Like trying to herd cats, except if the cats had their own editors and writers taking them away from you.

There's a lettering mistake on the first page, as what appears to be the old JLA satellite burns up entering the atmosphere; but three pages later Black Canary coldcocks Green Arrow one, so that makes up for it. From 2009, Justice League of America #31, "Welcome to Sundown Town, interlude: Crisis of Confidence" Written by Dwayne McDuffie, pencils by Shane Davis, inks by Sandra Hope.

Dinah could be the author's surrogate in this issue, and probably just as steamed as McDuffie, as after the deaths of the Martian Manhunter and Batman (in other comics...) six Leaguers quit the team by editorial fiat um, I mean, for personal reasons! Ollie gets slugged since he and Hal had gone off and created their own team--remember Cry for Justice? Ugh. Later, probably after venting a bit, Oracle calls that a lack of respect on Ollie and Hal's part: they wouldn't have pulled that with Clark or Bruce. But, Dinah admits that was "barely the tip of the iceberg."

Arsenal leaves the team--I forget what terrible thing had happened to him at this point, besides possibly breaking up with Hawkgirl, and while it seems like he's grieving well enough here, I'm pretty sure he had a relapse coming. Black Lightning had left to take over the Outsiders, one of Batman's final requests--why they had to be separate from the JLA, who knows? Wally confesses, while he promised Wonder Woman he would be more available for the team, that wasn't realistic with problems in Central City and his family. Superman and Wonder Woman have a private remembrance of Batman while sparring in the Fortress of Solitude, then both tell Dinah they will try to be there for the team, but...maybe don't count on it. (WW had "obligations to Themyscira," although I couldn't say what in particular then; while Supes was going to be mired in the dismal New Krypton arc.) When Dinah complains she just lost all the founding members, Supes suggests maybe she should patch things up with Hal; and Dinah contains herself enough not to scream until the Fortress caved in.

Red Tornado hadn't answered her call, Atom was joining Hal's team, and Hawkgirl was somewhere with Hawkman and neither back yet, so Dinah's JLA was down to John Stewart, Vixen, Zatanna, and Dr. Light; who are supportive of her but all snippy with either each other or regarding their former teammates. Perhaps not unreasonably, Dinah throws in the towel, telling them she was disbanding this branch... 

My god, did McDuffie get all the toys taken away from him at once? "Welcome to Sundown Town" would continue until his last issue, JLA #34--without Dinah, but with Milestone's Icon and Hardware! Also, I try to refrain from swearing here, so you'd have to ask me somewhere else what I think of Rich Johnston and Bleeding Cool: "hot garbage" would be the most polite thing I could say. After his work on the Justice League cartoon, McDuffie's run on the comic should've been a can't-miss classic for the ages, but he was never given the tools or the freedom for it to take off. I'm furious at this comic...and just noticed the editor, so now I'm even madder.