Injustice: Year Three #18 Review

Written by: Brian Buccellato
Art by: Bruno Redondo
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: January 27, 2015

Cruising Along

I think that Brian Buccellato would be the first to admit that he is still  getting his footing on this whole Injustice thing.  It's understandable since he jumped on a book that one writer had been on for two and a half seasons.  While he got the whole action and death thing down pretty quickly, the story seemed a little rushed and the characterizations felt a bit off in his first couple of issues.  I'm happy to report that this issue improves on both of those fronts and even includes some humor that readers of Injustice are bound to smile at.  I think that fans of this book can take a deep breath, sit back and enjoy the ride from here on out.



If you weren't excited when Trigon showed up at the end of last issue, you shouldn't be reading this book.  Seriously, I spent this week wondering who he was going to rip apart first.  It's funny, while visions of severed heads and limbs danced through my head, I took for granted that Constantine had summoned him.  Batman obviously felt the same and when Constantine tells him the real reason, I had a huge smile on my face.  It seems that Constantine sent out a beacon, notifying the Demon where his daughter, Raven, was.  That's pretty cool in and of itself, but knowing that Constantine and Batman were the ones who kidnapped her makes it all the better...and crazier.

Lucky for them, Trigon doesn't care about semantics and focuses on Team Superman immediately.  As he shows off his awesome power, nobody is more impressed and amused than Harley Quinn.  I mentioned in last week's review that this book needed more humor and Buccellato goes to the endless well herself.  I love Harley and laughed out loud at her movie inspired joke.  Well played.

While Trigon adds to the death count (bye bye Ares edit: Brian Buccellato has informed me that Ares is far from dead and will be back for Year Four!), Team Batman gathers for their escape.  Before they can leave, however, Deadman Dick shows up and tells Batman a thing or two about the Spectre.  Readers of the book will be aware that Jim Corrigan is not inside the Spectre.  It's been hinted at since the beginning of Year Three, but this is the first solid proof.  It's pretty cool and has me so pumped to find out who is really protecting Superman.  Then the unthinkable happened.

I love Detective Chimp and when he showed up in this book I may have squealed with delight.  I'm not admitting a thing, but I was so, so happy.  This issue may be the last we see of him.  No, he isn't dead, but it may be worse.  After being such a great hero, he is just left behind for a lame reason.  Harley gives him a nice farewell, but all I can say is Boo!

The issue ends with Batman and his crew showing up in one of my favorite places in all the DCU and Superman being saved once again by the Spectre.  Actually, we finally get to see who he really is and it is so awesome.  I may have just squealed again, but I'm still not admitting a thing.

Besides the whole Detective Chimp thing (boo-urns!), this issue was not only Buccellato's best since taking over, but a damn good issue of Injustice in general.  I knew it was only a matter of time.

It doesn't hurt that Bruno Redondo is back on full art duties.  Everything looks great as it always does with him at the easel (I'm sure he doesn't use an easel, but I like the idea of it) and I hope we get a couple of issues in a row with just him.  I mention all the time that he has a knack for drawing each character's "best version" and this is definitely the case with Trigon.  It's so good and could never be mistaken for the Lord of Darkness or Tim Curry.

Bits and Pieces:

This is a really good issue of Injustice.  We get two kick ass cliffhangers, a death of a god and some really good character moments.  The later is what has me excited going forward.  That and the true identity of the Spectre.  It is so freaking awesome!  I can't wait for next week.

8.8/10