DC Universe: The Source

62 Responses to “GREEN ARROW EDITOR ADAM SCHLAGMAN TALKS RISE AND FALL”

1. carnivac says on March 3rd, 2010 at 5:24 pm :
   

   doh, i saw the image before the I read the first bit of text and saw what he’d done in the pic. Oh well. Still going to buy the issue anyways as GA is one of my all time fave characters.

2. carter101 says on March 3rd, 2010 at 5:27 pm :
   

   Wow, this is the same Green Arrow that voted no for the Doctor Light mind wipe, what is going on Ollie? Yikes…. Well this seems like an interesting story line to say the least, I just worry the G.A. we knew and love might not be able to come back from this one.

3. jorel1983 says on March 3rd, 2010 at 5:28 pm :
   

   I am still not totally sold on the rise and fall but must admit that ending to Cry for Justice was a blindshot lol i’m with ollie going all punisher on villians

4. nashoosen says on March 3rd, 2010 at 5:29 pm :
   

   While I certainly believe that Ollie might be able to go this far (he has before), didn’t we already invest quite a bit of time in trying to get Ollie away from being anything like the Mike Grell Green Arrow? This might make for an interesting story, but I worry about - like carter101 put it - him being able to come back from this.

5. mambazo says on March 3rd, 2010 at 5:32 pm :
   

   Yikes, I am not looking forward to the fan reaction to the ending of CFJ. Especially not to the reaction to Lian’s death.

   Good luck JT Krul, you have a hell of a backstory to work with here.

6. Ricardo says on March 3rd, 2010 at 5:34 pm :
   

   As much as Kevin Smith’s run was fun, I really wish to see Green Arrow back into the direction Mike Grell had given him. He’s a street-smart hero, not a whatever-he-became on recent years.

7. embee says on March 3rd, 2010 at 5:37 pm :
   

   Way to fridge Lian Harper, DC.

   This is pretty disappointing.

8. majesticfool says on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:08 pm :
   

   Alex thanks a lot for the “spoiler warning” you totally have to do that on spoileriffic posts here… last time i checked the source and hand’t read Blackest night 7 a post written here totally gave away the whole white lantern thing for me (i blame myself cuz i kept reading! hehe)

   But thanks for the S-warning! =P

9. legionoflinks says on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:14 pm :
   

   cry for justice was a dissapointment at best. the ending was the only good part to it. roy is one of my favorite characters and ollie is as well. the idea to totally tear apart their lives at the same time due to the same circumstances sucks. they can’t really be there for each other.

   that being said, i’m really looking forward to the green arrow and rise of arsenal upcoming story lines. i’ve always preferred the darker GA but the light-sided one has been fun. Roy took a step down, in my opinion, when he became Red Arrow. He’d grown into his own just to fall back into a great shadow but he is still a great character.

   P.S. offing the heart of two characters in one story, DC… ya’ll have let me down

10. albatross says on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:22 pm :
    

    whoaaaaaa! Kid death is pretty rare at DC, so i’m definitely surprised/shocked. Clearly I have to have some kind of complaint (this IS about CFJ after all, haha) I want to call into question Mr. Robertson’s choice of “Hey! The Prometheus you’ve known for years? It wasn’t the REAL one! Here he is! WHOA!!

11. wildclaw says on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:30 pm :
    

    What is it with the Titans kids. First Donna’s son and now Roy’s daughter. At least the others don’t have kids

12. darthnat says on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:30 pm :
    

    It’s terrible to me that dismemberment and the death of a child is the kickoff for DC’s next big event. Brightest Day, indeed.

13. albatross says on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:38 pm :
    

    whoaaaaaa! Kid death is pretty rare at DC, so i’m definitely surprised/shocked. Clearly I have to have a complaint(this IS about CFJ after all). I want to call into question Mr. Robertson’s choice of “Hey! The Prometheus you’ve known for years? It wasn’t the REAL one! HERE he is! He’s hella evil!” and building him up to be a really important bad guy, only to kill him at the end? That’d be like Brad Meltzer having Deathstroke die at the end of Identity Crisis! You built him up BIG TIME and now he’s super-dead.
    It works in one way as the “super hero movie” ending. The ‘ultimate’ villain pays the ultimate price, but it feels weird knowing that Robinson didn’t invent Prometheus, hadn’t handled him once until this point(that I know of) and now this… weird. Hopefully the directions that GA and Roy will take will produce exciting stories, and eventually better the characters. Brightest Day looks a little gloomier with this being such a big story!

