Apocalypse Now-ish indeed.
Creative Staff:
Story: Christopher Sebela
Art: Marco Santucci
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Flash defects from the Regime and takes off to find the Resistance. Harley and her gang mourn the loss of a friend.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Ground Zero has upped its game in the last couple of issues to really make it feel like we’re at ground zero for something big to happen. Granted, the big stuff we had during the Gods Among Us years was pretty damn big and that’s left a lot of this run feeling a bit muted by comparison. With things picking up it’s definitely good to see Marco Santucci back on the art duties as his dynamic action work is a big plus for this series and with this installment hitting a decent amount of that, well, it makes for a very strong looking book across the board, especially with Nanjan’s color work that is just solid across all the series that he works on. Suffice to say, this makes for an appealing looking book. As for the story?
The two tracks for the story are again pretty solid here as well. Harley’s time is one that has her trying to figure out the hard to figure out what’s next aspect to it. While her Horde is laying Gary to rest, keeping Joker tied up on the wall and finishing off the last of his gang, she’s not sure what they can do amid this war of the gods that’s essentially going on. We do get some nice respite for a few moments when Ivy shows up for some character exposition but it’s all turning toward Harley leading her group to do more of what’s right and help for some of what her role in all of this caused. I’m definitely digging her gang, though wishing that there was more than just the blue-haired woman in a group of men other than Harley, but what we get here is solid as her narrative reflects on the bigger movements being made elsewhere.
With Superman having killed Shazam the last time around it’s proven to be a breaking point for at least Barry as he’s ready to leave, though Hal does his “best” to get him to stay since he knows it’s a dark and deadly path to leave. Barry’s been the weak link in this for some time now as we saw before and he should have snapped earlier and left, but better late than never. He’s intent on connecting up with the resistance to try and help and make them aware of what’s coming and I do like that things are dealt with relatively quickly there as they both need each other. It’s amusing to see the reactions upon wanting to bring Pancake Superman here as they need him but it’s not something that gets to be dealt with since Barry’s crisscross around the world was tracked and lead the Regime right to them. It’s a great series of small action moments that Santucci gets to have a lot of fun with since it’s an amusing pairing of characters and variations, but there’s also hints of the bigger plan in the mix that we see when Ares whisks away Diana for a chat. Setting up more of what’s to come as we hit the end round.
In Summary:
The buildup continues with Injustice: Ground Zero as everything is coming together at a faster pace – and that’s not including what the Flash is up to. While Superman is nowhere to be seen this time around the after effects of his actions with Shazam shifts the narrative in a big way with how Barry reacts and what it ends up leading the Regime to. There’s a lot to like with that track of the story, particularly with Santucci’s artwork, but I found myself for the first time in a while more engaged with Harley’s story as she’s now taking active control of what to do next with her life and her gang. And planning a long and well-deserved vacation with Ivy when all is said and done. A solid issue all around that really does feel like things are coming together quickly.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: February 21st, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
