The follow-up story to the prequel tale of the smash-hit video game of 2017 is here with INJUSTICE 2 VOL. 3! Batman and Superman are back at it, trying to save the world by rescuing it from the other one.
As the world reacts to the devastating assault on Washington, D.C., Batman and his team recover from the physical and mental wounds from the disastrous attack on Ra's al Ghul's base. Bruce Wayne comes under the scrutiny of an angry U.S. government and Jefferson Pierce (Black Lightning) assumes an important new role.
From best-selling writer Tom Taylor, scribe of the original INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US graphic novel series, comes INJUSTICE 2 Vol. 3!
Once a professional juggler and fire eater, Tom Taylor is a #1 New York Times Bestselling, multi-award-winning comic book writer, playwright and screenwriter.
Well known for his work with DC Comics and Marvel, Taylor is the co-creator of NEVERLANDERS from Penguin Random House, SEVEN SECRETS from Boom Studios and the Aurealis-Award-winning graphic novel series THE DEEP. Taylor is also the Head Writer and Executive Producer of The Deep animated series, four seasons of which is broadcast in over 140 countries.
He is perhaps best known for the DC Comics series, DCEASED (Shadow Awards Winner), NIGHTWING (nominated for 5 Eisner Awards), SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL (GLAAD Award Nominee), INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US, SUICIDE SQUAD, EARTH 2 and BATMAN/SUPERMAN as well as Marvel's FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, ALL NEW WOLVERINE, X-MEN: RED, DARK AGES and SUPERIOR IRON MAN. Taylor is also the writer of many Star Wars series, which include STAR WARS: INVASION and STAR WARS: BLOOD TIES (Stan Lee Excelsior Award winner). Taylor has written for Marvel, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, Boom Studios, Wildstorm, 2000 AD and Gestalt Comics.
Leave it to Tom Taylor to even make a transition volume where not a lot happens interesting. this was mainly about Supergirl adjusting to Earth and her new powers and Wonder Woman's imprisonment on Themyscira. Taylor throws a twist on Diana's movie origin story too. A video game tie-in comic has no business being any good yet Tom Taylor helps make it one of the best titles DC publishes.
Lots of one-shots in this volume that look backwards, and not much moving the overall storyline forward. Fun to read, but it felt like quite a bit of filler.
It starts off with Damian arriving to Kahndaq and well the events starting and him meeting Kara, face off with Black adam and then team up in an heroic thing and then Kara going undercover to Themysciria to free Diana and the drama and the fight of the Amazons there and its epic and more deatsh and its brutal and an epic stand for Diana and we get to see her twisted origin here and good twist with Trevor and what happens next and how it informs her character going forward! Plus great redemption story for Barry and I personally loved it!
Its better than the last volume for sure and does well to highlight other characters and where they have been and also does a good job of setting up threats for the next volume in Amazo and whatever Ra's and gorillas are doing. Its fascinating that even this far in, Taylor finds new ways to make the story feel fresh and give it a sense of "Moving forward"! Plus the art again good here!
While not as strong as volume 1-2 it's still pretty solid.
This is Supergirl going undercover for Black Adam and Damien (now nightwing) to free Wonder Woman. This part of the story is a rush, since we get to see Supergirl show her stuff and face off against amazons while also seeing what Wonder Woman has been up to. The next part of it is Wonder Woman's origin in this Injustice world. It's a lot...well darker than you'd probably expect. The ending is sad but it makes sense why Diana is a lot harsher in this world.
Good: The twist on Wonder Woman's origins may be slightly edgy but it worked well for me. Especially in the Injustice universe. The art remains a highlight, being different enough, but keeping it well lit while having great fights. Supergirl in action was badass, and her and Damien's relationship is nice. The amazo storyline is shaping up to be brutal as hell.
Bad: A little light on pushing the main story over. I didn't really like the special at the end, pretty bad. Sometimes need a little hope and this volume offered almost none.
Overall, some great moments but nothing over the top special like volume 1-2. I'm hoping 4+ onward really ramps up. I believe Taylor got this! A 3 out of 5.
Half progression, half filler, it shines when it can and comfortably cruises along the rest of the time. Key players from the previous run are thrown back into the mix, as well as the introduction of new threats. At its best when focusing on the overarching narrative, it's a shame that the latter half consists of so many side antics and flashbacks that break up the pacing and structure.
