Now that’s a breakout!
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Xermanico
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Although the Justice League wants nothing to do with Batman, he informs them about Amazo’s terrible attack on a civilian population–and tells them where they can find new allies.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Injustice 2 series has a lot going on but Tom Taylor continues to juggle the pieces well even if we don’t get to check in with all of the subplots or characters as regularly as I’d like. This issue has the next phase of things moving forward a bit more and much to our enjoyment Xermanico has returned for the art duties. I really dug his stuff before and it seems like his game is upped even more here, though we do continue to work with simpler backgrounds to allow for better character flow and panel layout. It also doesn’t hurt that J. Nanjan is firing on all cylinders to give it a very slick look here that feels dynamic and vibrant.
After seeing what some of Ra’s new plan will involve, Batman and Catwoman have arrived at the Quiver to get involved in handling it with the rest. It is amusing to see Bruce trying to make some amends, such as offering Harley a puppy, but the way everyone rejects it just makes me grin as each has very valid reasons. While the pup, Ace (of course), ends up with Alfred for the duration, Bruce has to take a lot of slings his way over what he did with Connor and in general when it came to what happened with the wedding and the attack on Ra’s outpost. Oliver isn’t exactly coming across as willing to deal with Batman, and this is kind of glossed over in how it moves forward, but the scale of threat they’re facing again forces them to work together.
The problem is that Ra’s side is getting a bit more powerful with who they’re fielding these days and you can’t just pop superpowered people out of thin air. Which Bruce, of course, reveals that you can as he learned through Selina that Superman put the Titans in the Phantom Zone before to deal with them. That means this group is heading to the Fortress of Solitude to get what they need. It’s a fun breaking-in kind of caper that gets underway, complete with white Bat-suits, that has to deal with the beefed up defenses that puts Plastic Man and his son through their paces. The cover gives away what they’re going to face in the Eradicators but it sets up things well enough and I just love the visual of it all as they burst forward.
In Summary:
The story arc here is pretty solid and fun, though it feels a little weird with what Bruce is doing with the dog as it almost feels out of character, but it works well enough. I like the overall setup and where it’s going to go but mostly I just loved Xermanico’s artwork. The character designs look fantastic and the color work with it is just beautifully here digitally. It has such pop with such great designs that it made me grin from page to page to see who all was going to be there and what kind of expressions they had, and that’s before getting to the action or the enjoyment of seeing what Plas and son get up to with the break-in phase. Good stuff all around.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: December 5th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
