The Infected – Year of the Villain (2019)

September 2nd, 2021

The ubiquitous nature of the Batman Who Laughs became inescapable between Dark Nights Metal and Dark Nights: Death Metal. Spinning out of both Year of the Villain, and Batman/Superman, The Infected follows six characters in the DC Universe who have been infected by The Batman Who Laughs.

The collected trade contains stories related to all six of the infected. Commissioner Gordon, Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle), Donna Troy, Billy Batson (Shazam), Hawkman, and Supergirl. Each short story is tackled by a different writer artist team, and chronicles either how they were infected, or how they reacted directly after being infected.

The first story follows Billy Batson as he lashes out at both his adopted parents and his sister. We do some of the infected Billy Batson early in the Batman/Superman series, but this gives us both a closer look at just how it is affecting Billy, but also his friends and family. While Shazam is the focus, it’s through Mary’s eyes that the depth of his transformation is explored. The adult Shazam form almost seems more childish than the teenage Billy we’ve come to know, making the infected Shazam even more terrifying.

Blue Beetle’s story slowly shows the transformation of Jaime Reyes. First showing the infected incident as a dream, before following Jaime through his day. The monstrous side of his personality taking over, while his friends try to figure out what’s wrong with him. While he acts even more out of character, the scarab suit begins to grow and mutates him to the horrifying creature we see in Batman/Superman.

The Hawkman story centres heavily on the idea of reincarnation, and the Hawkman law. The core idea being that the infected allows an older, much more violent incarnation of Hawkman to take over, while the current day Carter watches on from within his mind. It’s a terrifying concept to watch your body commit atrocities while you have no control. While it feels the most disconnected of all the stories, it is perhaps one of the most terrifying.

The Supergirl story can feel somewhat redundant if you are reading it alongside the Batman/Superman issues. Essentially, you are seeing the last few pages of Batman/Superman #4 recapped, but from Supergirl’s perspective. However, the redundancy is lessoned by the writing of Marc Andreyko. You gain a better understanding of where Supergirl is in her own journey as these events happen.

Both the Donna Troy and Commissioner stories are both fairly minor, and focus more on their actions and the environment around them. Commissioner Gordon was infected in The Batman Who Laughs series, so his story mainly acts as a side story as to what Gordon was doing between being infected, and being discovered by Batman and Superman. With Donna Troy however, she was infected during a peace mission with the Titans. Meaning that her infection doesn’t just impact her and the Titans, but the people they are there to help.

Each story is fair, and gives a little more background, but is not necessary to fully enjoy the rest of Batman/Superman. It’s a series of stories intended for completionists more than anything, but still entertaining to read. The Infected is best read between issues #4 and #5 of Batman/Superman. Reading it here gives you all the back story for how each of these characters were infected, just as they first appear as a group in Batman/Superman.

For a comprehensive guide for the reading order, I heavily recommend checking out Comic Book Herald to get the most out of the Year of the Villain event. https://www.comicbookherald.com/reading-dc-comics/dc-rebirth-reading-order/year-three/year-of-the-villain/