The Final Year Begins!
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Buccellato
Art: Mike S. Miller
Colors: J. Nanjan
What They Say:
The series begins its fifth and final year as the regime searches for the criminals who all escaped from Superman’s prison.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The final year of Injustice: Gods Among Us gets underway and it’s a little complicated from the get go as the first issue arrives before the annual that explains some of what’s gone on. I enjoyed the fourth year in general with what it did since the characters are fun and it worked the gods side of things well while also tackling some of the interstellar aspects of it all too. I did enjoy the third year more with the magic and Constantine’s shenanigans, but in general the series has hit a sweet spot of fun and with this year promising to go a bit longer and potentially bigger since they’re bringing it to a close, I’m certainly anticipating that the book will take advantage of its standalone nature and really run with it.
With Superman and his regime back to square one now that every villain that they had captured have now been set free, there’s a different kind of intensity about him. He knows that they’ll get all of them and that has a coldness about him, but there’s also this sense about him that he’s even more authoritarian than he has been before. When we see him arrive to help Flash in rounding up a few of them later he ends up floating down with his hands behind his back that is reminiscent of military style dictators, which is reinforced by the darker tone of his outfit and just the presence he gives off. It’s not a surprising tact to take and it works to establish things well yet at the same time it also makes you a bit sad that it’s going that route in general. Still, it sets the tone for where he and those on his side are at.
Like any kickoff, there’s time spent showing how everyone is handling things at this stage. The cast is kept small as we see it mostly from the perspective of Superman’s side where Hal is doing some cleanup work in Coast City while Cyborg is running things from the headquarters and directing the team as a whole. Diana isn’t exactly wallowing in guilt, but she’s shut down for the moment because of how everything played out on Themyscira. The intriguing part is when we connect with Batman to get a view of what’s next for him to fight back against Superman and we see him teaming up with the Rogues to try and deal with Superman. It makes sense in him using what’s available and with so many heroes out of commission or on Superman’s side he has to really work with what he has. These guys at least aren’t the types to go and kill, which is what allows him to work with them.
In Summary:
The stage is well set here for what’s to come and while Doomsday shows up briefly I get the sense that he may not be much of a player for a while, letting Superman show just how far he’s willing to go. I like opening issues like this because it takes the time to reintroduce everyone and where they are in the scope of things rather than just hitting the ground running in a hard way while trying to catch up along the way. Buccellato keeps things moving smoothly and logically here while Miller’s artwork is solid and welcomingly familiar after not seeing it for a few months. I have different expectations with weekly books and rotating creative on them but there’s something about this one that just clicks different in really liking the raw and kind of angular look that we get.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: December 21st, 2015
MSRP: $0.99
