A solid ending before the new series kicks off.
Creative Staff:
Story: Christopher Sebela
Art: Tom Derenick Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
This adaptation of the original Injustice video game story comes to its dramatic conclusion with a showdown between Supermen and the reveal of Harley Quinn’s final fate.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The end of Injustice: Ground Zero works out about as I expected it would, though that means some of my frustrations with the run as a whole are still here. Sebela’s work on it handled things as well as it could considering we were going over far too familiar territory when it came to Harley and her redemption arc with Joker and this installment gives us the double dose with artwork from Derenick for the first half and Sampere working with Albarran for the back half. The result is a solid looking book that gives us some very fun action material, though it could have spent almost the whole book dealing with the Superman v Superman material and I would have been happy.
Harley’s track is one that works decent enough as she narrates what happens in that fight while heading back to prove to herself that the Joker has no hold on her anymore, essentially beating the snot out of him until he’s ready for anything else to happen, be it jail or being killed. Suffice to say, Harley knows how to hold her own. Turning the Joker over to Pancake Batman to take him back to their world makes the most sense, but it’s the nod to Harley heading over there as well and talking with Pancake Harley to help her get on the right track is a nice nod. Making it a double date with Ivy from both sides? Now there’s a one-off special of fun that needs to be made. The Harley material in this series just frustrated me overall, even if it does have a point in the end and one that’s well served, because it’s just so repetitive in the larger scheme of things. But it is worth remembering that this book is aimed at the less well read comics fans where it may be new to them.
The fight with Superman v Superman is one that works well, kicking off with some dialogue that has this version making it clear that he’s a ruler over beings that need to be fearful, and it ties well to Pancake Superman just clocking him, giving him a challenge he’s not had in quite some time. Bringing that in alongside Harley’s talking about how sometimes you have to hit a fascist may be far too on the nose and obvious, but the simple truth is there. The fight itself is solid overall, short as it is, and it works to wrap up most things quickly with how the rest of the regime falls and an interim government takes over. I really like full on epilogue issues to set things into place but we don’t get that here, instead keeping it quick and simple and a bit superficial. But the moments with Pancake Superman and Batman in talking about what needs to be done and having each others backs was welcome.
In Summary:
The end of Injustice: Ground Zero has some very good moments about it but lacks the full weight and thrust that it needs because so much of it was spent on Harley over the course of the series run. I’m beating a dead horse with that but it’s what’s held this run back for me with what it did as it felt like the events of the fight as everything got more difficult was overshadowed by it. I wanted more of the resistance going up against the regime, similar to what the Gods Among Us series got, but instead spent more time seeing Harley trying to break free of Jokers grasp. I get it and the reasons why but it just didn’t click in that regard, even when well done. There’s a lot to enjoy in the series overall and I did enjoy it as the team did a great job of putting it together but it has its weaknesses as well.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 14th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