14. friskydingo says on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:47 pm :
    

    I find killing off Lian in such an obvious shock tactic way to be very short sighted and in poor taste. What, was Roy not going to become “dark” enough already after loosing his arm? Killing of Lian will provide some short-term motivations for stories involving Roy. But in the end keeping Lian around would have provided an avenue for many more stories over a longer period of time.

    Oh and to all you people last week telling people to stop complaining about The Source revealing those “Green Lantern #52” covers, look what The Source did for this story! See a spoiler warning and a link you have to click on to see the spoilers! Gee, not such a bad idea, huh? That could have easily been done for the GL covers too.

15. redhurricane24 says on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:52 pm :
    

    I hate to say it, but I knew that Lian would die. Otherwise, why would Cheshire try to kill Roy in The Rise of Arsenal #2 cover? But holy crap, pardon my french, mods, but ****’s just hit the fan in more ways than one. Star City gone, Red Arrow short of one arm, it was only a matter of time that Green Arrow would snap.

    Ollie and the rest of Team Arrow are not going to be the same anymore.

16. jynx says on March 3rd, 2010 at 6:57 pm :
    

    …okay, I reallyreally hope there’s a reason for killing off Lian besides “Oh, it’ll give Roy depth.” Because, really. That? Is next to unforgivable. You kill of a girl who you’ve had around for decades, and for what? Angst?

    Jesus ****ing Christ. That is… I think the lowest thing a writer can do. And also points out exactly what kind of writer they are - a BAD one. Shame on DC and the editors for approving this. There was no ****ing reason to fridge a ***ing 8 year old.

17. seansd says on March 3rd, 2010 at 7:15 pm :
    

    Keep killing off the Titans and their supporting cast and see how many books you sell. I’m droping Justice League now, already had dropped GA and will not be picking up Roy’s mini. Thanks DC for saving me money!

18. seansd says on March 3rd, 2010 at 7:24 pm :
    

    @wildclaw. They killed Tempest’s wife and child too, before they killed him. Look at all the amazing villians and supporting cast Marv and George created. Then look at where they are at the past 5 years, just cannon fodder for DiDio’s DC universe.

19. perkulator says on March 3rd, 2010 at 7:33 pm :
    

    Wow. This is incredibly awful. To take a character who *had* depth and a unique quality to him (single fatherhood), and turn him into just another tormented hero whose heroics cause his family to die? And killing off a child, to do it, no less. If this is Robinson’s idea of originality and drama, I’m looking forward to his taking point on Superman less and less. Please, someone retcon this series as a bad dream, the sooner, the better.

20. passage34 says on March 3rd, 2010 at 8:10 pm :
    

    I haven’t picked this up yet, but I paid for it at my LCS two months ago. Odd - normally, I don’t go looking for spoilers, but with this series, I had just reached that point where I didn’t care. I had already made up my mind to not prepay for May’s JL issue, thinking I would likely drop the book just to save some money. I don’t know where Robinson is going with the regular series, and who knows, maybe it’ll be good, but like I said, I just don’t care. I didn’t think Lian would die; it just seemed too obvious. I’ll read the Rise and Fall series that spin out of this, because I like J.T. Krul, but I’m done with the main book. His Superman stuff has been mostly miss for me, so I hope he leaves that book soon, as well. I hate sounding like, well, a “hater,” but Robinson has failed to win me over.

21. apoehler says on March 3rd, 2010 at 8:29 pm :
    

    James Robinson: Seriously, stop writing comics now and forever. Cry For Justice rivals Ultimatum for sheer crap. You shame yourself.

22. mbecks114 says on March 3rd, 2010 at 8:38 pm :
    

    I feel like a DC has just taken a huge S#!% on all things Justice League and Green Arrow.

    honestly, wth? I try not to be the “whiny fanboy” but seriously? is it cool to destroy characters like this? Call me when its all retconned in 5 months.

23. thecoyotegospel says on March 3rd, 2010 at 8:42 pm :
    

    Robinson has urged me to drop books left and right. This was disgusting. Roy had an excellent angle as a single father, now his daughter is killed to give him more motivation. No one could work with the previous set up? A character’s motivation can’t revolve around caring for someone, it has to be vengeance?

    It’s all part of DC’s plan to de-age characters and keep anyone from progressing too far. Kids date a character too much to be interesting, I suppose, despite the fact that DC is seriously banking on aging fans who have grown with these characters.

