Injustice 2 #26 – Tom Taylor, Writer; Bruno Redondo, Penciller; Juan Albarran, Inker; Rex Lokus, Colorist
Ratings: Ray – 7/10
The last issue saw the collapse of Ra’s Al Ghul’s army, as his granddaughter was facing death for her latest failure and decided to escape, along with the help of Damian and other reluctant allies Animal Man and Vixen. While they seem likely to rejoin the side of the heroes, Athanasia has darker intentions, and they led her straight to Wayne Manor where she promptly shot Selina Kyle and took Alfred hostage. Much like Sins of the Father, Injustice 2 #26 is a dark, intimate issue that takes place in one location, but there’s one big difference between them – this one gives us little to no reason to care about Athanasia, either as a villain or an anti-hero.
She’s an angry cipher, whose main motivation is that Batman – who never knew she existed – wasn’t there for her. We don’t even know the circumstances of her conception unless it was in the game’s back matter.
I was glad to see Selina Kyle not summarily killed off in the last panel. Instead, she was only winged and winds up key to saving the day this issue – calling for backup, serving as mission control hiding in the mansion’s tech center.
Overall, though, the issue has a rather ugly tone, epitomized by Athanasia killing the puppy and then yelling that they made her do it. I preferred the scenes taking place out of the manor, as the refugees from Ra’s army and Bruce’s other allies mount the resistance. Booster Gold, in particular, gets to steal the show, but the issue doesn’t seem to have the stakes of others in this series.
Over the last few months in this series, it’s been taking on a surprisingly epic tone, but this issue was a step back – more heroes trying to kill each other for little reason, and one angry assassin child of Batman was more than enough to deal with, thank you very much.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
