Rise and Fall of the Justice League Spoilers

I had planned to do a recap on the fallout from Cry For Justice this week, but since the one shot Rise and Fall Of the Justice League came in this week I’ve decided to combine my review with my overview of Cry For Justice. I am going to assume that everybody has had time to read the shocking ending of Cry For Justice 7 and the last few pages so I am going to push ahead and discuss this. For those of you who have not, please stop reading here; there will be spoilers and details on both books.

We left my last review right up to the shocking end of Cry for Justice, so as a reminder and to give people one last chance to stop reading if they have not read the last issue of Cry for Justice we will recap. The captured Prometheus has planted devices in several well-known DC cities that have started the destruction of them. Key among these is Star City. Since Green Arrow was the first to mouth off to the bad guy, Star City is the first target. The heroes try to save Star City but fail. There is mass destruction, which causes them to trade Prometheus’s freedom for the codes to deactivate the devices and save the rest of the cities. Here’s our first major spoiler so don’t say I didn’t warn you. Green Arrow finds his adopted granddaughter Lian dead in the rubble of her home. Mia, who was supposed to be watching her, went to try to save the city from the person planting the device the Electrocutioner and left her alone. It was a bad choice, and people make bad choices everyday that causes lives to be lost. Many have called this poor writing my Robinson or an unnecessary death. Perhaps I’ve been become jaded to the killing of characters because the Didio era body count, I was shocked by this but I was not as outraged as some are. I understand their rage and sympathize with them, but I also realize that disasters happen like Haiti. I also realize that children do die sometimes in horrible ways before their time. One need only look at the recent rape and murder of the young teenage girl jogger to know that is true. I’m not sure what I would do if I were her parents and came face to face with the person who raped then killed my daughter.

Green Arrow faced a similar dilemma. Many have been outraged by the choice James Robinson had him make in response and have labeled the mini series the worst thing ever written. Cry for Justice is going to be like Identity Crisis for some people, they will always hate it. I understand it believe me I do. Sue Dibny was very beloved to me along with Ralph. They were one of comics’ only happily married couples. Sue was bright, funny and beautiful and best of all put up with all of her husbands flaws and loved him in spite of them or maybe because them. When Identity Crisis finally hit and Sue did die it hit me pretty hard, In fact I thought I might never forgive writer Brad Meltzer for penning the story. As the series went on it got worse, we found out that our lovable Sue had been raped by Dr Light and then came the autopsy. They had to throw that in just to tell us Sue was not ever coming back and really dead. That part along with the rape particularly sickened me. As time has gone on, the wound has healed somewhat; I have even spoken to Brad Meltzer about the series and our shared love of the Justice League. As we spoke I realized he was a much fan as I was, and as he said although he wrote and plotted the series the idea to kill Sue came from the higher ups such as Dan Didio, and possibly others. It was going to be done one way or another, he decided to make it the best story possible and make it into a whodunit. I’m sure the Jean Loring as the killer was his idea that fitted her profile since she had been mentally unstable in the past issues of Justice League. So I totally understand the viewpoint of those who will hate this series. Don’t even ask me about the Killing Joke, I hate that book with the passion of a thousand suns. Everyone hails it as groundbreaking but the image of the Joker standing over a fallen naked Barbara Gordon and taking pictures makes me ill to this day. That along with the Joker and Batman laughing together at the end was just another punch in the gut.

Now we come to what Green Arrow did. He found a way to find Prometheus via the Shade and he went to his lair, surprised him and killed him with an arrow to the head. That is how CFJ ends and where Rise and Fall picks up. There is no doubt Green Arrow murdered Prometheus and planned to do so. The Flash Barry Allen is quick to point out in this issue that Green Arrow is a killer. There is an exchange with Green Arrow about Barry snapping the Reverse Flash’s neck, while Barry claims self defense and that he was tried for his actions in a court of law. I can’t help but feel sympathy for Oliver Queen. He has lost his home and his city. His adopted son has lost a limb. The worst thing of all, his granddaughter has lost her life. What would you do faced with this? We all would like to say that we would not resort to out right murder in vengeance as he did because that’s what makes different from the criminals and sociopaths who do murder. But could I like the parents of the young jogger who was brutally raped and murder look the killer in the eyes in the courtroom and not want to kill in response? That is the issue here. I’m pretty sure the compulsion would be there but would I act on it? I would hope I would not, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t but can I blame someone who does? This is our dilemma; we know Oliver Queen is a good person who has done a horrible thing. It is also Justice League’s dilemma, what to do with Oliver Queen now?

We get a little look into this through out Rise and Fall as we hear Oliver’s thought as he tracks the other person directly responsible for Lian’s death the Electrocutioner. He has acted as Judge, Jury and Executioner. He has acted to prevent more losses of life to save others what he is going though. Is it any different than lethal injection or the electric chair for a convicted mass murderer? Prometheus admitted his guilt something a real killer infrequently does. Should he not die for wholesale slaughter of thousands in Star City and what is to prevent him from trying it again? That question is at the core of this storyline; does anyone have the right to kill?

We also get a look into the mindset of Black Canary as we hear her thoughts as she tries to control Green Arrow on his hunt to get the Electrocutioner. She is frightened by her husband’s actions and tries to stop him from going too far. She wants both of the villains brought to justice and locked up for what they did. It is Barry Allen that thinks to question the Shade on Prometheus’s whereabouts that leads to him and Hal Jordan finding the dead body via the Shade. There is no doubt that he has been murdered by Green Arrow with the signature arrow though his skull. Barry and Hal arrive just as Oliver and Dinah are in mid argument over whether Oliver did in fact kill Prometheus since she has figured it out by his attempt on the Electrocutioner’s life that she prevented. Hal and Barry confirm this, which Green Arrow does not deny. They even have Prometheus body in tow to show Dinah as evidence. Prometheus’s helmet is also missing? This dangerous device defeated the whole League, who has it now?  While they argue the morals of what Oliver did, the Electrocutioner escapes which further angers Oliver. He then grabs and uses Prometheus’s key to transport away before the other heroes can stop him and warns his work is not done. The heroes proclaim that they must stop Oliver before he kills again at the end of the story to be continued in Green Arrow’s book.

This is without a doubt a game changer for the League as much as Identity Crisis was which eventually tore the league apart. Must they now bring their friend Oliver Queen to justice? Can he be trusted anymore? Or even be a League member anymore? Were his actions righteous or unforgivable? These are the questions each League member must now face and each is likely to have a different response. These are the fascinating questions that now must be asked, and the answers are yet to be told or played out. For those who regard these mini series as poorly written ramblings of a bad writer, I would counter that these issues are at the core of what is right and wrong. Is it ever permissible to take a life to prevent someone from taking more lives? That is the question the League now faces, and perhaps the answer is no. I find it interesting and compelling to see what happens next. I’m sure that what DC is banking on whether we like it or not.