INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US - YEAR ONE - A Comic Review

Today, we're looking at what has been, simply put, one of the best and most consistent superhero comics of the last several years.

SPOILER WARNING - I've only written a couple comic books reviews before, and I avoided spoilers somewhat, but I don't want to worry about that here. So just be advised, there's gonna be some spoilery talk here, but that shouldn't ruin your enjoyment of this freakishly good book. 

I think it was early 2013, or maybe even late 2012 when I heard about a DC heroes fighting game, from the makers of Mortal Kombat. I didn't really pay much attention to it, until several months later when the guy who owns my local comic shop turned me on to the tie-in comic book series. Originally published digitally, "Injustice: Gods Among Us" did not include the phrase "year one". In fact, I had no idea how insanely popular this series had become until I voraciously plowed through the first seven issues and then waited each week for a new digital chapter.

So it wasn't until I got to the final chapter that I saw the words in the bottom corner of the page "End of Year One" that I had even considered this would be an ongoing series for more than a year. But it made a lot more sense once I played the video game.

'Injustice' the video game is a MK styled fighting game, where the heroes and villains of DC Comics battle it out. But the draw for me wasn't in fighting the fights, it was in playing through the story mode. No fighting game I've ever played has had a story as rich and compelling as this. Because the comic is tied to the video game, I'm gonna talk about that story for a bit.

The Game starts, and right from the jump off, we're told we're dealing an alternate universe. And in this universe, Metropolis has just been destroyed, Lois Lane, pregnant with Superman's baby, is dead, and the Joker is to blame. Under arrest, he cackles in an interrogation room until the wall explodes and Superman promptly puts his fist through the Joker's chest. This is the world we're dealing with here. People die, they stay dead, and heroes fall. The video game goes on to show a second alternate universe, where disaster was averted, and the Justice League works together to thwart threat after threat, until they are mysteriously pulled into the first, darker, alternate world. This is the world that the comic book series will explore. And it is fucking frightening.

The Comic begins with a quiet night. Batman keeps watch from above the cityscape, as formations of soldiers patrol the streets. Crime in this world is non-existent, thanks to Superman. But Batman insists this is a nightmare - a perversion of peace and quiet. It has been five years since the destruction of Metropolis, since the death of Clark Kent's family. Five years since Superman made the promise that it would never happen again, that he would never let it happen again.

"Injustice: Gods Among Us", as written by Tom Taylor, is about those five years. What happened when Metropolis was wiped off the map, when Superman lost control and began to kill, began to murder; what happened that led to Batman seeking help from outside his own universe.

Right from issue one, Taylor shows a ruthless hand in dealing with his characters. Action and plot are his talent, but even in just advancing his story, Taylor is willing to dish out emotional blows. In the first chapter, Jimmy Olson is executed; shot in the face by the Joker. The Clown Prince follows this up by gassing Superman, which causes him to hallucinate and violently lash out. Lois is killed by Superman himself. Oh, yes, people die. But this is Taylor establishing the stakes he's playing with. "Injustice" is set in a different corner of the multiverse, so Taylor is essentially playing with house money. Nothing and no one is off limits. This comic was never meant to be taken as canon, so no character is forced to behave in any way we've seen in the past. Aside from the shocking body count, this book isn't about to shy away from what happens when an nearly all-powerful superhero decides he knows what's best. It's about one man deciding everyone must march to his tune. And what happens when friends both agree with his choices and violently disagree. Mostly, though, "Injustice" is about the just pure fucking sadness of a fallen hero, and Taylor is using the most popular superhero of all-time to illustrate that tragedy.

Instead of slowing down after such an explosive first issue, Taylor continues the breakneck pace as he explores Superman's fall from grace. After all, his goal is to take the reader on Superman's journey from happy and peaceful husband and protector, to an emotionally devastated killer seeking vengeance, to, five years down the road, an iron-fisted dictator determined to keep every single human on the planet in check by any means necessary. But amazing as that tale would be, Taylor isn't working with Superman alone. He's got every major player in the DC Universe at his disposal.

In keeping with the long tradition of Batman standing apart from the rest of the league, Taylor showcases a Dark Knight who fights his best friends because he knows they are in the wrong. Throughout the twelve issues of Year One, Bruce suffers heavy losses, but never gives up the fight, and never gives up his principle. Even when Superman calls him out for all the people Batman's indirectly doomed by never killing the Joker, Batman refuses to back down from his fight. By the end of the story arc, he's the lone Justice League member standing against Superman's regime.

Taylor may have painted Superman and Batman into black and white corners, but many of his other characters are occupying the gray area. Even those on the side of Superman don't always blindly follow him, with the best example of this being the Flash. In two amazing sequences, Barry Allen engages in a super-speed-debate with Superman to discuss the right and wrong of killing during times of war, or invasion, or any other great danger. They play dozens of games of chess in a few minutes and each one is punctuated with strong reasons for and against Superman's police actions. And even though they debate it extensively, in the end, Flash still goes along with Clark's plan. But that doesn't mean it doesn't weigh on him.

It doesn't, however, weigh on Wonder Woman. In perhaps one of her more hawkish incarnations, Taylor's version of Diana is more than ready for Superman to step up and take his "rightful place" as the leader of humanity. And after the death of Lois, her almost immediate closeness with Superman is so clearly inappropriate that it soon becomes obvious...the amazon has a crush on the man of steel. But instead of urging him to be a hero, she indulges his rage and spurs him on to become the dictator he evolves into over the course of Year One. Wonder Woman becomes Superman's right hand, but you can't really call her a hero after her hands get bloody.