    I can knock several comics off my list thank to this. Best of luck to all involved, but I’m done with shock tactics and cheap deaths. Can someone appoint Gail Simone to approve any character deaths?

24. thecoyotegospel says on March 3rd, 2010 at 8:43 pm :
    

    p.s. The Prometheus one-shot was pretty great. Where did all of that promise go? Nowhere.

25. blackwolf9 says on March 3rd, 2010 at 8:43 pm :
    

    To the people who are pissed at Lian’s death, yes it is fridging (a death that is used as a plot device, to those who haven’t heard the term. it comes from when Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend was killed and stuffed into a fridge just so he could be darker; it came out of nowhere), but the point to it is to keep Roy in action. After losing his arm, logically, he would leave the heroics to the other heroes, and take care of his daughter more. Now, he has nothing left, and so they can continue to do stories with him; his character can still be used to dance the mad dance of the writers. Not saying I support Lian’s death, just saying why (proceed to be more or less pissed as you see fit).

    On another note, I’m totally jumping into this series, because hearing about Rise and Fall before CFJ #7, I didn’t really get the big deal, but now it’s all clicked into place. Looks like it will be a compelling tale.

26. Theozilla says on March 3rd, 2010 at 8:57 pm :
    

    This is not really that out of character for Green Arrow (Mike Grell’s Longbow Hunter) it is just unexpected considering the way they have been writing Green Arrow for the past decade. I think what they did to Roy and his daughter was unnecessary, I thought him being Red Arrow was cool (I know he has not had any great solo stories for while, but this…). And if Lian’s death is making people angry and sad that is perfectly normal, that means Robinson at least brought the emotion across in the last issue.
    And the nitpicker in me cannot resist this question: Can’t Shazam (Freddie) transform now without actually having to say anything? Is that not what the Trials of Shazam established?
    Oh well, I think Krul can write some good stories from this.

27. kdtn says on March 3rd, 2010 at 9:47 pm :
    

    This is sad. I only got one issue of CFJ, and got tired of it. It was horrible. Robison really cant right. Im not gonna pick up the justice league becuase of him. I’m gonna read “Rise of Arsenal” and secretly wish for Lian to come back. I mean thats horrible. She could have grown up to be a speedy to Roys green arrow.COME ON.WHY DID SHE DIE. BADD WRITING DAMNIT. I mean seriously. She could have only help the “Rise of Arsenal”.This is HORRIBLE. The only thing theyre doing is giving Marvel a chance to win some of their fans. I think this is Greatly SAD. Im ashamed to like DC COMICS.

28. Will44 says on March 3rd, 2010 at 9:50 pm :
    

    I can’t believe they promoted Didio.

    Honestly, if you’re as outraged as I am over this, boycott DC for a year. That should really go a long way towards sending a message. You should still support your local comic shop, but finding independents, Marvel, and other books that will fill your comic book desire, but help tank DC for a while and watch things change over there fast.

29. vinniebartilucci says on March 3rd, 2010 at 9:57 pm :
    

    “Can’t Shazam (Freddie) transform now without actually having to say anything?”

    Yes he can, and indeed that was a point that we thought James had forgotten before it was revealed that it wasn’t even Freddy in the book to that point anyway.

    But I’m willing to buy that he needed to say the word to bring down a really BIG bolt of lightning.

30. nomoredidio says on March 3rd, 2010 at 10:13 pm :
    

    Wow, Didio OK’ed the death of a child! What a shocking decision from the man who approved Sue Dibny getting raped.

    All I have to say about “CFJ” and “Rise and Fall” is one thing: LAME. The hero having his city destroyed and going postal has been done before. Ten years later, Geoff Johns had to clean up that mess.

    Please get rid of Didio and stop giving James Robinson work. Please DC, I beg of thee.

