The fractures in the Regime begin to show more.
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Buccellato
Art: Mike S. Miller
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letters: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Batman and Nightwing’s confrontation over the fate of Victor Zsasz leads to the appearance of the JLA and a dilemma for the Dark Knight.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As Injustice moves along, it definitely feels like things are changing now that Batman is back in the mix after spending a good bit of time out of the picture this year. His being pushed into action through the death of Alfred still feels like a setup, though we don’t know if it truly is and if it is, who put the pieces into motion. As dark as Superman has become it’s hard to imagine him going this route as he really wants to deal with Batman personally at this point, which was made pretty damn clear in the fight that we had the last time around. This one carries the same art team over from that installment so there’s some solid continuity in presentation, location, and just the angles through which we get everything, making it a far more cohesive arc as it should be as Batman is close to snapping Superman’s neck.
With the focal point mostly on what Damien is like in having to deal with this, it works well. His frustration and anger over Alfred’s death, especially after just seeing him, has him thirsting for vengeance. That’s been his thing for an age so it’s reinforced well here while Bruce does what he can to try and get through to him that that’s not what they do. That’s what the Regime does and it’s wrong, hence trying to sway Damien over for dual purposes. He pushes in some good ways and you can’t be quite sure that Bruce won’t try to go through with it, since he could end everything right then and there, but in the end it’s not going to last. Especially when the big players from the Regime show up to try and use a show of force to remind Bruce that he can’t take them all down. It’s a solid encounter, one that reinforces in a way that Superman likely set all this up, and the trap has sprung as he expected. Zsasz, amusing, becomes just a prop at this point, properly kicked to the curb.
Naturally, there’s a lot of fun as we get Hal, Diana, and Barry in the mix trying to talk him down to varying degrees and then going at it as the case needs. Bruce certainly isn’t going down without a fight and with a few sharp words he’s also making some inroads with those that may not be fully on board, trying to pierce the curtain and let a little light in. Miller makes these fights engaging as we get Diana going hard on him and Hal using his ring to some effect, as well as showing some good stuff with the layouts with Barry as he intercedes. That page with the two of them separate as Bruce makes his case in brief about how they can fix all of this is both scary and compelling because it’s such an overused trick at this point that it almost takes it to comedy. But at the same time, there’s a truth to how that could potentially reset everything as it needs to be. Which leaves us wondering just how badly it’ll go if it’s attempted.
In Summary:
Injustice does the readers a solid here by bringing as many characters as we do get and working through some of the basic intensity aspects of how the working relationship is at this point. Buccellato works the Bruce/Damien dynamic well and delivers a lot of really fun action for Miller to bring to life, capitalizing on the big fight we just had between Batman and Superman. It’s a solid read that has enough dialogue to make it feel worth the experience with what it conveys while also just being a blast to go through to soak up the layouts and the smoothness of the presentation. Very good all around.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: June 14th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
