The second Injustice: Gods Among Us omnibus contains the second half of the tie-in comics for the videogame Injustice: Gods Among Us (Year 4 and its Annual, Year 5 and its Annual, and Ground Zero). At times, this series is some of the best tie-in media that I've read in my entire life and I highly recommend it for those who finished Volume 1. But the second volume is significantly inferior to the first and leaves me wishing it was something other than a downhill slide ever since Year 1.
Here's the problem: Writer Brian Buccellato simply isn't as good as the writer for much of Volume 1, Tom Taylor. The characterization is thinner and the plots don't flow as well, meandering for multiple issues and then magically resolving themselves with a whimper instead of a bang.
In the same way that Year 2 brought in the Green Lantern Corps and Year 3 brought in magic, Year 4 is about the gods. To be fair, I don't follow this corner of the DC Universe much -- but beyond the impact of the gods' machinations on Wonder Woman, it was hard to care what was going on. And it didn't help that there was a lot of build-up where it seemed like nothing really changed for multiple issues at a time, and then it never fully paid off as Buccellato pulled what felt like a cheap card to get out of it.
Year 5 is significantly better, as it tries to move everybody in position for the events of the game and, therefore, feels more integral to the overall story of Injustice. Superman is still a little sympathetic even as he gets more evil, although he (and just about everyone else) feels less well-realized than before. It's easily the highlight here though, and it's much closer to the style I liked about Year 1 and (to a lesser degree) Year 2.
And then Ground Zero falls flat on its face. These issues are supposed to retell the events of the game from the perspective of Harley Quinn, but she seems to have lost all the interesting personality Tom Taylor gave her earlier in the series. So we're treated to mindless, repetitive narration from Harley instead of actually getting to engage with or flesh out the game's story. Sure, we see what Harley was doing during the events of the game, but we barely get any time with the new set of heroes and are barely given any time to understand what's actually going on in their part of the story. It's all Harley, far too much of the time, and her journey feels far too drawn out and of little consequence. It's supposed to be the climax, the thing we've been building up to for five years! But it's treated like a side-story in a mind-numbing, poorly-written, drawn out Harley Quinn adventure.
One thing that typically stays engaging is the art. It's not perfect -- the change in styles is occasionally jarring, and some artists are better than others (although I don't know who exactly drew what, it can be uneven). But it captures the look of the game while also looking like a typical comic book. None of the cheap, plastic-y looking textures with cylindrical highlights that drag down many other comic tie-ins -- DC seems to have been treating this one like a real comic book that's deserving of time and attention.
You also get a small cover gallery, some sketches, and a short intro note. Nothing worth anything here. The complete package is impressive though -- this omnibus is a massive, heavy hardcover tome that's one of the best-looking and feeling comic collections I own just from a physical item perspective.
Overall, there's no reason not to pick this one up if you read Volume 1 of the series. You're already half-way through, so might as well finish it out! Sure, it's not as good, but it's still not exactly BAD -- especially for a tie-in, Injustice: Gods Among Us as a whole series is a very impressive accomplishment.