Injustice: Gods Among Us #25 (July 3, 2013)

Tags

Batwoman, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Bruno Redondo, Captain Atom, Catwoman, David Lopez, Green Arrow, Huntress, Injustice Captain Atom, Jheremy Raapack, Lex Luthor, Santi Casas of Ikari Studio, Superman, Tom Taylor, Wes Abbott, Wonder Woman

>>>>>>>>>>SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<
(You’ve been warned)

“Chapter Twenty-Five”

• Writer: Tom Taylor
• Artist: Bruno Redondo
• Colors: David Lopez and Santi Casas of Ikari Studio
• Letters: Wes Abbott
• Cover Artist: Jheremy Raapack

This story opens by showing the juxtaposition between the Watchtower and the Batcave.  Superman is talking to Wonder Woman in the Watchtower while Catwoman is talking to Batman in the Batcave.  The world is celebrating, praising Superman for thwarting the alien invasion in the previous issue.

Wonder Woman says, “You saved so many lives,” to Superman.  Batman says to Catwoman, “He took so many lives.”  Superman himself says, “So many were lost.”  Three varying opinions right there.  But however you slice it, Superman killed a lot of people in Injustice: Gods Among Us #24.  And by “people” I mean Kalibak and an invading horde of parademons.  Superman says it isn’t enough, that more wars will happen.  He needs more allies.  Lex Luthor assures him he will have them.

In the Batcave, Batman calls a meeting (he seems to do a lot of that).  Assembled are Catwoman, Black Lightning, Batwoman, Huntress, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Captain Atom.  Batman holds steady with his “no killing” philosophy, but Huntress points out it was a war.  Superman killed the enemy but saved millions of lives.  Huntress defends Superman’s actions, saying Batman and his friends would be dead if not for Superman (indeed, in the previous issue Green Arrow and Black Canary were just about to bite it when Supes did his whatever-the-hell-he-did that killed all the parademons).

Huntress chides, “Being sanctimonious and arrogant doesn’t make you right, Bruce!”  For this she gets the Batman Glare ™.  She slipped up and called him Bruce in front of people!  She realizes her mistake too late.

Huntress tells Bats where to stick it, that she doesn’t want to fight Superman when she agrees with him.  Catwoman stops her from leaving, saying that she doesn’t have all the facts.  Batman reveals that Superman and Lex Luthor are working on a way to enhance people into super beings.  He is building an army.  Black Lightning asks how Batman got this info.  Huntress says if Bats expects them to follow him into war they need to know they can trust him.  So Batman removes his cowl.

Hell breaks loose then, when Superman cultists attack the citizens of Gotham (in and around Crime Alley).  Batman sends Captain Atom ahead as he is the fastest.

This Superman cult has been taking on criminals in Gotham since Superman killed the Joker.  It is just as Captain Atom is about to start quantum blasting the riff-raff when the Batcrew shows up.  They trade witty comments with the zealots before they start cracking heads.  These guys are no match for the Bat guys.  But Batman and his boys are halted by the sudden arrival of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern.

The Super friends tell the Bat crew to back down and they will handle this.  Batman and Superman face each other down, but Catwoman tells Bats now is not the time.  The Bat crew sheepishly walk away.

I don’t know what this is building to.  The ultimate showdown, I guess.  I really like these takes on classic DC characters.  Tom Taylor is weaving this together really well.  Although they shake up the art team constantly, none of them have let me down so far.  I got the demo for the video game on my X-Box 360.  It is pretty cool (Captain Atom appears not to be a playable character, though).  The comic is pretty awesome, though, and is one on DC’s best titles right now in my opinion.  I give this issue an A+.

