Nobody invites Bruce to play cards.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Bruno Redondo, Juan Albarran
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Ra’s al Ghul has kidnapped those who Batman, Green Arrow and Black Lightning hold most dear. In order to rescue them, Batman sets off to recruit perhaps the most powerful man on the planet who isn’t Superman.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve been digging this Injustice series from not long after the start, mostly just being a bit tired of the Harley material after a series that was heavily focused on her, but once it got its groove it’s been doing really fun things since. Tom Taylor’s nailed the voices for the characters at hand, given us a good larger mission and threat to focus on, and provided with a lot of fun twists and turns along the way. What’s made it even stronger is the consistent artwork from Redondo and Albarran as there’s been very few breaks here overall compared to what we’ve had in past incarnations and they’re turning in some of the strongest looking artwork on this series so far.
With an uneasy alliance now at hand after what Bruce has done in tracking the kids and pushing for a careful approach to getting them back, which certainly doesn’t sit well with Ollie, the focus is on getting what’s needed to deal with Ra’s and free the kids. While we get the world’s greatest detective tossed around as well as nods towards his scientific ability these days, he’s also the world’s greatest strategist. We’ve had that in effect for a long time with the way he looks at taking down the Justice League in case any of them went rogue and that makes him ideal for trying to figure out how Ra’s is going to cleanse the world of people, working the problem backward in both an analytical way as well as in putting himself into how Ra’s would think and operate.
So while that’s a piece of things the main focus is getting the stealth component he needs to get into Ra’s base. This means getting Plastic Man and that requires going through his son Luke in order to put the right kind of pressure on him. It’s a whole lot of fun seeing Luke panic and try to get away with Batman calling out every item he becomes but it also plays well in the way that Luke steps up to what’s needed and that gets Plas being all properly parental. It’s a very fun issue that lets us see Plas and Luke in a good way and has Redondo and Albarran having a whole lot of fun with the set design and how Luke becomes a part of it. Wrapping it all up with Blue Beetle isn’t bad, nor a surprise, but it feels like it’s just the opening salvo in some larger words that he and Batman are going to have at some point. Frankly, I just wanted more Plas and Luke.
In Summary:
With a smaller focus here but an important one, Injustice 2 gets more of the crew together that Batman needs to deal with this new threat. We’ve see Ra’s put together his team early on and how effective they are and that’s no surprise considering how generally competent the character is presented as an adversary for Batman. I really loved what we got with Plas and Luke here and a lot of the appeal is through how Redondo and Albarran brought it to life. The pacing is great, the humor works well, and the visuals are just spot on – especially with the facial expressions we get for Luke in the first half. Very good stuff.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: July 25th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
