Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Daniel Sampere
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Not even the combined power of the Justice League Task Force and the Titans seems to enough to take down Zod. But a vengeful Batman has a secret weapon.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The good and the bad of a series like Injustice is that it does clear the board of characters from time to time. The sudden death of the just returned Tim Drake was definitely one of those bad moments because I wanted to see how he’d figure into events going forward, particularly in drawing Batman back from the brink a bit. Taylor definitely continues to have a good handle on these characters and the way they ricochet off each other as new events unfold or past events factor in. Daniel Sampere is on for this installment as well and that’s a welcome thing as he gets to work a fun action sequence over the majority of the book and one of the best ending pages of this series since the start in my mind.
The arrival of Zod has thrown everything into a mess and the Fortress is all about chaos at this point. While Batman cradles Tim in his arms, another life lost to him, everyone else goes up against Zod. It’s not an easy thing overall considering his mindset and abilities combined with being locked away in the Phantom Zone for some time but we see how well they handle it. Plas and Luke engage with it well, something that they’ve been good with in this particular run for a while now, and the back and forth has a certain sweet spot with Steel getting involved and Harley’s returning to the scene after being previously escorted out. The best is getting to watch Ollie face off against him and provide the right kind of surprise that alters the game to some degree.
The big material for me is the fallout from Tim’s being killed as Batman begins to process it. We’ve seen him go up against Kryptonians before so he knows what to expect even as his anger starts to take hold more and that definitely makes it interesting in this particular world. There are things he wouldn’t do because Clark is Clark and they have a history. But Zod? The best are off with Zod. And seeing how he’s combined Kryptonian tech, his ingenuity, and some of Scarecrow’s toxins together to create something that can truly terrify someone like Zod is just fantastic. The initial part of this is a little wonky in how we get from Part A to Part B but once it hits the battle phase it’s spot on as Bruce goes full parental vengeance mode here and Zod really understands what he’s unleashed.
In Summary:
Injustice 2 has a strong issue here just for the action alone as Sampere moves this crowd in dealing with Zod and the fallout from it, with Tim being a key point but also seeing how the Kents react, Superman’s mechanical security, and the fun of Ollie along with Steel and the rest. It’s a good bit of tightly controlled chaos that unfurls here to make for a good time. But it’s the final pages that ramp things up into the emotional side with Bruce looking to cut loose with one of the few times he can really do so without too much in the way of repercussions, which has me curious to see how far Taylor will take it in the next installment.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: December 26th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
