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I quit reading Justice League of America a while back. I can't remember why, and that tells me I was so disappointed by the title at the time that it was more important that I quit reading than remember why I made the choice. So, I wanted to get away and get away fast. When I was ordering comics recently I saw that issue #41 of Justice League of America had two different covers, one of which had Green Lantern (Hal) and Green Arrow. I also saw that it was written by James Robinson, who had been doing a so-so job on Justice League: Cry for Justice and did a couple decent issues of the regular title for the Blackest Night crossover issues. Of course, this was before I read Justice League: Cry for Justice #6, which is where my faith in Robinson's potential seriously fell.
Now, I need to be upfront about one thing that irked for me about Cry for Justice, and that is the fact that I hate the character Prometheus. I despise him. He is one of those Grant Morrison creations that just rubs me the wrong way, much as the U-Men did. In both those cases Morrison did the thing that I can't stand that he does, he attempted to "explain" something that was better left unexplained and ended up undermining his own creation. Sometimes things are just better left being "unknown" and Prometheus' powers and abilities were just that. He's the "anti-Batman," that's fine. He's got a helmet that looks like it was built from leftover Star Wars droid parts, I can manage. He carries CDs for his "abilities." Well, Black Mask used them as weapons and so did the tall alien drug dealer in the movie "I Come in Peace," so I can suck that up. He likes purple apparently. Well, Grimace was my favorite McDonald's character and as Clerks: The Animated Series established, "Nothing can kill the Grimace." Maybe purple is a good color choice.
Where Morrison screwed up with Prometheus was when Prometheus "revealed" to Batman (Bruce Wayne) during their first fight that Batman was one of the martial artists whose data he had. Uhh, what? OK, I know at some point somewhere Batman has likely been picked up by a video camera. However, has it happened enough so that Prometheus can learn his style? I doubt Batman was that lax. Considering Batman doesn't fight many martial arts "masters" Prometheus' data would be largely lacking at best as Batman's level of fighting skills would not be challenged by everyone he fights. Batman only has to use what is necessary. So, Prometheus would have limited data, and as he does not have Taskmaster's photographic reflexes it's likely the best data a computer analysis could pull from footage of Batman fighting is stance, balance, tells, and possible openings/counters to use. Again, all of that would be taken from severely limited information. I'm sorry, but by attempting to explain Prometheus' abilities Morrison show that Prometheus would have been fighting Batman at a disadvantage. I already had all of this in my mind, but decided to continue with Cry for Justice. Then issue #6 came out and my distaste got worse.
Robinson takes Prometheus to a whole new level of stupid in issue #6. At the start we get the big reveal that Freddy Freeman is actually Prometheus. Now, keep in mind that apparently before the instant that Prometheus changes his suit back to its regular look he has put a plain and simple physical beating to Conga Bill, Flash and Red Arrow. In fact, Red Arrow's beating is so bad that most of his right arm has basically been ripped off. YET, once reverting to his regular look Prometheus exhibits no such raw power. He defaults to his tactics and planning. Also, while looking like Freddy Freeman Prometheus was flying around. After going back to his regular look he walks/runs around. He does not fly. How does any of this make sense? It doesn't, not in the least. Not unless Prometheus simply thinks he looks better walking with his cape flowing behind him. Also, Prometheus incapacitates everyone except Red Arrow who he brutally assaults and could have potential killed? To me that screams "shock value" and nothing more. I find things done for shock value to be worthless. What does all of this tell me? It tells me that James Robinson is not a writer I will be following to the pages of Justice League of America past issue #41.
Issue #41 was largely disjointed in my eyes. It felt rushed and the new roster for the Justice League is laughable at best. It makes the Detroit league look like the glory days to be strived for. Now, I don't say that because I don't think a League can't exist without all the big names. That isn't the case in the least, but I don't think this League has what it takes to instill confidence. The Detroit League got decimated by Professor Ivo and already most of the current League has been beaten by Prometheus. I'm sorry, but that's just sad in my eyes.
So what now? That's simple. I finish out Cry for Justice because I'm a completist and to give Robinson a chance to redeem himself. I don't have much faith though. When someone can take a character that I already disliked and make him suck even more while trying to make him formidable . . . I don't hold much hope. I did have hope at the start of the title. I thought it would be a focused and powerful series spotlighting Green Lantern and Green Arrow trying to do the things that needed to be done. Instead, I get a disjointed story focused around a crappy villain with mediocre storytelling.
One last thing that really bugged me about Robinson. At the end of Cry for Justice #6, Prometheus makes the statement that Green Arrow being the one to ask about his devices working is "ironic" because the first city to be affected by his devices is Green Arrow's home of Star City. I'm not an English major, but I'm pretty sure that is coincidental, not ironic. I think ironic would be calling a story "Cry for Justice" to imply a loud voice of rally for a group when said story actually makes people "cry" in a weeping fashion, due to how you handled the story and the group. Again though, I'm not an English major.
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