Injustice: Year Four #9 Review

Written by: Brian Buccellato
Art by: Bruno Redondo, Juan Albarran and Rex Lokus
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: June 30, 2015

Fighting Boredom 

I have reviewed over seventy issues of Injustice and I'm running out of things to say in these intro paragraphs.  Thinking back, I bet I've said I'm a big fan of this book about sixty five times, was hoping things would pick up about eight times and that I'm really getting frustrated with this book about three times.  The problem is, the last bit were in the last three weeks.  That's a roundabout way of telling you that I have not been happy with Year Four of Injustice.  I don't know what happened but the little story we've been given is full of poor characterizations and forced moments and I just want to wake up from this nightmare and get back to the Injustice I know Brian Buccellato is capable of giving us.  Is this issue a step in the right direction?  Let's find out...



Last week's issue ended with Wonder Woman getting the upper hand on Superman in their fight to the death.  I don't know about you, but this whole fight has felt odd to me.  I understand what Buccellato is trying to do, but at the end of the day, it just feels like a lame excuse to get Diana and Clark to duke it out.  I wish I felt different about it, because it continues this week.  In fact, it's pretty much the entire issue.

While they fight, we get to see the reactions of almost all the spectators.  Everyone except Hera and Harley look pretty upset and concerned and while I love anything that Bruno Redondo draws, it was just filler.  That's the problem with this issue in a nutshell...it is filler.  I know that the filler issue is always going to rear it's ugly head now and again, but in a book that hasn't had much going on lately, it is annoying and unforgivable.

It's not all lost, though.  It was awesome seeing Wonder Woman fight her way through Supes' heat vision to shield slam him right across his pompous face.  That also leads to a narration about willpower and fear.  Basically, we are told that Superman has no fear and a god with no fear is not good for anyone, especially himself.  While this is going on, we get to see all the awful things that Superman has done in Injustice because he has no fear.  I get sad every time I see Ollie, by the way.

The book ends with Superman being told that he must embrace the fear by a character who's been missing for a while in this book.  It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out who this character is, but it was still cool to see him again.  However, it should be against the rules of the fight.  If it isn't, why didn't someone step in earlier?  Odd.

When I finished this issue, I didn't have any emotions about it at all.  Maybe the book's down swing is getting to me, but I have no feelings at all about this issue.  It's a filler issue with a fight that already has gone on too long.  I pray to Zeus that something happens in this book next week.  Would it be asking for too much to pray that if something does happen, it's also something good?

You will never see me badmouth Bruno Redondo in any of my reviews.  He is one of my favorite artists and kills it on a book with multiple characters...like this one.  I wish he had more to do in this issue, but it was great to just get him back.

Bits and Pieces:

I said last week that if I wasn't reviewing this book, I'd be close to dropping it.  I'm no longer close, I'm there.  Year Four has been an utter disappointment and this book has gone from something I couldn't wait to read and review to dreading doing both.  I hate even writing that, but it's true.  I hope I can tell you different soon, but I'm not holding my breathe.

5.0/10