Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Blue Beetle keeps a secret from Batman, Athanasia is rejected by her father, and Wayne Manor gets an unwanted visitor.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I would have been fine with the Amazo fight going on longer, especially if it had dug into more of the events in Delhi before moving onto the lunar adventure, wrapping it up as it was done isn’t a bad thing. Tom Taylor knows that things move fast in this series and that it doesn’t overly linger while still hitting strong emotional beats since we know these characters and it doesn’t have to belabor the point. It also doesn’t hurt that even in a book that’s largely dealing with the place setting and movement of the cast that we get some gorgeous scenes. As I’ve said recently, I’ve really enjoyed watching how Daniel Sampere has grown over the last couple of years and just the quality of this book in general where it’s been able to invest more time into the look of it. Sampere’s been one of the best examples of this growth and this issue with some great backgrounds and strong framing, particularly all the Bruce and Diana material, is spot on.
This issue works a few different things instead of the usual two-track approach and that’s definitely welcome. The focus on events in Delhi while preparing for Amazo to come back, having not heard what happened, makes a lot of sense as Batman tries to set a perimeter to evacuate people. Suffice to say, he’s not pleased to learn that Barry was involved but that will get him only so far with others. When Beetle does show and fills them in it’s amusing as he plays a bit loose with the facts, avoiding details in order to protect Kara as asked. He’s certainly no fan of Batman after recent events and has a healthy fear of him as well, but he’s got the right idea in protecting Kara because it was something she asked. I was just more amused in watching how everyone tiptoes around him at this point.
Well, except for Diana as she and Black Adam get ready to leave and he wants to talk to her about things. That has her on the defense, justifiably so with how Batman presents himself, but it’s Connor that works to defuse things because they have a lot of work to do there to help people in need instead of starting up another fight. With characters like him out of the loop for a while they have a chance to knock some sense into the long time players. The book also gives us some time back at Wayne Manor where we see how Selina and Alfred is doing and I already want a slice of life book with them in this situation expanded upon. Naturally, it has to take a darker turn because of what went down in Gorilla City and people out for revenge now, but it’s an interesting turn of events that certainly runs in contrast to how the mainline books are dealing with Bruce and Selina these days.
In Summary:
While I had expected the Injustice 2 series to end quite a bit before this, simply by looking at how long some of the other books in this property ran, it’s definitely firing on all cylinders and I can see why they won’t want to stop. Taylor’s keeping things humming along and weaving several plot points that do get wrapped up and blended into other events. The art teams continue to work very well and this issue continues to show what an asset Daniel Sampere is and just how smooth Juan Albarran is in bringing together different artists under his inks to give it a sense of continuity between creatives. Definitely a fun issue in terms of story, a very engaging book in terms of visuals, and a weekly treat that I continue to delight in.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 20th,, 2018
MSRP: $0.99
