Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Five Chapter 12 Review

Born on a Monday

Written by: Brian Buccellato
Art by: Iban Coello, J. Nanjan and Wes Abbott
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: March 8, 2016

It's Injustice time again, boys and girls and that means one thing...umm, that sounded so much better in my head and now I can't think of the "one" thing it means.  Death?  Destruction?  More Death and Destruction?  Wait, that's two things.  Let's go back to death.  No wait,  that just sounds dismal and while this book is a tad on the grim side of things, I really have fun with it.  That's it.  Fun!  Really, I don't know why I even painted myself into this corner because there are so many reasons I love Injustice and while not every issue can be a complete winner, there is usually something that makes me smile each and every week.  So, what did this issue bring to the table?  Let's find out...




The issue opens with a trio of awesome right on the page...Superman, Bizarro and Solomon Grundy. Now that's some heavy hitters and they waste no time...heavy hitting!  Actually, it's mostly Supes and his bizarre counterpart who really can't take the idea that he is not the real deal, himself.  I love Bizarro, but this version is more of a pathetic brute than I usually like, but I'll take what I can get.  He does work well against this world order Superman and really pisses him off.

After Superman gets Bizarro out of the picture for a bit, Solomon Grundy steps up to the plate and brings the hurt to Superman...for a second.  That's when Bizarro gets back into the fight and him and Superman start making a beat the crap out of Solomon Grundy sandwich which makes no sense, but was pretty damn cool.  The best part of this whole issue was that Bizarro keeps forcing Superman to be the good guy which we haven't seen like forever.  Please don't judge the lovable loser, he really doesn't know what is right or wrong.  Well, he may, but it's all mixed up.

With these three behemoths going at it, the main concern of everyone else is collateral damage and that's what is on Hal Jordan's mind when he shows up.  He sets up an awesome Thunder Dome construct to let the three cut loose in.  Bust a deal, face the Wheel!

That's all well and good, but Hal just can't shut his big, fat mouth.  As we've seen in the last couple of issues, Bizarro does not like to be called a fake.  Yea, right now I'm pouring one out for my homies, Heatwave and Weather Wizard.  Instead of adding to his kill count, he busts out of the dome and disappeared.  That just leaves Superman and Solomon Grundy and that means bad news for Grundy.

Solomon Grundy is one of those characters that takes a licking, but keeps on ticking so Superman makes sure that he is down for a little bit more than usual.  You see, he has a plan for him that involves Lex Luthor and while it's always odd to see Superman admitting just how smart Lex is, he is counting on him to do some pretty major work for the regime.  It's messed up and I want to be around when the shit hits the fan.

This issue was an intense, action filled slug fest.  There isn't any real story progression until the end with Lex and even that is just a veiled hint at what's going on behind the scenes.  However, I am okay with that.  Bizzaro got away to live another day and the issue was non-stop action.  Sure, I hope to get the story going one of these weeks, but I had a lot of fun this week.

Iban Coello is back on art and this issue looked great.  The major obstacle in an issue like this is to make sure that there is no confusion between Superman and Bizarro and he passed that test with flying colors.  Everyone else looked great and there was only one part of the issue that was a tad bit confusing...it's a spoiler, but it's when someone loses his head...but the action was awesome and intense.

Bits and Pieces:

While I really want to get some more story progression one of these weeks, the action on display this week was too good to ignore.  Superman vs Bizarro vs Solomon Grundy is a Battle Royal for the ages and while there wasn't a real winner, there was a loser.  It all ends with a peek at Superman's big plan and I can't wait to see it unfold.  Brian Buccellato gives us a fun slug fest and Iban Coello's art was outstanding.  Recommended.

8.2/10