Retirement does not suit him at all.
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Buccellato
Art: Mike S. Miller
Colors: J. Nanjan
Letters: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Batman and Lex Luthor recruit Deathstroke to go on a very dangerous mission. What they are after could finally end the battle against Superman and his regime.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the series nearing its end, providing it’s still working on the forty-issue run that was talked about before, Injustice has a lot to do in order to get us ready for the game world period. We’ve had some big moments recently and some very fun action across it while also reinforcing just how oppressive Superman has become with the Regime. The control he has over his side has grown, though the fracturing is there as well. The downside to this year for me has been that Batman’s resistance group is so small and somewhat minimally used for large chunks of it that it all feels very one-sided. I wanted to see more action by his side, even as I got a lot of good and interesting stuff out of the regime side.
This installment has little to do with the regime proper and that puts the focus on the resistance, though mostly through a hired hand for a job. With Lex having come up with an absurdly creative way to try and get the weapon they need to fight back against Superman that involves… things that almost practically make no sense, the one piece that they still need is a Mother Box that the regime has locked up in an armory in a very isolated location. That has Batman going to bring Deathstroke out of retirement to get it as he’s someone that they absolutely won’t expect. I’ve long been a fan of this character going back to his time in the 80’s Titans books so seeing him here going all in on this is fantastic because, as he says, retirement does not suit him.
This gives us largely an infiltration story where Mike S. Miller gets to deliver on some fantastic artwork. Deathstroke is a character that even with the absurd orange in his costume works really well in looking powerful and dynamic, something that Miller brings to life well here. The bulk of the book is the mix of infiltration and flat out fighting against the faceless minions guarding the facility, minions whose designs really make it easy to view them as evil. Deathstroke works this like a true professional in getting what they want and there’s some great action to it, though naturally there has to be a twist at the end to make things difficult for him. But these are all things that come together in a way to make it feel like events are moving forward and the stakes are rising.
In Summary:
Injustice has a lot to do before it hits the end and bringing back Deathstroke is a great way to raise the stakes. The character largely dominates the story and through straightforward and engaging action from Miller, it works to smooth over some of the more problematic parts we get from Lex that Batman has to kind of accept. There are always outlandish things in comics and this series is certainly no exception but the concept that Lex is working with just feels super comic-booky in a way that doesn’t really grab me all that much. The bulk of the book is strong, however, and that makes for a lot of great scenes.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: August 16th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