In addition to the heroes acting against type, not to mention the numerous shocking deaths, Taylor subverts expectation with one of the greatest villains in comic history. Lex Luthor is NOT a villain in this world. In fact, he's a hero, scientist, philanthropist, and best friend to Superman. The depth of his role becomes much clearer in the subsequent years, but in the beginning, Lex is interested in helping Superman. Lex wants him be viewed as a benevolent leader. He coaches Clark to become more accessible to everyone on earth, so they don't feel like he's just another despot. It's clear Lex's choices come from a place of good intentions, but nevertheless, his success means Superman's success, and Batman's failure.

But of course, it doesn't work out perfectly all the time for Supes. Aside from butting heads with Batman, losing debates with the Flash, Superman's plan doesn't sit well with Shazam. Because his host is a teenage boy, Shazam has a sort of naive approach to world politics, but he is smart enough to recognize that people are starting to fear Superman more than used to. His innocence gives him enough perspective to see the disparity between Clark's intentions and his actions.

And when Clark demands the subjugation of Aquaman and Atlantis, his actions don't particularly sit well with anyone (except Diana, because she's batshit). The squabble with Atlantis feeds into the plot of the video game, but the seeds are sewn here.* Once he feels threatened by Arthur, Clark, Diana and Hal lift the entire continent of Atlantis out of the ocean and drop it in the desert, threatening the lives of every citizen there. Though the situation is resolved with no further violence, it is an important moment - Superman went straight for the jugular and was not above threatening the lives of the innocent to ensure victory. Atlantis is safe for now, but Superman's relationship with Aquaman is permanently damaged, and it showcased that anyone, friend or foe, was not above being on the business end of Superman's wrath.

*once this particular subplot is settled, Aquaman and Atlantis don't factor much into the storyline of "Injustice" again until Year Four, and even then, only briefly. I think the brevity of the Atlantean subplot is probably a remnant of the time before DC knew this comic would actually be incredibly popular and run for years to come. They may have thought that "Year One" was the only storyline they'd do, instead of Years Two/Three/Four/Five - even now, Year Five is going on longer than the previous years, I'd imagine because DC doesn't want to stop the gravy train now. But this is just my conjecture.

Up to now, I've focused on the main heroes of the story (or villains, if you want to make that distinction) and the drama that ensues when they end up on opposite sides of the issue. But one of Taylor's strongest points in this first year is his handling of a comic aspect. Taylor's vision of Harley Quinn is easily my favorite incarnation of the Joker's madcap paramour. Harley's story arc, from villainess to compassionate warrior is easily one of the best in the series. At once tragic (she did love the Joker and truly mourns his death) she finds comfort both within herself and from an unlikely friend - Oliver Queen. And the interaction Harley has with Queen and later Black Canary is both warm and inviting and darkly hilarious.

The Year One Annual, in particular, focuses on a one-shot that takes place somewhere toward the end of the main story. Superman sends Lobo to capture Harley for her part in the nuclear attack on Metropolis. But Harley turns the tables on the Main Man and sits him down for some therapy, while Canary and Green Arrow watch in astonished horror. It's an insane tale, laugh out loud funny, grotesquely violent, and yet filled with genuine love and friendship among its three protagonists. Which is wonderful, because the rest of the climax of Year One is, to put it mildly, an emotional horrorshow.

As I was writing this, I was about to give a synopsis of the final couple of issues before the Year Two began. But I've decided - if you've read this far, and you still haven't read Injustice, I don't want to ruin it for you. But rest assured...it's messed up stuff. If I were reviewing single issues of this instead of the entire 13 issue arc, then the final two chapters would both get a ten, without a moment's hesitatio. They're that perfect - mindblowing, heartbreaking, and gut-wrenching. Without going into specifics...someone is just straight-up murdered, someone else is accidentally killed, someone is shot with an arrow, someone is maimed, someone ends up in a coma, someone gets the shit kicked outta him by an unlikely opponent, and the biggest nuclear explosion in history erupts.

And this is only the end of Year One! You still have four more years of story to read, you lucky dogs.

I haven't even discussed the artwork yet. A rotating cast of artists, but most notably, it would seem, Jeremy Rhaapack, Mike S. Miller and Bruno Redondo, pencil each chapter, and there is a distinct difference to each one. The first book has an eerie, almost German expressionist bent to it, and this makes the Joker's introduction particularly menacing. It makes the first part seem like a nightmare as much as the story itself does. As the series progresses, the differences become less noticeable. Superman looks perfectly chiseled and square-jawed, and Batman's armor-inspired batsuit makes him appear as though he could absorb a punch from anyone. Harley Quinn, for example, is designed and drawn in a way that suits her story perfectly. Harley's always been a sexy character, but here, they give her an almost girl-next-door quality which goes with her transition from villain to hero; she's not just sexy, she's warm and feminine and still iron tough. Throughout the run, the artwork is never less than the highest quality, and it accompanies Tom Taylor's outstanding story perfectly.

"Injustice: Gods Among Us Year One" is pretty much a perfect story. There are no slow moments, no weak chapters, no missed opportunities. Everything builds to separating Batman from the herd and transforming Superman into a villain. The characters are fully realized, powerfully written, and filled with pathos. Superman isn't written as a megalomaniacal tyrant. He's a man who's experienced unbelievable loss and is consumed with anger, fear, guilt, and rage. The most compelling villains of film and literature are the ones that we, the audience, can identify with and understand. It's easy to see the path that Superman takes as an understandable response; hell, it's easy to think maybe his path *is* the best one to take. But at the end of the day, at the end of the story, we, the audience, are going to side with Batman. Yet Tom Taylor never makes it easy for us to do so. We have loved Superman for more than seventy-five years now. And Taylor's greatest accomplishment is to turn that love upside down and create hate. And that he does. Perfectly.


FINAL SCORE: 10/10

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year One is available as a single-volume collection in a variety of formats.