Is everything cyclical?
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Bruno Redondo, Juan Albarran
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Bruce Wayne is called back home when he receives a distressing message from Brother Eye. Alfred greets an unwelcome visitor.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a really strong high point recently it’s no surprise that Injustice 2 has to dial back a bit to some calmer waters for a bit. Tom Taylor delivered a solid arc with events in New Delhi with what was faced there and how Kara got involved, which brought some fun little twists to the picture. But with that done the cast has to take stock of what’s happened and actually plan a move. This issue brings back Bruno Redondo on the art duties and I once again find myself singing his praises as he absolutely delivers when it comes to the look of Batman but also what we get with our pup here. But what also got me was the quality of the layouts as needed, such as the Batcave splash page and the final page, that’s really showing a greater comfort and experimentation from him within this series.
While this isn’t a big sprawling fight book with lots of characters for this issue, I really loved what what we did get here. The initial focus is an area that we’ve seen explored in a lot of independent superhero books or alternate world stories where the heroes realize they need to step up better and focus less on villains and more on the world itself. With what the team has seen it’s little surprise that Bruce wants to work on actually improving the world, which means drastic changes that’ll further separate it from reality but would make for some interesting stories. Naturally, the team is skeptical of this as Oliver’s certainly not on board and Booster is wary as hell. Bruce’s uncertainty when it comes to Booster is fun but I like that we see Bruce talking serious projects with Natasha that would do a lot of “quiet” good while splashier projects can be dealt with as well.
Of course, we know this kind of event can’t go on long based on what happened in Wayne Manor the last time around. That’s getting noticed thanks to Brother Eye here and the uncertainty of it all (even with a cute bit of humor mixed in) has Bruce on edge that something has gone wrong with the two people he cares about more than most. Redondo does some great work in bringing him back home here to figure it out, whether it’s in the cave or down the halls where he finds the blood. But it’s the pages with Athanasia that it just clicks perfectly with layouts and how it’s broken down as she faces off against Bruce with Alfred in the room and the uncertainty of what’s going on with the missing Selina. Athanasia has a real issue to deal with here and that’s getting lost in all the posturing, but what posturing it is – particularly as we’re all really afraid that the dog is the one that’s going to get the bullet to the head.
In Summary:
Injustice 2 has another strong installment here that goes a different path from the last few issues as it’s more personal even while dealing with global issues. I like the shift in perspective that Bruce is feeling and the fact that he’s going to be somewhat solo on it for a while because others are wary of looking at what’s going on in this light, particularly as they don’t want to walk the same path as Ra’s al Ghul. I’m hoping Taylor gets time to really explore this and that we get to see some interesting projects coming out of it that Redondo and Albarran can bring to life, especially if they get to work some good creativity into it like they do here. I can’t wait for next week already.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 27th,, 2018
MSRP: $0.99
