World Comic Book Review

19th March 2024

The Batman Who Laughs #1: DC Comics’ worst, most poorly-thought through concept in its history is about to be published

The Batman Who Laughs #1 DC Comics, November 2017 Writer: Scott Snyder American superhero comic book publisher DC Comics has made some disturbing editorial decisions over recent years. These include: a. a plot around a weaponised baby, apparently in pain, courtesy of Geoff Johns in Justice League #50 (which we have previously reviewed) b. the … Read more

Batman: White Knight #1 (Review)

Batman: White Knight #1 DC Comics, October 2017 Writer: Sean Murphy We continue our meandering excursion through the present promulgation of titles associated with alternate universe-versions of Batman. This exercise is vaguely akin to considering the pop art works of, say, an Andy Warhol, whereby each iteration of the image has different hues and focus. … Read more

Harley Quinn and Batman #1 (review)

Harley Quinn and Batman #1 DC Comics, August 2017 Writer: Ty Templeton “Harley Quinn and Batman” #1’s title plainly communicates the marketing purpose of this new comic book series: American publisher DC comics is leveraging the newfound mainstream popularity of a character called “Harley Quinn”, buoyed by the 2016 blockbuster film which heavily marketed Australian … Read more

Injustice: Ground Zero (Review)

Injustice: Ground Zero
DC Comics, December 7, 2016-ongoing
Writers: Christopher Sebela, Brian Buccellato

In the spring of 2013, the Interactive Entertainment division of Warner Bros. (which owns DC Comics) and videogame developer NetherRealm Studios jointly developed and published a 3D Fighting-genre video game titled “Injustice: Gods Among Us” for a variety of hardware platforms. The game pits DC Comics’ most popular characters against each other in a series of one-on-one fights, using the backstory of an alternate timeline in which DC Comics’ paramount character property, Superman, has built a totalitarian government and put the entire planet under its control, while a small insurgent group consisting of other heroes, led by DC Comics’ other paramount character property, Batman, mount opposition.

While the video game was thin in terms of storytelling (as expected of a Fighting-genre videogame), DC Comics released an “Injustice: Gods Among Us” comic book series that serves as a prequel. The comic book series was fairly substantial, with the final chapter being released on September 2016, long after most gamers lost interest in the video game. With such a hefty back read, this comic book prequel can be inaccessible to a new reader, and will be an incomplete read to someone who is not interested in picking up and playing the video game (as the video game technically serves as the conclusion to the story.)

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