Creative Staff:
Story: Tom Taylor
Art: Brundo Redondo, Juan Albarran
Colors: Rex Lokus
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
It’s the wedding of Killer Croc and Ra’s al Ghul has a surprise present for the bride and groom.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While the Injustice 2 series has largely run on a two-track approach for most of its issues there are the rare ones where it’s more focused. That’s what we get here from Tom Taylor with just the primary story, though it does cross over a bit with another one. Bruno Redondo returns on the art duties here with Juan Albarran inking and it’s a great issues to have him on with because he delivers a truly frightening Killer Croc but also some great moments of humanity for him and Orca that hits a sweet spot. The combination of talents here gives us a wedding issue that delivers the goods even if it falls short of a death or two that I would have liked to have seen.
The wedding itself goes off without a hitch, which is actually nice to see considering a different famous wedding that didn’t happen as it should have recently. There’s some fun dialogue with those helping Orca to get ready that will make folks grin but it shifts to the ceremony quickly and just enjoys itself. That’s a big thing that works well for me because it lets a little joy into the storyline to provide something of a balance and gets you invested in characters that you might not invest in this much. We even get Deadshot making sure that they don’t thank him too much for it and we see the bonds of the Squad in all the right ways. It’s all positive stuff here that makes you grin as it’s the kind of important subplots that help to keep a book engaging and fun in a way that a lot of creatives have forgotten.
The problem comes when they’re outside and wanting to leave and end up having to deal with Ra’s. Ra’s actually is fairly decent here in that he’s deactivating their bombs because it would be hypocritical to end their lives when they’re bringing something new into the world between them. Of course, he doesn’t take into account that they’d have residual issues with being enslaved as they were and that turns to some really great tension and tearing of limbs to make a few points. But it’s also when Grodd appears and we see Croc and Orca trying to change course in order to ensure the rest of the Squad stays alive, even if used by Grodd. I’m curious if Croc and Orca’s story will resurface later but if this is all we get then it’s definitely a great closing moment for them.
In Summary:
I have a special fondness for wedding issues going back decades with comics and this one doesn’t disappoint. While it’s kept small and simple we get some good fun with it, enjoyable reactions, and a good twist along the way when it comes to Ra’s and what he’s attempting to do. There’s a lot to empathize with when it comes to how they all react to the varying situations and there’s some bad stuff coming but I love what Taylor does with Orca and Croc here. Redondo and Albarran bring it all together beautifully and Rex Lokus continues to work some great magic with the color design of this series. Really fun stuff.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: July 31st, 2018
MSRP: $0.99
