Staring into the Abyss
Written by J.T. Krul
Pencilled by Geraldo Borges & Kevin Sharpe
Inked by Mario Alquiza & Mark McKenna
Lettered by Rob Clark Jr.
Colored by Hi-Fi
Dream sequence by Mike Mayhew & Andy Troy
Cover by: Greg Horn
Associate Editor: Sean Ryan
Editor: Brian Cunningham
Our cover shows Roy Harper, sporting his new robotic arm, battling his occasional girlfriend, Cheshire. This is a well-done cover, but ... dang ... it's practically pornographic! I mean, seriously, it's not practical at all for Cheshire to let her boobs hang out of her outfit like that. I don't care how good a fighter you are, that is a massive weakness you're leaving exposed. Believe it or not, but it is actually possible to look sexy without being objectified.
Our story begins with a freaky dream sequence of Roy's late daughter, Lian, ripping off her father's arm as she falls into an abyss. Roy wakes up to the news that Green Arrow had murdered the man responsible for the loss of his arm and daughter, Prometheus, but doing so cost Oliver Queen his secret identity. Black Canary stops by to talk, but Roy is furious that he wasn't the one to kill Prometheus. Roy then visits Ollie in jail to yell at him for robbing him of his chance at revenge.
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Dr. Mid-Nite and Cyborg help attach a robotic arm to Roy, but because this story is as melodramatic as possible, the prosthetic causes an enormous amount of pain when connected. (Prometheus apparently infected Roy with some nanites.) Later, Roy finally holds a funeral for Lian, which is attended by all the major heroes with connections to the JLA or Titans. Barry, Wally and Jay are there, but Bart chooses to stand with Raven, Beast Boy, Atom, Wonder Girl and Superboy.
Roy hallucinates that Lian's heart begins beating again, so he hastily retreats from the group to pop some pills. Ravager saw this, and tries to share some positive memories of when she babysat Lian way back when. Mia Deardon also tries to comfort Roy, but he blames her for his daughter's death and even gets his hand around her throat before Dick Grayson and Donna Troy intervene. Roy yells at everyone before heading home, smashing his bow, popping more pills and being attacked by Cheshire.
I think it's pretty safe to say that this is a rather reviled comic. There's tragic stories, and then there's this. Let's pile on as many bad and terrible things as we possibly can on one character, and make the bleakest, most depressing, most melodramatic story we can. And you know what? Nobody likes that. Luckily for us, this funeral cameo is the complete extent of Bart's involvement in this story.
Next time, we'll watch Bart and Kon take on Holocaust in Teen Titans #82.
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