Injustice: Gods Among Us #17 - A Review

Several months ago, a rather prominent American lobbyist declared that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."  Now, ignoring the opinions of various self-defense experts, professional hostage negotiators and avowed pacifists regarding the inaccuracy of that statement, we are still left with the problem of how to easily identify "the bad guy" and how very quickly a good person can become perceived as a bad one.  This dilemma lies at the heart of Injustice #17,  with the question of how one defines evil posed by our point-of-view character for the week - Catwoman.


Ignoring gender specific terms, is Catwoman a bad guy?  She's a law-breaker, certainly, but by some standards so are most of the superheroes who use a mask to hide their identity.  She's a thief, though she goes out of her way not to steal from anyone who would be truly harmed by the loss.  And as we see in this story she is not against playing Robin Hood pro bono to help those who have been stolen from by the thieves who hide behind the law. 

If one can justify the act of killing as accomplishing the greater good of saving an innocent life, why can't one justify the act of theft if it is used to help the needy?  This is some heady political stuff for an ordinary graphic novel - much less what was meant to be a simple video game tie-in comic!  Such as Tom Taylor's writing that he can weave this discussion into a story that's primarily devoted toward Superman trying to get Catwoman to seek out a Batman in need of a friend.


The wonderful script is backed by some equally amazing artwork.  David Yardin handles the penciling duties once more, while also supplying some of his own inks.  Le Beau Underwood and Jonas Trindade also offer some definition to the artwork with their own inks.  Usually I worry about any book that features more tha one inker but you'd never know it from the finished project.