4 out of 5

I absolutely have to hand it to writer Tom Taylor: he takes a pretty generic Elseworlds concept, super inconsistent art, and a potentially challenging publishing format (digital shorts) and turns it into a surprisingly well thought-out exploration on Superhero grief, with page-turning dramatics.

Injustice: The Video Game = Superman has turned into a despot after Joker kills off Lois, spurring heroes to take sides for or against the new world order.  The hero-gone-crazy is by no means new, but the game’s in-story was praised for its depth.  Still, comics based on media – despite companies like Boom and Dynamite dedicated plenty of pages to it – are rarely all that rewarding in my book, so when Tom Taylor picked up the torch to “expand” on Injustice by telling a prequel tale, I admittedly didn’t take notice.  Besides, it appeared online initially, and that ain’t really my preferred method of comic consumption.  Later, DC would gather the shorter online issues into print issues, but still, despite similar praises to the game’s story, I skipped it.  Fate, via Wolverine, would later have Tom Taylor catch my eye, and with a sigh I reached for the Injustice trade, collecting “year one” of the series (13 print issues, 18 digital ones), and prepared to settle in for obnoxious operatics.

There were, absolutely, operatics.  But, despite my best attempts to, I couldn’t hate on them.  In fact, I found myself scrabbling through the trade pretty quickly, gripped by Taylor’s (and a slew of artists) depiction of Supes slide into madness.  Which is the key: a lot of books of this variety choose a turning point and then just flip the switch; boom, I’m a madman now.  And I have to wonder, had this started in print, if Taylor would’ve been hemmed in more on a schedule or editing that would’ve pushed things in this direction.  While the switching of artists and focus every few pages (because, again, this initially appeared in smaller installments) is distracting, the pacing is much more film-like than most comics manage, drawing out the tale to make Superman’s turn, within context, believable.  Similarly, we’re all used to Batman being the staunch law-abider, and he does stand against Superman’s growing controlling nature, but Taylor doesn’t play everything cleanly black and white, nor does he take the easy comic route of pulling last minute “I was secretly on the other side!” reveals.  People generally stick to Supes’ or Bats’ point of view, but there’s also plenty of times those same people voice questions as to their side’s motives.  It’s a discussion.  We see the doubt.  They plow forward, because overall they believe in what they’re doing – either the people must be protected at all costs, or people have a right to make mistakes – but the characters’ thoughts and actions are wrung for appreciated nuance that’s pretty much missing in 99% of Big Two stuff.

Taylor also finds natural ways to insert humor and big-punchin’ action without it seeming off tone or topic.  I pleasingly realized that Tom was setting up all the Vs. possibilities in the game (as it’s a fighting game…), while also stepping outside of things to comment on how the good guys and bad guys always resort to hitting each other.  But perhaps more importantly, and this is true for Tom’s writing in Wolvie also, he embraces his medium: Injustice isn’t trying to make any grand statements, it’s just trying to be a good story for what it is.  By keeping that focus, we’re not pulled out of things by false promises of life-changing revelations or over-stated politics.  It’s immersive.  It’s good comics.

The art is a big miss in several places, though (which is an indirect compliment to Taylor for still keeping things entertaining).  Jheremy Raapack’s work is frankly flat and almost amateur looking at points, and it takes the other main artist, Mike S. Miller, about halfway through to get his bearings and deliver consistency.  After which, though, his art is pretty fantastic.  The rest of the contributors (there are many) vary in quality, it’s just the irregularity of the look that makes things difficult, and the unfortunately silly requirement of having to use the video game costume designs, which are sort of Zack Snyder-stupid over-equipped.  And way booby for the ladies.

I’ve liked different hero books along the way, but they don’t generally hold up after a few reads.  Injustice, setting its sights on serving its source material and being entertaining, nails the right tone between thrilling punchy stuff and thoughtful characterization / plotting.  I would re-read Injustice.  ‘Tis a rare honor.