Pushed beyond the limits!
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Buccellato
Art: Bruno Redondo & Juan Albarran
Colors: Rex Lokus
What They Say:
Batwoman and Harley’s warning to the Joker-worshipping rebels to lay low may not be in time to stop the group from facing tragedy.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The shift in story the last time around to introduce the Joker Underground was something that worked for me on a few levels. Just getting away from Damian was a plus but I really liked the idea of digging into, at least a little, what the average citizen must think. Opinions are surely all over the map but what would some of the more activist elements of the population do, particularly in the US where the Regime is more focused at the moment. Bringing this group in helps to showcase part of it and while it doesn’t go over well with our resistance folks here, I could actually appreciate the repurposing of the logo and name of the Joker to achieve certain ends. Symbols take on new meanings all the time, but some older meanings are very, very hard to shake.
This installment gives us a little separate backstory first as we see the sort of falling out that’s happened wit Selina after Batwoman confronts her about her returning to her cat burglar ways. It’s a good reinforcement of the problems Selina has with what Bruce is doing because while Kate is right in that Bruce will work tirelessly for as long as it takes to find a way to defeat Superman, Selina believes firmly that it can’t be done. And having given over five years of her life to this mission already and all that they’ve done she’s reached her breaking point. There’s a lot to like in this dynamic, and the nods to Harley as well, because it shows that there are those that cannot handle it for the long term – and Selina has never been a hero in the classic sense that Bruce and Kate are when you get down to it. So while it’s just a few really well illustrated pages with some great set design, it captures a lot of material in a good way.
The bulk of the issues is given over to Harley and Batwoman doing their best to convince the leader of Joker Underground that they’re on the wrong path. It’s a simple approach and one that has its merits, but I can also see how the need of people to rise up without fear against the Regime is important. Kate’s insistence of doing it peacefully is a smart one overall as guns against superheroes isn’t smart and using the Joker is dangerous considering what he’s responsible for, but there’s merit in using it as well. But as we see here, Superman has gone completely off the rails at long last. We’ve seen him falling down this path more and more lately, but his actions in the final pages here really drives it home. Yes, you can understand part of it in what the Joker now represents to him as it pushed him into this schism, but at the same time it’s a complete and utter loss of all that he stood for. It’s a powerful sequence that works very well with what it shows and what it doesn’t show.
In Summary:
Injustice does a lot of good stuff here with its characters that it focuses on with the situations that are in place. Redondo and Albarran handle it as best as they can since it’s exposition heavy but they show it can be done well with the setting from the prologue piece with Kate and Selina. The rest is somewhat bland unfortunately since there’s only so much you can do with warehouse material and that limits them from really hitting something good. The story is definitely looking to strike a strong point here and there’s a whole lot I like about it as it again takes chances and pushes us toward where it must all go in the end. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what the fallout from all of this will be…
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: April 5th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
