Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League #6 – Greg Rucka, Writer; Nicola Scott, Artist; Annette Kwok, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: For the last few issues, this has been a pretty straightforward heist thriller as Cheetah and Cheshire lead their hand-picked team of antiheroes to rob the Justice League Watchtower and obtain the Power Bank, a backup for all the powers of the DCU. But at the finish line, they were foiled – seemingly betrayed by one of their youngest members, Klarion, who turned over the Power Bank to a ruthless coalition led by Black Adam. With the lives of innocents at stake, the battle quickly escalates and the Justice League intervenes, setting off a three-way showdown. At first, this seems to rip a hole in the team, with one member in particular, Alya, feeling especially betrayed. But it soon turns out that there’s more to the story than it appears – because the Power Bank was all part of a larger plan, and was never the target. And while it was the world’s biggest distraction, the real heist was taking place.
This is such a clever way to unfold this story, because it’s been keeping us in the dark just as much as the Justice League was. The true motivation behind the heist ties into one of the characters, and winds up resolving a major subplot involving them that has been going for decades. This also leads to a massive status quo change for the character, one that Rucka has been working with for a long time now. Overall, as Rucka’s first major DC work in years, this seemed like an unusual one at first glance, but this issue pulls a lot of things together – including my biggest ongoing issue with this series. The characterization of Lian, and her willingness to help her mother with a crime, makes a lot more sense in the context of what’s revealed here. The pacing of this series wasn’t perfect, but it does justice to all the characters involved and adds a few really cool new ones to the DCU. Hopefully it’s just the start of this new era for Rucka.
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