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Saturday Morning In Front Of La Salle De Justice

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Aquaman, Batgirl, Batman, Batwoman, Captain Atom, Catwoman, Deadman, Fire, Firestorm, Green Lantern, Ice, Krypto, Martian Manhunter, Mera, Nightwing, Robin, The Flash, Wonder Woman

Saturday Morning In Front Of La Salle De Justice by Rey Taira (2013)

An homage to Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, this piece by Rey Taira is meant to “call to mind that as the original painting was comprised of points of color, so too are these characters from the DC Universe today. [Rey Taira]’s intent was to show how iconic DC Super Heroes were, by minimizing them to their most basic colors and shapes and have them still retain their recognizability.”  It features, among many other DC icons, Firestorm and Captain Atom.  Below is the original work by Georges Seurat.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat (1884)

Injustice: Gods Among Us #18 (May 14, 2013)

Tags

Aquaman, Batman, Batwoman, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel (Shazam), Catwoman, David Lopez, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Huntress, Injustice Captain Atom, Jheremy Raapack, Mico Suayan, Santi Casas, Superman, Tom Taylor, Wes Abbott

>>>>>>>>>>SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<
(You’ve been warned)

“Chapter Eighteen”

• Writer: Tom Taylor
• Artist: Jheremy Raapack
• Colors: David Lopez and Santi Casas of Ikari Studio
• Letters: Wes Abbott
• Cover Artist: Mico Suayan

I know that it is Firestorm Appreciation Month on this blog, but I didn’t see this one coming and simply could not sit on it until June.  This series – although it is based on a video game and therefore could have potentially been awful – is completely awesome.  The art is beautiful, the story is compelling.  I usually don’t really go for digital books; I tend to wait until their paper versions are out.  But this one had me from the first issue.

Basically, Superman is going over the edge.  The Joker used Scarecrow’s fear toxin mixed with kryptonite on the man of steel, causing him to believe he was fighting Doomsday.  He wasn’t.  It was Lois Lane.  And he killed her.  The Joker had a trigger connected to Lois so that when her heart stopped, a nuclear device went off in Metropolis and flattened the city.  Eleven million dead.  And to add insult to injury, Lois was pregnant with Superman’s child.

So Superman has decided not to go soft on criminals anymore.  He started this by putting his fist through the Joker’s chest.  He has been taking down despotic world leaders (for example, the leader of Bialya, Rumaan Harjavti).  Flash and Wonder Woman have been working with Superman (among others), but Batman refuses to back his friend up.

This issue opens in Gotham City with Batman and Catwoman responding to the bat signal.  But it isn’t Commissioner Gordon waiting on the rooftop, it is the U.S. President.  The president begins by saying he saw the footage of what happened in Arkham Asylum and offers his condolences (Damien Wayne – Robin – accidentally killed Dick Grayson – Nightwing).  The president leads Batman and Catwoman to a room in the police station that has been fitted so Superman can’t see or hear them.

Meanwhile, Superman and Green Lantern are taking down spy satellites in orbit around Earth.

The president tells Batman that since the incident at Arkham, Superman and his crew have been inserting themselves into world conflicts.  Superman forced the leaders of Palestine and Israel to agree on a peace plan.  Wonder Woman has been fighting in Burma while Shazam and Green Lantern have been in Syria.  Raven terrified warring Sudanese tribes into submission.

While the president agrees that stopping bloodshed is a good thing, he is worried about what Superman will do once his attention is focused on the United States.  He’s worried Superman will take over the world and asks Batman if he can stop the man of tomorrow.  Batman says he can.  Catwoman says they will go to bat for the president but he needs to do his job better (she lists, “Health.  Education.  Gun control.  Poverty.  The environment.  Not telling people who they can and can’t love.”).  The president says he won’t accept their help in exchange for another set of costumed vigilantes telling him what to do.  Catwoman points out she isn’t telling him what to do, just asking him to do better.

The president gives Batman a file containing info on super-heroes not aligned with Superman who may be willing to stand against the last son of Krypton.  The top of the list is Huntress, whose file says she has “probable daddy issues.”  The bemused Catwoman points out the file fails to mention Huntress is an alien spy.  Batman and Catwoman split up to form their team.

Catwoman calls on Black Canary in Starling City.  Batman meets up with Black Lightning in Washington.  The next day, the newly formed team meet up in the bat cave.  Assembled are Huntress, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Black Lightning, Batwoman, Aquaman, and (you’ve probably already guessed this) Captain Atom.

They sit down to plan their attack.

This new version of Captain Atom looks like a cross between the Modern Age Captain Atom and the Kingdom Come/Armageddon/Earth-22 Captain Atom.  I’m really looking forward to seeing this new take on the character.

I really love this series.  I’m not usually prone to doing this, but I’m giving Injustice: Gods Among Us #18 an A+.  I really need to play this video game.