31. blackwolf9 says on March 3rd, 2010 at 10:58 pm :
    

    If you’re hurt by this story enough to boycott DC, please don’t buy Marvel. The only good issues they put out cost $4 apiece for no extra page count. Most of their other series are mediocre at best due to many of their “rising star” writers having too young a voice to work for most superheroes (Daredevil, Iron Man, Mighty Avengers, X-Men, ect). So unless you want all comics to eventually go to $3.99 then don’t buy a comic for the extra dollar unless there’s more content to it, it’s how we can keep the price of comics to $2.99
    That, and their company has some serrious corporate issues that need to be worked out, like putting out issues before the main plot of the universe is ready for them, making reading multiple series (or even just one series in the cas of Avengers the List issue) annoying sometimes. Or having crappy advertising and sneak peaks (the Avengers ads are good looking, but I want to know more about the series beyond just who’s on the team), and they actually revealed the next big surprise for Spider-man 2 weeks before the issue even went on sale. I’m so un-excited about what Marvel has been showing for post-siege that I’m not really excited about what’s actually gonna happen anymore. I’m goin pretty much exclusively DC because of these problems, unless the events of Siege are sooooo mind blowing that I won’t be able to help myself. So please, don’t go Marvel, at least until they’ve fixed their problems.

32. mikethebat says on March 3rd, 2010 at 11:50 pm :
    

    Shame on you for killing off that cute little girl. What a friggin waste of a beloved character.

33. dccomicfan says on March 4th, 2010 at 12:06 am :
    

    Where is Batman when you need him?? Okay I am biased, but the story left me feeling like the other members of the Justice League are complete idiots and no one could figure out Prometheus next move.

34. choob says on March 4th, 2010 at 12:09 am :
    

    Well I honestly don’t have as hard a time as others are having with Lian’s death. No, its not b/c i’m cold hearted and hate kids but I just look at it as realistic. Ollie, Dinah, Mia, Lian and Roy lived in Star City. 90,000 people in Star City died. How realistic would it have been for Lian to have survived some how? Sure it can be considered shock value but i would have found it even more stupid if she was the only survivor in Star City.

    If you’re outraged about Lian’s death, what about the countless other people (children too) who were among Star City’s death toll? Just b/c Lian is a character that has been created and written about doesn’t mean that killing them off is good or bad. If nothing bad ever happened in comics, what would be the point of heroes in the first place?

    If Krul can deliver a great story about Roy dealing with his grief and emerging to be a better man and hero after this, then his character would have once again shown how resilient he is after the drugs, brushes with death, loss of an arm and child etc. That would be great IMO for the character.

35. savegaandbc says on March 4th, 2010 at 12:31 am :
    

    All James Robinson titles have now sucsessfully been taken of my pull list

    How the F… can You allow this to happen to YET ANOTHER TITAN.
    Lian was the one normal kid.

    JT Krul has 1 issue to win me over if not then i’m done with DC forever

36. lackshmana says on March 4th, 2010 at 2:39 am :
    

    When Dan Didio said Green Arrow was a character to watch in 2010, I thought it was weird given the total lack of build up the character had received up to that point.

    It isn’t like Green Lantern suddenly blew up in 2009 because Dan Didio willed it so. Geoff Johns spent years crafting the GL franchise and building interest by providing CONSISTENT QUALITY IN WRITING AND ART.

    Who actually thinks that the shock value of destroying a city and killing a character’s daughter is going to help anything? I would have thought Robinson above this kind of classless trope.

    Did blowing up Bludhaven help anything?
    Did making Martian Manhunter a jerk help anything?
    Did trashing the Teen Titans help anything?
    Did making JLA a dumping ground for crossovers help anything?

    I wonder how many times this type of wrong-headed character assassination will take place before everyone realizes that IT DOES NOT WORK.

    There is no silver bullet for building a books popularity. There is no “trick” that gets the job done easy.

    When it comes to storytelling, it takes actual effort and hard work to do it. If you try to fake it, then you will fail.

    Consistent quality, consistent quality, consistent quality, consistent quality, consistent quality, consistent quality.

    There is your formula for success.

    Notice how killing Lian and tearing off Roy’s arm aren’t anywhere to be found.

37. druzhba says on March 4th, 2010 at 3:24 am :
    

    one of the worst comics. What was thinking James Robinson??
    Green Arrow is completly out of character.

38. balsawan says on March 4th, 2010 at 6:18 am :
    

    The thing is Robinson is making some changes because we can’t read about same old characters doing same old things. I support this because I want to read a story about Roy instead of just knowing he is somewhere doing something.

39. ljacone says on March 4th, 2010 at 8:21 am :
    

    I have to say, I have never been a Green Arrow fan but CFJ has really made me want to pick up these strories. Ollie is in a bad way and heading to a bad place, and it will be intriguing to see how or if he gets out of them.

40. thecoyotegospel says on March 4th, 2010 at 8:24 am :
    

    That Marvel rant was ridiculous to the point of not earning a full response. Spit your vitriol elsewhere before this becomes DCChan.

