Injustice 2 continues to roll on as everyone deals with the aftermath of the events in Washington, DC and the recent clash between Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul’s forces. The ramifications of these events are still in the process of developing on all sides. This includes Black Adam finally deciding to take action after working from the shadows to secretly train the recently introduced Kara Zor-El/Supergirl. Now the time for Black Adam to use Supergirl for his own gains is upon us. What is Black Adam after? To break out Wonder Woman from her prison. Will Black Adam be successful with the help of Supergirl and Nightwing? Let’s find out with chapter 29 of Injustice 2.
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Mike S. Miller
Colorist: J. Nanjan
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: At the prison cells in Themyscira some guards go to give Diana Prince her food for the day. The guards notice Diana has passed out.
When they check on her Diana wakes up and starts choking out one of the guards. Diana demands to be released but is instead subdued quickly and told that she will go without food for the next day.
After being locked in her cell Diana is visited by Ares, who takes pleasure in seeing Diana covered in dirt. Ares notices that the chains Diana is in are the same ones Zeus had forged to bind him.
Ares then mentions that a new weapon that can end all wars has been created. Though Diana believes she can defeat any weapon Ares says she will just be destroyed by it. Ares then says he wants Diana to train the only one that can defeat this weapon.
Elsewhere Damian Wayne gives Kara an overview of all the Amazons she will meet in Themyscira and who she should avoid. Damian also mentions that while Kara could overpower any Amazon their training and magical weapons would make it easy for them to overwhelm Kara. He goes on to say that with Kara being a bad liar that she should act like she is a mute who washed up from a ship wreckage.
Damian steps off the boat saying it is time for their plan to be executed. Black Adam throws the boat Kara is on into the ocean and catches Damian in quick succession.
Sometime later Philippus finds Kara washed up on the shores of Themyscira. They check on Kara and see that she still has a pulse.
Nubia arrives on the scene and introduces herself as Wonder Woman to Kara. End of issue.
The Good: Injustice 2 Chapter 29 is a good change of pace that further develops what Black Adam’s side of this universe is doing as a third party. In giving Black Adam’s side some attention Tom Taylor is able to provide multiple layers to the return of Diana Prince, the former Wonder Woman.
As the first Injustice series went along Wonder Woman morphed into a character that you loved to hate. Taylor crafted a version of Wonder Woman that fed into the more extreme parts of the character. Now after being at such a high level it was satisfying to see where Wonder Woman’s actions left her after Superman’s Regime crumbled. Wonder Woman was made to go from beloved princess of the Amazon’s to nothing more than a trash prisoner who is despised by her fellow sisters.
Having the Amazons angered by Diana just trying to call them her “sisters” was a fantastic showing for how far gone this version of Wonder Woman is. The anger came off the page very well and further showed the status quo of the character. In addition, Taylor quickly set up how the Amazons are still trying to rebuild themselves and their reputation after all the damage Diana did to their name.
All of this properly set-up Ares showing up to first mock Diana and then recruit her for his own plans. Taylor perfectly played into the history between Ares and Diana to create a greater sense of tension to Diana’s predicament. The shift in tone to their meeting also nicely works into Black Adam’s own plot to break Diana out. This meeting puts into question how much Ares and Black Adam’s plot are the same and how much of it is different. Intriguingly Ares also introduces a yet another possible threat to the universe that we still don’t know exists.
On the other side of things, Taylor continues to do a good job with the slow burn in how he is developing Supergirl’s character. While she is powerful Supergirl still has a lot to learn in becoming the character we know her to be. In setting the character up this way Taylor is able to create a sense of danger around Supergirl’s mission to infiltrate Themyscira.
The introduction of Nubia as the new Wonder Woman was a surprising wrinkle into Supergirl’s mission. This unexpected develop creates a lot of possibilities for how Supergirl’s mission will go. From just the introduction Taylor is able to highlight how big of this moment is with how he frames Nubia as Wonder Woman. It also gives further anticipation into what Diana will do when she finds out her Amazon sisters have replaced her without asking her permission.
Going back to Supergirl’s development, her dynamic with Damian has been a real surprising. Taylor has tapped into how unique this interaction between Kara and Damian is since this is the only comic from DC we have in which these characters interact with each other. Given that Taylor is able to treat their relationship more as a growing friendship, especially since Kara hasn’t met many people at this part in her life. Where Taylor goes in developing their friendship and how Kara and Damian affect each other will continue to be an intriguing sub-plot to follow for this series.
Mike S. Miller makes his return to the series and quickly shows off how strong his artwork is on this series. With Injustice 2 Chapter 29 being a dialogue heavy issue Miller does a great job elevating Taylor’s writing with how he draws the characters facial reaction. From the anger in Diana and Amazon faces during the opening scene to the hesitation Supergirl shows with how she feels about her mission Miller got the most out of every character facial reaction.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: Injustice 2 Chapter 29 was another strong entry into this series. Tom Taylor continues to do an excellent job fleshing out the Injustice Universe as he develops multiple storylines at the same time. The spotlight on Wonder Woman’s current status quo along with the direction Taylor is taking Supergirl’s character made this an important chapter that plays into the larger story going on in Injustice 2.
