Please say the magic word!
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Buccellato, Christopher Sebela
Art: Derlis Santacruz, Andy Owens
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
The raid on Stryker’s continues, while Harley figures out what to do with the Joker.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
My frustration with the Injustice: Ground Zero series has been fairly consistent in that when it deals with the Harley and Joker material it’s just such a retread of very familiar material. Which, of course, is part of what most superhero comics are so it can say only so much. Buccellato and Sebela have been tackling the dynamic between these two since nearly the start and it’s admittedly no surprise since the powers that be wanted more Harley on the shelves and bringing a Joker back into the story complicates things. But these threads of the story continue to fall flat simply because we have seen it often enough, and recent enough, that it doesn’t quite do anything for me as a reader. That said, this issue at least tries to move things forward some in a creative way.
The Stryker’s Island attack is relegated to the secondary position once again for this issue and that’s unfortunate because I’d like to see more of superheroes beating the snot out of each other, which is what I thought an Injustice series was going to be like. We get some setup for it and plenty of threats as Aquaman works to use the creatures of the sea of this dimension to make a go at it while Superman is ready to push back hard. Balancing that with what’s going on inside as Batman is trying to rescue Batman with the help of Green Arrow, all while having to deal with Catwoman and Damien is fun. Especially since Green Arrow isn’t quite up to speed on some of the differences of this dimension. It goes only so far as there has to be a twist in it at the end but I will say that I’m enjoying the action component of this story.
With Harley… oh, Harley. She knows what she needs to do and she is being protective of what’s hers as she discovers that the Joker wants to gain access to an army and cause a whole lot of chaos on a grand scale. He gets the potential of even more when she takes him into the Tower of Fate as he thinks of reviving his other self from the dead and really going to town. Has that story been done before in recent memory? Anyway, Harley’s plan is one that has a decent idea to it in that she wants the help of Fate and Zatanna to take out the Joker but neither will sully the place with those methods. What we get is Harley being schooled on how bonded together she is with the Joker while also making clear what the ever so obvious and done elsewhere answer is. Can she actually do it? The sooner the better to get this series back on track, please.
In Summary:
Once again, Injustice: Ground Zero isn’t bad but it’s also beating something of a dead horse. I know why they did it this way but I just don’t think they really needed to do it and I don’t think it’s adding anything to the tone or story. This issue has some fun action setup pieces on Stryker’s Island and I love the callbacks to the fourth year with the magical elements and the Tower of Fate as there’s so much that can be used there still. But I’m just so done with Joker stories at this point and even more so with the Harley/Joker dynamic that it’s just a drag on a series that has had some really fun installments so far.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 10th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