    I’m interested that this discussion has been more two-sided than any CfJ or JLA discussions. I think it’s a testament to how many people want to read continuing adventures of both characters. I can’t support a death that resulted from an awful miniseries and was used solely as a plot device. I’m not interested in the many ways this series can go as a result.

41. mrbaker3 says on March 4th, 2010 at 8:50 am :
    

    I’ll preface my thoughts with the fact that I didn’t buy a single issue of this mini. I’m not a huge Green Arrow fan, so it didn’t appeal to me right away.

    I am a huge Roy Harper fan though, spurned from my love of the Titans.

    That said, I find the worst part of this mini is the fact that 2 characters, Roy and Lian, were forever changed, and they weren’t even main or supporting characters in this book!

    Roy appeared in one issue, as part of the Justice League and the only thing we saw him do is walk out with one arm.

    I’m pretty pissed actually that 2 of my favorite characters were just thrown in here to have bad things happen, when they don’t have anything else to do with the story! Lian wasn’t even mentioned until a page before we found her body. It’s like no long term thinking went into this.

    That being said, I’m REALLY excited for the Rise and Fall storyline, because JT Krul is writing it. He’s made me a believer in him after his Titans work lately and I have no doubt he can bring some light to this dark, dark story.

42. thekev says on March 4th, 2010 at 9:11 am :
    

    I think that the death of Lian is a low blow.. Are Wally’s kids next?
    However having all the original Teen Titans age to a point where they marry and have kids was a overall bad idea. Instead of taking over the mantles of their mentors.. They were now catching up or surpassing them in comic book age. Wally made sense but look what happened there. The kids aged at an accelerated rate and Barry is back..

    I do like that Roy Harper is going back to the Arsenal code name. I agree that being called Red Arrow was a step back.

    Green Arrow has “killed” before.. Mike Grell’s series implied that. But that all could have been Superboy punched out of continuity.

43. thecoyotegospel says on March 4th, 2010 at 9:25 am :
    

    That was a good point, MrBaker3. Robinson pretty much said in his backmatter for issue #5 or 6 that his original plans totally changed throughout the course of this series. I think Roy’s tangental role in the series is one of the big reasons that this feels like a cheap stunt than an opportunity for character growth. I think Krul has done an admirable job with an increasingly hopeless property, but I am not going to stick around for this mini and give DC the message that stunt deaths sell.

44. comicbookheretic says on March 4th, 2010 at 9:31 am :
    

    mrbaker3

    It was not don’t just to randomly inflict pain and suffering on Roy with no story behind it. Roy will be front and center and dealing with the tragedy of what took place in his up coming Rise of Arsenal mini. Why is it when things go wrong you all want to blame Didio and when they go right, which much has for DC in 2009 and will continue in 2010, he gets no credit?

    thecoyotegospel

    you cant support death from and awful, in your opinion, mini series but can you from a good one? it is just a plot device when ever it is used.

    choob

    Bang on the dot 90,000 dead how many other children died? This happens in every comic book when diaster or explosions or whatever happens. People die and some are children. We just happen to know the person’s name and it happens to be tied to one of our beloved chacters. I faith in JT Krul’s ability to tell a great story in Rise of Arsenal and the Green Arrow issues. I had not been pulling GA/BC but with #30 and this I am now pulling it and Rise of Arsenal mini.

45. emeraldlatenight says on March 4th, 2010 at 9:35 am :
    

    Thanks for the spoiler warning, Alex! That’s exactly how fans have wanted sensitive items to be posted here. Good job.

    -ELN

46. seansd says on March 4th, 2010 at 9:51 am :
    

    Check out newsarama’s article and poll. The fans overwhemingly hated this story and thought the ending was unnecessary. Over all there was no “team” in this book. It seemed to start out with a gathering, then went all over the place and ended with Roy’s life being destroyed. At what point did they realize that maybe he should have been front and center, if he was to be so important to the outcome. Like many of their mini’s now days, they seem to change the game plan/artists 1/2 way through and we get stuck with bad product and disappointment.

    Way to please your fanbase DC

47. thecoyotegospel says on March 4th, 2010 at 11:01 am :
    

    ComicBookHeretic: I can get behind story-mandated deaths in well-done series. Barry in Crisis? Perfect. Jean’s and Magneto’s in Morrison’s New X-Men? Fantastic, until it was immediately retconned.

