series. Upon arriving at the Shade's home, SAINT Barry tries to attack, but the Shade pulls them both into the Shadowrealm, and leads them to the inter-dimensional home of Prometheus. The Shade leads them indoors and tells the two heroes that they weren't the first people who asked to find Prometheus's hiding place, at which point the two heroes spot the corpse of Prometheus, with a green arrow still jutting out of his head. Back in Star City, Ollie spots the Electrocutioner and proceeds to beat the hell out of him, while Dinah looks on. With Electrocutioner down, Ollie draws an arrow, takes aim and shoots, only missing the Electrocutioner's head thanks to a timely nudge by Dinah. The two begin to argue, which gives Electrocutioner the opportunity to slip away, which only manages to piss Ollie off even more. Ollie and Dinah then continue to argue about right and wrong until they are interrupted by the arrival of SAINT Barry and Hal, along with a box containing the corpse of Prometheus. SAINT Barry(the hypocrite)rants and raves about Ollie being a murderer until Ollie points out the the SAINT once murdered the Reverse-Flash in an attempt to save his wife. Dinah asks to see the body to confirm that Ollie had indeed crossed the line, and after Ollie tells Hal to do it, Hal opens the lid, revealing the lifeless body of Prometheus. While Dinah tries to process what Ollie had done, Ollie grabs Prometheus's teleportation key and leaves the scene, telling the heroes that he wasn't finished just yet. This issue ends with Hal, SAINT Barry and Dinah deciding that they have to locate Ollie before he kills again.

First off, I can't tell you how happy I was when Ollie threw the SAINT's role in the death of the Reverse-Flash in the SAINT's face! Big time props to JT Krul for bringing that up... God do I hate SAINT Barry... One thing that I didn't hate though was this comic! It was quite good, it filled in a few loose ends from Cry #7(such as how Ollie was able to find Prometheus), plus it went a great distance in making me an even bigger fan of Green Arrow(which I didn't think was possible!). Since I just read the entire 80's Green Arrow series, I like that GA is returning to his roots as a hunter of criminals, as opposed to a simple super-hero. With that said though, I was slightly disappointed in the depiction of Black Canary in this comic... Yes I know that Ollie is hurting from the maiming of Roy, the death of Lian and the destruction of Star City, but what about Dinah? It can be argued that she cared about Roy EVEN more then Ollie did, plus she's been seemingly unaffected by the death of Lian, which is kind of annoying to me. I guess she's been busy and all, but for Dinah it's like business as usual. I had a similar problem with a conversation between Wally West and Dick Grayson in this comic. Neither one seemed all too bothered by Roy's condition, and the death of Lian wasn't even mentioned! Both heroes had known Lian for almost her entire life, and although Dick is playing the distant Batman role now, I would have expected Wally to have said SOMETHING about the death of Lian, especially since he himself is also a father... Besides those small gripes, this was a very good comic that I'd have no problem recommending.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Ah the Shade... He's STILL my favorite supporting character ever!

Green Arrow #31: Writer: JT Krul. Artist: Federico Dallocchio.
Last Issue: 9 out of 10.

This issue picks up directly after the Rise and Fall Special, with Green Arrow still searching Star City for the Electrocutioner, all while trying to avoid a confrontation with Hal Jordan, SAINT Barry Allen and Black Canary. Ollie manages to halt some looting, but draws the attention of the trio of heroes searching for him. Before they can take him in, Ollie unleashes a flare arrow that blinds Dinah and Hal, while sending an electric shock into SAINT Barry when he tries to corral Ollie. Ollie makes a break for it, but is pursued by his wife. Dinah manages to catch up to Ollie, but he hits her with a glue arrow, pinning her to the ground, which allows him to make his escape. Ollie ducks into the forgotten underground catacombs of Star City while the heroes continue their search for him on the surface, emerging to continue his hunt for the Electrocutioner when it was safe to come back out. After a run in with some over-exuberant cops, Ollie bumps into his son Connor Hawke and Connor gives Ollie a piece of his mind, since he found out about the death of Prometheus(from that damned big mouth hypocritical SAINT Barry!). Connor basically spits on all of his Buddhist teachings and tells Ollie to get lost, which he does. This issue ends with Ollie returning to the catacombs and finding Speedy there, holding the Electrocutioner at arrow point, pleading with Ollie to let her kill him.

Much like the Rise and Fall Special, I enjoyed this comic a lot. The funny thing though is the fact that with each passing comic I read, I'm beginning to hate SAINT Barry more and more! I mean damn, you'd think he'd come off his frigging high horse at least once! Man do I wish he was still dead... Besides my Barry Allen hatred, I was also a bit miffed at Connor Hawke's attitude towards his father. Connor had come to terms with Ollie's actions a long time ago, and the excuse for his bad attitude(as well as his regaining of his memories)was pretty weak. Other then that though, the rest of this comic was gold. I'm hoping Ollie makes a pin-cushion out of the Electrocutioner next issue, but with Connor's words ringing in his ears, I tend to doubt that's going to happen. Oh well, whatever happens next issue, I'll be eagerly anticipating it.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Jeez, that's about the most pathetic put down I've ever read! What's SAINT Barry going to do next, tell Green Arrow's parents on him?