A fight to the death has some meaning in this series.
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Buccellato
Art: Mike S. Miller
What They Say:
Broken and beaten after his brush with death, Batman finds an unlikely friend-a down-on-his-luck Gothamite, who, like Batman, longs for the brighter days of Gotham’s past.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With some decent streamlined exploration of how events are coming together for this year in the previous installment, the book is having all sorts of fun with its characters and putting them in difficult situations. While the back and forth is frustrating – and we get more of it in this issue, the story components are working for me as it brings together an element that tends to not play well within the mainstream DC Universe. As much of a fan as I am, and was as a kid, of this kind of mythology and gods, it’s something that just doesn’t blend well overall in most writers hands. Buccellato handles it well here, mostly because we get some decent toying by the gods as they fall to what Ares is playing at in order to further cement his power.
This one opens up with a little bit of time that feels fairly recent, as we see Superman visiting Lex Luthor in his tower. The two men certainly have end up in different places over the course of their lives, and the cementing of it in this series is definitely different overall as there’s a kind of respect of equals here that allows them to talk mostly freely with some trust. Superman’s uncertainty about some of what’s going on is interesting, though his certainty in regards to the end goal is absolute. But what he’s finding is that there are few that he can truly trust, because his support system that kept him grounded and human has left him. With Lois gone, Bruce on the opposite side and even his parents ambivalent at best about him, there’s nowhere for him to turn. Particularly as he starts talking about the limits people have, something he doesn’t believe he has. And considering what he does in general in his life, that’s understandable.
The present day side of things is a lot of fun tension as Diana is freaking out over Bruce choosing her as the champion to fight for the gods against Superman, since that’s just wrong in all sorts of ways. But it’s the classic kind of mythological story point that works so well, particularly as Diana learns of the other element that hangs in the balance with her mother and the deal that was struck there. A lot of this goes back to some of the machinations Bruce had going on in putting Diana to sleep awhile ago, but it’s been expanded on in some fun ways to really make for a difficult moment here. While the fight doesn’t get far, it at least starts, and with it set to the death, there’s some brutal moments from the get go since both Diana and Superman know what’s at stake.
In Summary:
Injustice continues to be a very fun guilty pleasure that I won’t call trashy, but it plays to those elements in a way. There’s a freedom that comes from not being connected to other things, to being part of a more violent side where there are repercussions, that the sense of abandonment of some of the principles works best here. While we get those that believe they are doing right, they go so far in the wrong direction to do it, that you can understand how the other side fights back with just as much intensity, and are willing to lose their own humanity to do it. This installment really sets up what should be a strong fight in the series, since there’s a couple of layers to it between Superman and Wonder Woman, and seeing the way it kicks off definitely has me feeling some high hopes to see just how far it’ll all go, and if the series will live up to its reputation.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: June 23rd, 2015
MSRP: $0.99
