Nothing ever goes to plan.
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Buccellato
Art: Mike S. Miller
Colors: J. Nanjan
What They Say:
Disagreements break out in the Regime about the use of villains for enforcement. Meanwhile, Bane and Killer Frost hunt down Catwoman.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The fifth year of Injustice has moved along in a fun way for me, more so than the fourth year overall, and this installment provides a bit of a breather after the events of the first three plus the annual that serves as a catalyst for things. The world has changed since all of this began five years ago and we see that early on here with Superman talking about how the villain percentage that aren’t killed or captured is far too high. There’s a focused aspect to him at this point that’s certainly worrying, but it’s really been there all along. It’s just that now it feels colder and more intense, not quite so passion filled as it was before. The light that was him has been snuffed out and it’s just the embers that we see from time to time.
This focus also has him becoming a lot more solitary, keeping everyone else in the regime at a distance, which is something that Diana calls him out on. And that’s on top of her distaste for their working with Bane (though hardly the first time any of them worked with a villain for any number of reasons). There’s a welcome simplicity to how Diana approaches it with him when they’re alone in the sky and it’s really just her establishing what she thinks and not really making it a conversation. Amusingly, Superman views this as an invitation to reinforce his own feelings for her, making it clear that he knows that she’s the one that’s really helped him by being there all these years, and I loved that she literally pushes him to arm’s length to make her point once again about Bane. A Superman scorned…
The villains are certainly taking up more of the page time this time around as we see Catwoman doing her best to bring Penguin over to Batman’s side to build up a Gotham Resistance. Networking is key and old school villains with a code of honor are needed, and Penguin does still fall into that. I liked her pitch overall, but I had to laugh at how bad it all goes down when Bane shows up and really starts tossing her around. A little Killer Frost time doesn’t hurt here either as she teams up with Bane for this mission while they end up working towards a bigger catch. Bane’s desire for order in the world is what’s driving him overall, but the grudge with Batman looms large over that as well and seeing him working it constantly and methodically in his own manner continues to be fun to watch.
In Summary:
While there are no truly big moments here, Injustice does some stage setting and adds a little more to the growing schism within the regime. Superman’s methods obviously do not go over well with some as he’s in an ends justify the means phase in a big way here. Which isn’t a surprise after battling gods and Darkseid in order to protect the world from what he sees as threats. Validation all around, which really makes him difficult to deal with when there’s some rejection in his life. I liked his story and I had fun with Catwoman’s, both of which Mike S. Miller once again doles out in a great way for the readers. There’s something close to a “series style” for this book across the various artists and they all work it pretty well while also adhering to the game to some degree as well.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 11th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