Tom Taylor & the artist on this series are still doing some solid storytelling. A majority of the book we are introduced to the Injustice universe version of Kara Zor-El aka Super girl Taylor writes Kara with a good amount of spunk but a bit of naivete. Later we find ourselves on Paradise island home of the amazons where Wonder Woman is being rescued by a few of her sisters that believe in her quest to dominate man's world but are willing to go against Diana's mother in the process. Kara becomes entangled with this rescue mission by being coached by Damian Wayne and Black Adam. One of the key character moments in this book involves a repentant Barry Allen aka the Flash walking his way across country to aid someone that he and the Superman regime greatly hurt. Meanwhile we find out the Suicide Squad has been activated by Amanda Waller and she has her sights on getting Harley Quinn. It appears that Waller will even use deadly means to get her way as Harley's crew becomes a causality. Some may see this volume as just filler but I still enjoyed it. This series continues to be one of the best else world stories ever told.
The majority of this volume focuses on Themyscira, as Kara works with Damian and Black Adam to rescue Diana. There's some intense action and an intriguing (and too briefly used) new Wonder Woman. There's also a separate flashback retelling Diana and Steve Trevor's experiences in this world, which... goes a little differently. It's in keeping with the Injustice stories, but doesn't do much beyond its twist. The other main plot is the release of Amazo, which again serves mainly as a brutal sequence and a setup for a new character entering the plot. The high point is a short story about Flash in Australia, although the Harley moments are strong as always. However, there's a short about her former henchman that is the weakest section, mainly for its abrupt ending. All told, the entire volume is okay, but doesn't leave much of an impact.
I’ve read a few comics lately that were just a slog. Taylor’s writing just *flows*, seemingly effortlessly. I finished the first chapter and went, “Wait, was that a whole issue?” Turns out it was. I had that same feeling throughout.
The only reason this gets 4 stars instead of 5 is because it’s a collection of “how did we get here?” stories, featuring the backstories of the characters. The longest bit is the retelling of Wonder Woman’s origin, which is slightly different from the main continuity. It goes a long way toward explaining why she’s such a hardass in this universe, though.
The third volume of Injustice 2 continues the excellent run of Tom Taylor in the Injustice comics.
The book starts with Kara and Damian meeting and it's great seeing this side of him as he is mostly annoying the rest of the time. They go to Themyscira to try and free Wonder Woman from her Amazon sisters. We also learn Barry Allen's whereabouts and later the origin of the Injustice Wonder Woman and how she turned the way she is.
I once again loved this as the Injustice series shines when Tom Taylor is writing it. He manages to write compelling stories with lots of emotional moments and depth.
Injustice 2 is one of the best series out there and I can't wait to read the next one. The only problem is that it feels too short.
It's a decent continuation of the Injustice 2 story. The previous story left off with tragedy, and in this one, things are developing towards something big, but whatever that is. It's left on the back burner for a few flashbacks.
Ra's al Ghul fills the vacuum left behind by the overthrown Regime of Superman. All the while, Black Adam's welcoming of Kara Zor-El is a simple act of sanctuary as she begins to know more from another member of Superman's Regime with Damian Wayne, ending up with a mission to rescue Wonder Woman. With Superman imprisoned, Wonder Woman follows as well. Judged by her people, she is imprisoned for her actions in the five years she was a member of the Regime. But the story essentially ends here as flashbacks to several characters from the Flash, Grodd, Harley Quinn, Batman, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, and remnants of the Suicide Squad and Harley's Insurgency.
This collection brought things down a peg for me. The flashbacks, I presume, come from the annual to get a glimpse of how things will develop in later collections, but it feels somewhat of a letdown. It was nice seeing Flash attempt to reform himself. I did find it cool that they introduced Dex-Starr in this version of the DC Universe. I also like how they worked this version of Wonder Woman in a way that referenced the DCEU Wonder Woman movie. I did feel sad about how they worked Harley's Insurgency, but they got to show how bad the villains got to be. Overall, this was okay but not as great as the previous chapters.
The story is beginning to stagnate quite a bit. Ras is a good Batman villain, but in injustice it does not make a bit of sense that all the mega powered meta humans would rally to him the way they did superman. The Wonder Woman has a fun alternate version of her origin story, although I am not a fan of how one dimensional Diana is in the Injustice universe. The fact that they now require so many side plots and origins instead of year long storylines is telling that Injustice 2 is nowhere near as well written as Injustice 1.
