Injustice 2 #18 Review

Animal Behavior

Writer: Tom TaylorArtist: Daniel SamperePublisher: DC ComicsRelease Date: August 9, 2017Cover Price: $0.99

It’s been somewhat of a long trip, though enjoyable none the less, but we finally seem to be in the meat of this story or at least getting to it. We have team Bat (or should I say team Barbara?) catching on to Ra’s and his teams plan and looking to make a move. It’s not exactly apparent that this is leading to the ultimate showdown itself, but the ride so far has been infinitely enjoyable. So now that Team Bat has made a move and looks to enter Ra’s’ underground encampment will the story continue being great or will it take another Supergirl-esque sidestep? Find out after the jump.

We kick off this issue with Animal Man, who we had seen previously with Ra’s and his team, but now we jump in a little more to get some of his motivation. He’s walking with Damien, who is pushing around a completely comatose Alfred, as they observe endangered animals that Ra’s seems to have taken up the job of preserving. Animal Man retells a story of him attempting to save the last of a Rhino breed before it is killed but is eventually shown to be unsuccessful. He then takes it upon himself to seek out the poachers and then exact revenge on them using the powers of a leech.

It’s nice to get some background on how the alignment of some of these people have fallen, like Vixen, Ivy and Animal Man, but by my limited time with Animal Man this seems a bit off. Yeah he gets an attachment with these animals and ends up feeling their hurt and emotion a bit, but the reaction we immediately get with the revenge not only seems odd, but the later thinking back on it and still seeing it as ok along with blaming Batman for everything Superman has done, just all seems a bit off. The scene is just made weirder by the presence of a comatose Alfred with his eyes wide open.

We next catch up where we left off from the previous issue as the Bat crew teleports in now that the coast is clear. There’s a bit more agitation from Jaime as he still feels unused, which I feel is eventually going to lead to something, but other than that this all mostly serves as a set up for what eventually takes place in the issue as we’re told just how important this one and only exit is. As they make their way in, we take another look as Ra’s’ crew as they learn of the possibility of the intruders in which they have a plan already in place involving El Diablo.

Overall I thought this issue was a little heavy handed in the setup and a little off when it came to Animal Man. We get the verification that it’s not exactly abnormal for Alfred not to be quite normal yet as it previously has taken Ra’s up to a year, and I like that Ra’s doesn’t wait for confirmation of who the intruders are and just goes into action when there is any sign of an issue. Mostly I just found this issue a mixed bag of either forced introspection or nice small details.

Bits and Pieces:

After a few amazing issues this one was a bit of a letdown with it feeling like a mixed bag of either small nice character touches or beating us over the head with telegraphing the cliffhanger ending.

6.9/10