With a misfit bunch a magicians now involved the game, the plot of INJUSTICE thickens by the day. As a player from behind the curtain, Constantine has been making deals with the Devil himself trying to turn the tables from Superman’s misguided hold on the world that he thinks he is trying to save.
Tom Taylor takes us to another realm with this week’s issue heading off into the supernatural. I really enjoy Constantine as a character, having not read anything previously; Taylor gives him a cheeky vibe that provides a more human side to the magical based character. It’s the humor that needs to balance against Batman’s darkness in the series and I think his witty dialogue really makes him stand out. With the reveal of yet more characters added to the INJUSTICE line-up, we see the introduction of Raven and how her part plays out in Batman’s grand plan. It seems with every issue we get a new person from the DC Universe and I get more and more excited each week to see who will be turning up next!
More brightness is injected into the pages as Bruno Redondo, Vicente Cifuentes and Rex Lokus grab the Devil by horns. With giant page layouts, they have focused on profile panels and heavy detail of facial emotions or in Batman’s case his ever present scowl. Keeping up the high standard of extreme coloration, it’s like the pages are constantly saturated in bold primary colors that contrast and compliment against each other. Lokus has such an amazing eye for balancing the pages as he throws the heavy reds and yellows of hell against the damp greens and black of Gotham perfectly, setting the mood for the scenes that take place in the environments.
Positives
The writing that is produced week in and week out for INJUSTICE makes it one of the top series that DC has produced. With twists and turns, each week gives us more plot shocks to the series as it slowly unravels the grand plan. Superman and his fellow Yellow Lanterns are the obvious players, laying their hand out on the table for all to see. But Batman plays a far more clever game, sticking to his shadows and under the table dealings. It’s these two opposing strategies that really make for great reading. I find myself trying to plot out what will happen next and throwing my theories out the window with the following issues.
Negatives
Once again Year 3 seems to favor the giant panels and as much as they are cool splash pages, I find that balance of both big and small panels would give more substance to the pages. Also the follow on from last week’s issue was not the smoothest transition. Suddenly we went from finding the Detective Chimp to strangely being in Hell. Even just a panel to possibly show what Constantine was doing prior would have cleared up the quick jump in locations.
Verdict
So as the plan continues, INJUSTICE is living up to the title as both sides are now trying to find more allies for each cause. There is definitely more excitement to come so stay tuned for some magical moments ahead.
Rating