    There are plot devices that work as stunts and do not flow organically out of story events, and there are character arcs. I’m not being hypocritical. I thought the death of the Wasp at the end of Secret Invasion was a stunt too, and it colored my perception of the series.

    People blame DiDio because he has made a conscious, documented effort to make stories grittier. How much praise comes from series not written by Geoff Johns or book announcements that seem to go in a different direction, a la the new Legion or the current Supergirl? There are readily apparent patterns here.

    That’s great that you have faith in Krul’s upcoming story and I hope you enjoy. I’m not going to buy it because I believe in voting with my money. I don’t care for the premise so I’m not going to pick up the book. I don’t wish ill will on anyone involved.

48. mrbaker3 says on March 4th, 2010 at 11:04 am :
    

    Agreed seansd.

    If you’re going to build to an ending where the main takeaways are: Ollie murders a villain who the JLA let walk free and Roy Harper loses an arm and his child, shouldn’t you work towards building to both of those things, instead of work towards one and bring the other out of left field?

    Something else I just thought of: I bet Roy and Donna Troy get back together over this. Krul showed her and the most distraught over Roy in Titans recently, and now they both share a common, tragic, bond. Seems like a natural progression for them to hook up again, especially given their past.

49. badbutch says on March 4th, 2010 at 12:26 pm :
    

    Wow, what an incredibly disappointing direction to go for these characters and the Justice League line in general. Child murder, heroes killing villains, dismemberment, making a misused character interesting again and then immediately killing him… this really isn’t the kind of stuff I want to read, let alone in an Justice League book. I have no intention of reading anything else related to this and I’m very disappointed in myself for continuing with this book to the end.

50. capmarvelfan says on March 4th, 2010 at 12:36 pm :
    

    Since the ending of this was already spoiled by Robinson’s own JLA run and the promos for the upcoming Rise and Fall storyline the only suprising thing was that they killed off Lian. And that comes off as a cheap plot moment. In ten years maybe we’ll refer to it as a “Lian” rather than a “woman in a fridge” .

    Whatever happened to cause the delays - presumably penciller related as we had two fill-in pencillers in the last two issues of Cry for Justice - just makes this a continuity mess.

    As the Newsarama review said - I didn’t know whether it was Barry or Wally that was shown with Jay in Keystone. Shade looked completely different in the last issue of CfJ than he did in previous issues and neither looked like his typical appearance. Firestorm apparently has super-strength. And Mia can handle a building falling on her with just losing part of her costume. And we had four pages of “hand-wringing” as we apprently needed to see EVERY member of the Justice League paralyzed by indecision.

    At least now that the mini is done, the monthly’s will hopefully be set in “current” DC time. Not that it matters much as JLA is all I get of the above, and that may not be for much longer.

    If it weren’t for Geoff Johns and Gail Simone there wouldn’t be anything worth reading in the DCU.

51. emeraldlatenight says on March 4th, 2010 at 1:14 pm :
    

    And Grant Morrison. Don’t forget Grant.

52. Underneath the Mask: Nerdrage!, or “Why Cry for Justice and Rise and Fall have all but ruined Green Arrow, Arsenal, and Prometheus for Me” - Comic Hero News says on March 4th, 2010 at 1:23 pm :
    

    [...] hell with it. I’ll let Adam Schlagman’s comments from DC Universe: The Source say [...]

53. passage34 says on March 4th, 2010 at 2:35 pm :
    

    Read it…

    liked it.

    Am I thrilled that Lian died, Roy got maimed, and 90,000 people were lost in Star City? Of course not. But, I think Green Arrow was right. I’m not a bloodthirsty vengeance seeker, but I’ve never fully understood DC’s no killing stance for their heroes. Sometimes, the bad guy has to be put down. Robinson may be one of the clumsiest writers I’ve had to endure when it comes to moving characters from point A to B (and I can’t lay all the blame on him - who knows what editorial issues were involved?) but in the end, he gets there. That last page was there. Looking forward to Krul’s work.

54. mbecks114 says on March 4th, 2010 at 5:47 pm :
    

    lackshmana i agree!!

    “I’ve never fully understood DC’s no killing stance for their heroes.”

    why? heroes don’t kill. they’re good people, why should they kill people? cops dont kill people unless they absolutely HAVE to. Killing people is wrong so why would superheroes do things that would make them villains?

55. icicle113 says on March 4th, 2010 at 6:22 pm :
    

    I would like to see these as desktop patterns. Is there a reason that DC no longer creates and updates that section of their site?

