Injustice: Year Four #7 Review

Written by: Brian Buccellato
Art by: Mike S. Miller
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: June 16, 2015

Instant Replay

Injustice Year Four is in full swing and while it is the "Year of the Gods", I didn't think the "Gods" would be "God, let's get this story going" and "God, what happened to this book".  While I liked last week's issue enough, it was because it seemed to be setting up this issue for a good, old Injustice fight.  Fans of this book know what that means...bloody, over-the-top action and a crazy death or two.  Instead, we get more setup.  That's not always a bad thing, but here it's hit or miss.  After saying all that, I didn't hate this issue.  Did I like it, though?  Let's find out.



This week's issue start off with Lex Luthor.  I am a Lex fan and I really am glad he's getting more face time this Year.  If you have played the Injustice game then you know what side Lex ultimately lands on, but Buccellato shows you why.  It's heartbreaking, awesome and fits Lex's character so well.  What's so great is that it's the same reason Superman started the fight...but it's from a different angle.

I said it in the introduction that this issue is more setup.  While that's not bad per se, it's setup for last week's issue.  Most of what we get takes place days before last issue and while Buccellato is using it to show how things ended up the way they did (the crazy Mexican standoff that ended last issue), the next part felt off.  We see Hera attacking Hippolyta for not wanting the Amazons to be involved fighting Superman.  The problem is, we saw this same scene last week...sort of.  We get the same result, the Amazons heading off to war, but the scenes don't match up.  How did this happen?

We finally get back to the present and Buccellato does a great job in showing how smart Batman is.  He's been playing a chess game this whole time and after Superman makes his move, Batman has him right where he wants him.  I'll admit that I don't know the rules to the game, but Batman obviously does and we'll have to wait until next week to see if it sticks.

It's a really good ending, but it doesn't make up for the rest of the issue.  In the end, I'm still left wanting this book to pick up the pace and get to the heart of the matter.  By the way, I've given up on Harley in this book.  Her moment falls flat (again) and she is just a sad shadow of her former hilarious self.

This is one of Mike S. Miller's strongest Injustice issues to date.  His Olympus scenes were excellent and the only thing I really can complain about is the panel at the end when Batman is smiling.  Besides being out of character, he just looked creepy.  I need an adult creepy.

Bits and Pieces:

The beginning and end of this book were strong.  We get to see why Lex is going to war and how smart Batman is.  However, the middle part of the book is not only bad, but goes against what we saw last week.  The end result is the same, but it still bothered me.  Mike S. Miller's art was the best he's done on this book, but in the end, I can't recommend this issue.  I haven't lost faith in Buccellato's story, but I'm starting to worry.

6.5/10