Still hanging on to this series, but this was kind of a weird volume. Felt more like a filler volume than anything of real importance. Like some stuff going on with Wonder Woman and a little of her history in this universe, same with the Flash. But the final issue did make me want to go ahead and read the Ground Zero issues. Wasn't sure (still not entirely sure) where they fit in.
Volume 3 delivers another solid entry into the Injustice series. This volume mainly explores a few origin stories and moves a few subplots forward. No real giant leaps in story in this one, but that by no means takes away from the book.
We get to see the origin of Wonder Woman and what happens in her life that allows her to cross the line that most heroes wont. We get to see Harley Quinn genuinely trying to be a good person, to the point she is trying to protect the kids of her friends, Ollie and Dinah. But we also get to see two of the heroes fuck up tremendously.
First Batman - he makes a HUGE error in judgement by trusting someone that was not to be trusted in any way. And sure, we as the audience had no idea of what this persons true intentions were, but Batman being Batman should have dug a bit deeper before trusting them with such an important situation. And I think that is why adding this to the story is so brilliant. In the regular DC continuity, we have the "BatGod" that started in Grant Morrison's run where Batman can really do no wrong. This is not the case here. He messes up in a big bad way and it humanizes the character to where you see the man underneath, not the Batman facade.
Also Blue Beetle messes up so bad that he causes the extinction of multiple species of animals. And while it might not have been entirely his fault, he is completely responsible for his actions and will need to learn to deal with what he has done. Again, it humanizes a character that has this amazing suit that can do pretty much anything - it brings him down to a level where it feels like a real person inside that suit.
Great book as always. Highly recommended for people that like the DC universe in general.
This volume provides a much-needed look into the background of this universe's Wonder Woman. For much of the Injustice series, I've wondered why Diana was constantly portrayed as a harsh, uncompromising asshole. There is an annual issue in this volume that looks at Diana's origin, which goes much like how the movie's origin did, but with a slight twist. It's that twist that really made me understand why Diana is the way she is. In fact, I really appreciated how Wonder Woman-centric this entire volume is, giving us a peek of what's been happening in Themyscira since Superman's downfall. The other notable thing here is the introduction of Supergirl in the story. And, if you've played the Injustice 2 game, you know that her role is huge. I love that this series is still going so strong.
Damian Wayne goes to Kahndaq to ask Teth Adam for help in freeing Diana from Themyscira and discovers Supergirl.
The story flashes back to look at Wonder Woman before the fall, and the art and colouring help split the time frames appropriately. The plot holds readers' interest as Taylor's next phase begins.
Nothing really happens in this one, a Wonder Woman story that we already know about but with a different approach and some side stories that don’t really add much to be a volume itself.
Black Adam gives Kara Zor-El flying lessons when Nightwing (Damian) appears seeking Adam’s aid. Despite Adam’s wishes, Damian gives Kara a tour of Earth, including a stop in Bialya, a country torn by civil war. The duo are successful in saving people.
On Themyscira, Ares visits the imprisoned Wonder Woman.
Kara arrives on Themyscira under the disguise of a shipwreck survivor.
The Lasso of Truth reveals Kara’s true motives. She’s here to free Wonder Woman. With the aid from Amazons loyal to Diana, Kara succeeds.
Interlude with the Flash. Barry visits Galaxor, a would-be hero, crushed spine courtesy of Superman & Wonder Woman. The Flash helps with Galaxor’s therapy, “One step at a time.”
Interlude with Harley & her daughter Lucy.
Cut to Gorilla City where Grodd, Professor Ivo, & Ra's al Ghul are gathered. Ra’s targets a test location – Williams, AZ. AMAZO decimates Wiliams. New population count for Williams, AZ: Zero.
Batman, Batgirl & Plastic Man investigate the aftermath. Only animals survived.
Flashback to Wonder Woman’s past and her arrival in Man’s World.
Last story concerns Harley’s Henchmen. They are confronted by the Suicide Squad (the C Team). It does not go well for the Henchmen.
Best Quotes.
Kara to Damian – “Your family sounds like pure evil.”
Grodd – “I do not trust this machine. It has no mind I can control.”
This volume jumps around a lot, like DC had random issues to collect in a new collection. Very disjointed. The Wonder Woman/Kara/Damian stuff is solid then not-so-much. The Flash interlude is very good. A lot of the later issues Wonder Woman stuff seemed like WTF? Not sure how it plays into the main story.