I never would have imagined that Supergirl could take on Amazo by herself and sell it, but Tom Taylor carefully choreographs a scenario just daring enough to pull it off! And this is the great fun of this book: Injustice 2 gives us all the crazy mashups and pit fights we could hope for from a multi-character saga, but does so with a special kind of grace: stakes to drive the combat, and logic to make it all believable.
Which doesn’t mean that occasionally things feel a little convenient now and then (who is fighting who, what their powers are, etc.). But Taylor’s expert use of opportunity and circumstance continues to ground this world in more possibility without us ever worrying too much about probability.
Digital Firsts 47 & 48: “Up and Away” finally brings Kara out of hiding, with blessings from all (though I guess technically Black Adam hasn’t weighed in and he was the one holding her semi-hostage in Kahndaq. He’s in no condition at the moment to object, however, as Amazo lays waste to everything everyone throws at him. And forget the “little people” human superheroes, we’re talking big guns right down to Wonder Woman herself.
Plastic is no match for Amazo’s firepower!
This is one intense battle being fought on multiple fronts. Booster Gold is kind of wasted, unfortunately, but hopefully he’ll be back for a large piece of the action later (if you need a hit, I guess you can go read Batman no. 45) Meanwhile, while many of the various teams’ members are engaging Amazo mano-a-mano, Jason, Damian, and their own crew try to cut him off at the source: namely Dr. Ivo, who “programmed” Amazo for Ra’s al Ghul. Unfortunately, Ivo claims there’s not much he can do and he’s too terrified to try given that Ra’s has kidnapped his children and is holding them hostage. To motivate Ivo, he has even sent pieces of them as a threat.
Then Jason tells Ivo that the children are dead.
But wait.
Do we believe this? Or is he just saying what’s most expedient to get Ivo to help them shut Amazo down? We know Ra’s is pretty ruthless, but when he kidnapped our heroes’ kids, he didn’t actually harm any of them (unless you consider giving them to Harley as a nanny harm, which, okay, maybe a little trauma there). For some terrible reason I think Jason is lying. Will it have ripples of consequence? Maybe.
In the meantime, this revelation effectively tears Ivo apart. But things have meanwhile gotten complicated. Kara has managed to hijack Amazo and crash him into the moon, followed by Blue Beetle, who is still trying to earn his stripes after the last disastrous encounter at Ra’s compound. Here he’s more help than harm, which Kara desperately needs since on the moon they’re cut off from any further assistance from the Earth.
Chizzzzzz indeed!
Bruno Redondo and Juan Albarran give us some of the most brutal fighting yet on the moon’s surface, and Kara finally gets Amazo where she needs to. I won’t spoil all the details, but it’s a hard road to bring down this cybernetic dynamo, and we don’t miss an inch of it.
The transformation of Animal Man is too much of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment and the rationale of that particularly hideous creature feels a bit forced, but lots of other lovely drawing moments from Plastic Man’s insanely loopy anatomy to the Blue Beetle’s almost lovestruck-looking grin. The moment when Athanasia breaks in to screw up everything with Dr. Ivo (which she completely does), is wonderfully shocking and horrifically rendered without actually showing anything too graphic: the use of silhouette is stark and wonderful!
Recommended If…
- You’re a big fan of Supergirl and want to see her bring it!
- You need epic Plas & Son moments on your “to read” list (I seriously love these characters so much: do not kill them, Taylor. Seriously!)
- Batman doesn’t always have to get the “win” (and in fact it’s perfectly okay if he’s knocked out for the whole fight now and then!)
Overall
Injustice 2 is on a roll! The kind that knocks all the pins down and leave you gnawing your lip for more. More battles with as much bruising as these characters can take, more heartbreak that threatens to leave worse marks than the bruising, and more twists in the story to keep us guessing which blind alley might we finally meet our maker! For a book built on a premise that was 80% gimmick and 20% narrative integrity, Taylor continues to prove that good writing–really good writing–can overcome just about any shortcoming, and make any story a riveting come-again adventure that you never want to end.
SCORE: 9/10
