“The villains are winning Jay, and I feel helpless to stop them,” says Ray Palmer, The Atom, to Jay Garrick, The Original Flash. Well Ray, Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen, Green Lantern and Green Arrow respectively, are out beating up on bad guys. Why don’t you give them a hand? Oh yeah, take Captain Marvel, or Shazam, or Freddy, or whatever he’s calling himself, with you. Jay’s going to sit this one out though. He’s a bit old for all this “justice” stuff. Someone who isn’t though is Supergirl. She’s just the right age to be influenced by Hal’s tough guy talk, and Ollie’s nostalgia (and she’s just the right age and size, I might add, for her midriff baring outfit as well). Once Congo Bill, or Congorilla, or “just Bill,” and Mikael, or Michael, or Starman, get done beating up on each other, they’ll be joining the group too, and they’ll all head out and get a nice glass of justice, hopefully served cold…

Anyway, we basically spend issue #2 of this mini-series, which yet again promises to have “long lasting effects on the DC Universe” (like Identity Crisis, I mean Infinite Crisis, no wait, actually, like Final Crisis did and Blackest Night is as well) watching our heroes stand around talking about justice and how there's such a lack of it in the world. By the end of Justice League: Cry for Justice, are we going to end up with a Justice League A and a Justice League B? I guess the Justice League of America was getting too big anyway, so maybe a split into two groups will be beneficial. There most likely won’t be any splitting up though, just a shakeup of the roster. According to Comic Shop Newsarama (you know the newspaper with coming attractions printed in it that you get for free every Wednesday at the local comic shop?) when James Robinson and Mark Bagley take over Justice League of America in October, Mon-El “in a new uniform with a color pattern that is a reversal of Superman’s red and blue, along with a Superman symbol over the left chest area…” Batman, the Dick Grayson version, and Donna Troy will be the joining the JLA. Looks like, according to the promo art, that Hal Jordan will still be with the team as well. Perhaps Cry for Justice is just the way to remove the big players, Superman, Batman (the “dead” Bruce Wayne), and Wonder Woman from the pages of Justice League of America to make room for new blood. Either way, I’m looking forward to the October issue of Justice League of America more than I’m enjoying Cry for Justice.

I don’t hate this series, but it just doesn’t feel like a true representation and characterization of Hal Jordan. I just can’t reconcile the fact that Jordan, after being victimized by Parallax, standing up to Sinestro and his Corps, and re-establishing himself as a hero would take such a course of action. Again, Green Lanterns are cops, they enforce the law and protect and serve; they don’t seek and destroy. Now, Oliver, even though he’s more liberal than Hal, I can see going along for the ride with all his smartass quips. He’s just a fun loving kinda guy, and just kinda goes with the flow. 

Cascioli’s art doesn’t disappoint like Robinson’s script and pacing does (so far) with this series. It’s soft, and it feels similar to Alex Ross’ work, yet stands out with its own uniqueness. He particularly recreates flesh with a subtle shading that makes it look real, almost as if you could reach out and touch it and feel its softness and texture (okay, I’m not just talking about Supergirl’s midriff again! It is drawn and colored particularly well, though...)

Overall, I guess this mini-event needs to be seen for what it is. A mini event for the Justice League or more like, a way to inject some life and provide a much needed shakeup of a title that has been very lackluster for some time now. Once we get through this little series, and the dust settles, it’ll be interesting to see what Robinson (who is a great writer, but just not quite working his usual magic with this title, yet) will do with the composition of the “new” Justice League of America.