The digital first series is back this week with its 19th issue. If you crack this open you’ll swear you must have missed something, but fear not, something is amiss! Question is, is it good?
Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Five #19 (DC Comics)
So what’s it about? The DC summary reads:
Imagine a world where Superman never turned evil. Imagine a reality where Superman and Batman are still allies in a never-ending battle against crime and cosmic-level threats against Earth. As the series approaches its conclusion, a better world is revealed, and a glimmer of hope is given to another reality still held in the grip of Superman’s Regime.
Why does this book matter?
Writer Brian Buccellato has delivered quite a good fight book with this series. If you like your heroes punching each other – which really is what this series is about – you’ve come to the right place.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
Wait, what?!
If you’re familiar with the first Injustice game you probably should read this issue. It appears to be playing with the events that eventually lead to Lois Lane dying — which of course incited Superman’s rage and eventual takeover. I won’t say more to not spoil it, but Buccellato certainly kicks this issue off in a way that will surprise readers. It all leads to the cliffhanger which seems to suggest something very dastardly is in the works (and since we know Batman and Lex are behind something that’s intriguing).
I have to give credit to the art team who split their efforts on the book (Marco Santucci pencils the second half and Xermanico pencils the first half); they draw some great panels featuring multitudes of heroes. The book actually opens with very little action, back when the heroes are friends, and it’s nice to see Xermanico make dialogue heavy, street clothed heroes interesting. They manage to stick a Batman fight sequence in, but the best scenes involve Joker. He’s a character we haven’t seen in ages so it’s quite nice to see him (with a classic TV look in some respect too).
It can’t be perfect can it?
There are no details or real explanations as to what we’re seeing though one could guess based on the last page. That said, it does leave the reader questioning what they’re reading or why they should care at times. It’s all good fun, and it’s neat to see actions that happened that lead to the first game, but it reads like extended filler considering we probably only needed the last page to understand the hook.
Soon you will be killing each other.
Is It Good?
All Injustice fans can enjoy this because the events are displaced from time and place. It hearkens back to a better time for our heroes and it’s going to shock you with fantastic Joker scenes.
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