Injustice: Year Four #23 Review

Written by: Brian Buccellato
Art by: Mike S. Miller, J. Nanjan and Wes Abbott
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: October 6, 2015

Filler Up

I really enjoyed last week's Injustice for one big reason...the New Gods!  That is what I wanted from the Year of the Gods in the first place.  So, seeing Batman Boom Tube off to New Genesis to talk with High Father while Superman and Darkseid duke it out was pretty damn cool.  With that said, it was a lot of setup and I couldn't wait until this week to see it all come together in one big bang of an issue.  Silly me, I should have realised that this is the penultimate issue so we would be getting more setup leading to the grand finale.  So,  did Brian Buccellato give us an issue that will make us want the finale this instant?  Yes and no.




The issue starts with an odd "The Right Stuff" moment (and I might mean the New Kids on the Block), with Team Superman walking through the streets on the way to a big confrontation on Themyscira.  The whole thing is narrated by Wonder Woman and it's okay and leads to some more Heroes versus Gods fighting.  It's big, but it has a been there done that feeling.

The big moments just fall flat and the whole battle continues for a couple pages too long.  While I was expecting more setup, this was just filler.  Everything changes, however, when Cyborg announces that a nuclear strike is about to hit Paradise Island.

While Hal was going to try to save the day, he ends up with an arrow in his back (dick move!) and it's all up to Wonder Woman.  She heads off and after some lassoing that would make Sally Star jealous, it looked like she would make the ultimate sacrifice.  That's when Superman made his grand reappearance.  I wish I could say it was epic, but it again, it fell a little flat.

However, when he heads down to Themyscira and cleans house a bit, things started picking up especially when he calls out Zeus.  It's a ballsy move that ends with a little guest appearance that was awesome, but I really want to know what lead to it more.

This issue was a whole bunch of filler that ends with a cool cliffhanger that I want to know more about.  The battle that it sets up is one that I didn't know I wanted until last week, but now I want it so bad,  I would love to say more, but this issue was devoid of anything real meaningful until the last page or so.  Still, I can't wait until next week's finale because I'm a sucker and still love Injustice no matter how many issues like this we get.

Mike S. Miller is on art and while I have been enjoying his art recently, that ends here.  The art matches the lack of story with a lack of detail and and pizazz...until Zeus shows up.  The last couple of pages were great and made me wonder what happened to the first twenty or so.

Bits and Pieces:

If you are a fan of this series, you will be picking this issue up like me.  Like me, however, I'm sure you're going to be disappointed by the lack of anything meaningful in this issue until the last page or so.  All this issue does is get us a closer to next week's finale and because of that, I can't recommend it to anyone.  This Year of the Gods has been lackluster, but this issue is the worst so far.

3.5/10