A review by trike
Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Zero - The Complete Collection, by Tom Taylor
5.0
I saw this pop up on Hoopla and thought, “How can even the great Tom Taylor pull off a prequel to the astonishing [b:Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year One|19477241|Injustice Gods Among Us Year One - The Complete Collection|Tom Taylor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576593941l/19477241._SY75_.jpg|27562216]?” Brilliantly. This is so good it’s almost impossible.
Taylor hooks into all the things that happen in IGAU and explains away any small questions anyone might have, but honestly they weren’t even things I’d considered. Such as, “Where is the rest of the Justice Society in all this?” I just assumed most of them had passed away, since they were all born between 1870 and 1920. Turns out most of them are still around due to time travel and other shenanigans. Which sets up the central conflict of this book: a mind-controlling amulet is used by the Joker to kill people. Which also handily explains why Wonder Woman and Superman fall out so hard with Batman in IGAU: Year One — we see exactly how bad Joker can be, and why he should be executed.
Not only does Taylor deftly link to the existing series, he also tells a cracking good self-contained story. It also has plenty of humor in it, and some of the humorous scenes do double duty: they’re funny in and of themselves, but there’s also darkness behind them because you know what is going to happen to all these people.
The art by Rôge Antônio and Cian Tormey with colorist Rain Beredo is also flat-out terrific. Pure, clear storytelling with plenty of style when the story ramps up. This should be the template for every artist to follow.
Taylor hooks into all the things that happen in IGAU and explains away any small questions anyone might have, but honestly they weren’t even things I’d considered. Such as, “Where is the rest of the Justice Society in all this?” I just assumed most of them had passed away, since they were all born between 1870 and 1920. Turns out most of them are still around due to time travel and other shenanigans. Which sets up the central conflict of this book: a mind-controlling amulet is used by the Joker to kill people. Which also handily explains why Wonder Woman and Superman fall out so hard with Batman in IGAU: Year One — we see exactly how bad Joker can be, and why he should be executed.
Not only does Taylor deftly link to the existing series, he also tells a cracking good self-contained story. It also has plenty of humor in it, and some of the humorous scenes do double duty: they’re funny in and of themselves, but there’s also darkness behind them because you know what is going to happen to all these people.
The art by Rôge Antônio and Cian Tormey with colorist Rain Beredo is also flat-out terrific. Pure, clear storytelling with plenty of style when the story ramps up. This should be the template for every artist to follow.