March Review: Injustice: Year One (Complete Collection)--DC Comics

March Book Review

Title: Injustice: Year One (Complete Collection)

Author: Tom Taylor

I have barely reviewed books before, let alone a comic, so I’m going to cross my fingers and

hope that I can captivate you. I’m also hoping that I can figure out how to add individual

panels into this review as well, without throwing off the formatting. NO promises lol

Additionally, I feel that since I went a bit overload with quotes and panels, I will cut down

on the synopsis. I usually fill at least a full page, so it’ll be different this time around lol

I would also like to preface that this review will probably contain spoilers BECAUSE I

HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS AND I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THEM LOUDLY AND IN

DEPTH!!! I haven’t read something that makes me feel this strongly since high school. I

haven’t read a book that stole my heart so entirely! I used to read sad wonderful fandom-y

things that would clench my heart until I couldn’t take it, and maybe I’m just not choosing

those things as I read lately, but I have been brought to tears, infuriated, and left in a weeping

mound of what appears to be a human being. I love these comics. I really do.

Injustice: Gods Among Us is set in an alternate universe, where the Joker devises a plan

resulting in Superman killing his wife, Lois Lane, and their unborn child, which results in a

nuclear blast that decimates the entirety of Metropolis. Superman is sent into a dark grief, and

in a fit of rage, he savagely murders The Joker with a fist through the heart. Resulting from

this great loss, Superman realizes that he needs to provide the world with more peace, and

will go to great lengths to achieve this. We see Superman’s descent from grieving family man

to brutal dictator over the course of the entire story, and booooyy howdy is that a painful

thing to watch.

Rating out of 5 Stars: 5/5, if you haven’t gotten that already. The art is amazing, the dialogue is

funny, sharp, and interesting, and the plot really gets to me. I’m not even through all 5 years yet and I

want to reread them. (Author’s Note: It’s been like a month now and I read all five years, and yeah.

Yeah. I’m about to schedule a yearly re-read, taking a week to sit in my feels-laden brine and cry

about these comics, because uh, WOW. There’s just a lot going on here lol)

Notable Quotes: Alright y’all, buckle up and get ready for some quotes and some screaming

becauseeee yeah I’m just in a constant state of screeching as soon as I start reading and I screech until

I finish. These comics are HILARIOUS and I love them, but they will also tear your heart out. (AN:

At the time that I’m writing this, I have read the entirety of the main collection, so I can

GUARANTEE that they are EMOTIONAL, OKAY???)

Alfred is a complete and utter ICON. AMAZING. TEN OUT OF TEN.

“Catwoman: Stop. just for today. Don’t be batman. Don’t be the mask. It’s okay.

Let it go. Just for today. You can fall apart. I’ll hold you together.”

*chokes back sobs*

P R E T T Y B I R D  *fails to choke back more sobs*

“Batman?  I thought your communicator access was revoked.

It was. I designed the communicators. I unrevoked it.”

AMAZING.

“No… it’s a myth! It’s impossible.”
“Says the boy in a man's body using powers given to him by a wizard.”

“You just left Themyscira as an ambassador for peace and now you’re headbutting tanks?”

Harley: I know he was a bad guy…

Arrow: genocidal psychopath.

H: But he was mine…

H: Arrow Cave is a pretty stupid name. Arrows don’t live in caves. They’re

inanimate objects. They don’t live at all. Why don’t you call it like, the Quiver?

A: That…

...is actually better.

Harley is my FAVORITE character, and Ollie makes me swoon.

How this book made me feel: REALLYREALLYREALLY EXCITED TO READ THE REST OF

THE SERIES. Oh my goooooosh I CRIED I literally teared up and started crying MULTIPLE

times. My heart still aches when I think about a certain part… Don’t touch me

*chokes up*

The PAIN on superman’s face was literally palpable when Lois died. It broke my heart into

pieces when he realized what he did and saw the aftermath. Unfortunately, I had no idea what

was in store for my weak, sad little heart. I was naive.

This comic. Dude. Buddy. My guy. It took my heart from my chest like when Superman

shoved his fist thru Joker’s chest cavity, slapped it into a blender, and hit the puree button.

And then proceeded to receive GREAT enjoyment from making me watch it drink it. I hope

that painted a terrible gruesome picture of how much I LOVED this story. I haven’t had a true

and proper heart-blender in a loooong time. I’m so happy.

Uncategorized Thoughts:  A lot of the thoughts throughout this whole review were taken directly

from texts I sent to the sadist, mean, cruel friend who showed me these comics, *waves at Ashe* Hi

buddy, thanks for that. Jerk.

Hey y’all mind if I AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

On Robin: So here’s this dark and brooding little dude, he’s 13 years old and the edgiest little

edgelord I’ve ever seen, and if you know my sister that says something. LOL. So, he’s not

only struggling with growing up in general, but also with ya know, BATMAN as his father.

Talk about emotional distance, am I right? And THEN, this already troubled spirit

accidentally kills Nightwing, and he is so clearly riddled with guilt and grief over this. He’s

torn asunder. He really feels like Batman is wrong in this whole entire situation, and I’m

thinking he’s too immature, too young too see any other side than what he can personally

understand. He’s upset, and now, at least at this part of the story, he’s seeing more of his own

strength that he clearly wasn’t aware of: he hurts Alfred and Bruce in a complete freak out,

which he immediately regrets because he’s just trying to navigate this really heavy adult stuff.

I don’t think that he’s a perfectly innocent character, but he’s not terrible. (AN: after reading

more in the series, he’s kiiiiiiind of a prick lol I don’t really defend his actions the same way

that I did.)

Would I Recommend It?: yes yes yes yes YESYESYESYES READ IT READ IT READ THESE

COMICS hooooooo boy. READ IT. And when you read it COME SCREAM ABOUT IT AT ME.

Real talk though, I had never read a comic before in my life; it was simply something that never

occured to me as something I would enjoy. As geeky as I am, I’m still not sure why I thought that

way. I think I was overwhelmed by all the content and didn’t know where to start. I’d only read a few

graphic novels, and knew very little about the DC universe, so when I first got my hands on these

comics, I was a little bit worried that I would be out of my depth. The way Injustice handles

aaaaaaaall of the characters feels pretty natural to me, and I enjoyed being introduced to like,

EVERYONE over the course of all 5 years. It is definitely a series worth checking out if you’ve ever

considered dipping your feet into the scary overwhelming ocean of comics.

Thank you so much for reading my review! I know it’s all over the place, so if you’ve made it

to the end, I will personally give you a high five. If in my jumbled ravings, I’ve somehow

managed to convince you to read these comics, puh-leeeease let me know what you think!

~Suze