56. kauffinbauchser says on March 4th, 2010 at 6:25 pm :
    

    After six pretty lame issues, I found this ending pretty compelling. I liked it and will follow the rest of the story. Good job James Robinson, you surprised the heck out of me.

57. capmarvelfan says on March 5th, 2010 at 10:54 am :
    

    @ emeraldlatenight

    The stink of “Final Crisis” is still too fresh. Morrison was not an oversight in omission.

    Greg Rucka, Eric Trautman, and Tony Bedard however are oversights. They are also good writers that DC is lucky to have.

    Much of the problem with Cry for Justice seems to be editorial hamstringing. The focus of the mini shifted mid-stride and never found an even keel.

    So at the end, the Atom realizes (from OLLIE’s actions!) torture isn’t ok but for the finale Ollie’s back to his Grell days of judge/jury/executioner?

    I suppose the part I’m angry about is that the entire mini now seems like nothing more than set-up. So now the whole thing is to launch a year-long focus on Ollie’s “fall” from grace and eventual redemption?

    We did this once before with Hal.
    And back in the 90’s it got OLD fast. Supes died. Bats broke his back. Wonder Woman lost her job. Hal went crazy and died. Aquaman got cranky and a hook for a hand. The Hawks got majorly messed with.

    I’d just like a few years of the supposed “status quo” that things always go back to. It’s seemed that ever since “52″ the DCU has been in a state of flux with no clear sense of direction.

    Maybe the recent promotion of Geoff Johns will help that.

58. seansd says on March 5th, 2010 at 2:18 pm :
    

    @capmarvelfan

    Yes I agree, I’m hoping that Geoff being promoted we can avoid bad storytelling like this, series that go nowhere like Final Crisis and Countdown.

    What sucks is this book seemed to have such potential in the beginning. I was stoked that Batwoman and Mikkal had lead roles, being gay, you rarely see them represented in comics. The art was fantastic, then the cast and story took a turn in the middle. The book ended with a lot of death and no payoff for those of us that spent $3.99 an issue.

    It’s the unnecessary death in the DCU that so many of us are sick of. These characters can live forever and not age if the writers don’t make them, so work on better stories and take care of the characters DC.

    I went from buying tons of figures, statues, and about 30+ books a month a few years ago going back to ‘89. Now I rarely buy a JLU figure on sale at Target and I’ve cut my books down to 5 a month.

59. severusdent22 says on March 19th, 2010 at 2:05 pm :
    

    I don’t understand why they killed Lian. I thought there was a lot of potential there. I mean we saw how the legacy continued in Kingdom Come. Plus You had the workings of a new Young Justice, if you were to include the new Impulse and the obvious darker edge in Damian the new Robin. Now they’re one short, for what? There was so much storytelling potential there. Now it’s a story of how a grieving father pulls himself back up. On the other hand that makes for an interesting story, but you could get so much more if Lian remained alive.

60. severusdent22 says on March 19th, 2010 at 2:30 pm :
    

    I liked Cry for Justice though. I couldn’t stand Prometheus, my introduction to the character being in Andy Liebermann’s God-awful Hush Returns storyarc. He was nothing more than a merc in a ridiculous costume from that point until Cry for Justice, this series turned him around completely. Now I see so much potential in just the idea of an Anti-Batman whose parents are killed by cops, declaring war on the law and Justice. What would the anti-Robin look like? I hope Prometheus is dead, for the devastation that he caused, but at the same time I am curious as to what James Robinson said about his “Ideas and plans for the character now reaching far into the future in the JLA and other books” with him being dead. Does this mean he is not dead? He is, after all the anti-Batman could he have faked his death? It’s an interesting conundrum.

61. severusdent22 says on March 19th, 2010 at 2:36 pm :
    

    In summation I loved James’ first three issues of Justice League with the Blackest Night tie in and I can’t wait to see where Ravager goes after the Teen Titans story arc by JT Krul. I have the utmost confidence in JT’s writing and I can’t wiat to see where he takes Ollie and Roy.

62. severusdent22 says on March 19th, 2010 at 2:57 pm :
    

    For those of you disgusted at Didio’s decision to allow the death of Lian as well as 90,000 other residents of Star City. Some editor in the sixties allowed a story where that racist monster Black Manta kills Aquaman’s baby boy alone, and Black Manta’s still alive. At least Prometheus dies at the end.

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