DC announces 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' comic prequel series 'Year Zero'

The world of Injustice: Gods Among Us has been well-documented at this point across two different media realms. There's the original video game, of course, and its sequel, but the years surrounding those games have also proven to be fertile story ground in DC Comics. The original Gods Among Us comic book series built the story out in the years leading up to the first game, and a comic based on the sequel, as well as various spinoffs, followed. Now, DC is taking us back to the beginning, to the time before Superman turned tyrannical. Get ready for Injustice: Year Zero. 

DC announced the new digital-first series, which promises to take readers back to the age when the Superman of Injustice was still a hero, Tuesday morning, and simultaneously launched the first three issues of the 14-issue series. Year Zero features the return of original Injustice: Gods Among Us comics writer Tom Taylor to the alternate DC Universe, alongside an art team that includes Rogê Antônio, Cian Tormey, Rain Beredo and Wes Abbott. Check out two covers from the series launch by Julian Totino Tedesco in the gallery below.

For Taylor, Year Zero is a chance to show readers a much different side of the Injustice universe, a place living in the shadow of the moment The Joker tricked Superman into killing Lois Lane, setting of a chain reaction that plunged the world into darkness.

“Year Zero isn't as morally grey as what comes after,” Taylor said in a press release. “This is Superman and Batman at the peak of their friendship. Lois and Clark as a team. The Justice League united, and the Justice Society as a shining example for all. Of course, by its very nature, there's going to be tragedy and shocks and deaths, but there will be hope, there will be triumph, there will be love with the loss and heart alongside the hurt.”

Of course, that doesn't mean it's entirely different, as the new story will also focus on an earlier stage of The Joker's plans. Here's the official synopsis:

Taylor's prequel story in Injustice: Year Zero, “Fall of the Old Gods,” focuses the action around the Justice League and the discovery of how their predecessors covertly fought within WWII to bring down a tyrant. When the Joker finds a way to control DC’s Super Heroes, he uses his leverage to sabotage the Justice League—and the JSA—from the inside!

Injustice: Year Zero #1-3 are available now on Read DC, Comixology, and other places digital comics are sold. After today, new chapters will arrive twice monthly, with the next chapter arriving August 18. So, if you've been longing for a return to the Injustice stories, the wait is over.