REVIEW: JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #14

(w) Jeff Lemire

(p) Graham Nolan and Vitor Drujiniu

Often, comic book writers will waste little time in moving from one story arc to the next. One of the best examples of this phenomenon was Brian Michael Bendis' run on Ultimate Spider-Man, a series that saw a young Peter Parker battling one foe after the other for quite some time. Eventually, Bendis started to add side stories and smaller arcs, but for the most part, his structure of constant action stayed true. Jeff Lemire, on the other hand, seems to be taking the opposite approach to Justice League Dark, a series that he pulled up from being a rather weak 'New 52' title to being one of the best. Justice League Dark #14 is the interlude between the recently-completed "War for the Books of Magic" and the upcoming "The Death of Magic" that will find the JLD searching for Zatanna and Tim Hunter, as well as weathering a war between the Trinity of Sin....Trinity War, anybody?

Justice League Dark #14 is split into two narratives that each contain vital information going forward for the team and the series, et al. First, we focus on John Constantine, Deadman, and Steve Trevor as they attempt to understand how the Books of Magic aren't magic-based at all. Meanwhile, Black Orchid has convinced both Amethyst and Frankenstein to explore the House of Mystery with her. The narrative of JLD#14 isn't particularly amazing or outstanding, but it conveys what's happening and for an issue that's supposed to bridge to story arcs, that's all it really needs to do. Yes, we do get some character development -- Constantine's anger at the prospect of not having Zatanna back for a long, long time -- but that's not the point of "Enter the House of Mystery". 

Rather, for Constantine, Deadman, and Trevor, the point is finding two missing people, while the reason for Black Orchid, Frankenstein, and Amethyst's journey comes to a head near the end of the issue when Orchid finds a room filled with personal and private information about many of the world's operating super-people. This is probably the best sequence of the issue, as Black Orchid scans over Constantine's notes about the Justice League, Stormwatch, and various other heroes, revealing some information we already knew ("The Rot is Rising" and "New GL: Terrorist or worse?") along with a lot we didn't know ("Frankenstein: Connection to the Rot? Possible 'cure' for it?", "Cyborg: Red Room!", and "Adam One: Is he the Big M?").

Overall, Justice League Dark #14 is a bridge issue that suffers only because it's the starting point for a lot of plot going forward, meaning it's an issue filled with questions with positively no answers. And even then, there's something exciting about being given a whole load of new mysteries to ponder as we wait for the next issue. Jeff Lemire is writing one hell of a series and I'll be sad to see him leave once he takes on Green Arrow in a few months.

GRADE

8/10

SWORD OF SORCERY #0

STORY: Christy Marx and Tony Bedard
ART: Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan

Okay, I'll admit it: I was seriously not ready to like Sword of Sorcery. The name alone kept it at a proverbial arm's length for the months leading up to this first zero issue. While I enjoy fantasy stories, I'm not into "hard fantasy", so I really just didn't pay this new series any mind. I offhandedly decided to review Sword of Sorcery #0 on "The Endless Reel" because I wanted to review all four of the "Third Wave" titles that DC is putting out this month, simply because there's a new one each week (unlike the "Second Wave" that dumped most of the new titles in the first week and left only two for the consecutive three weeks of the month).

I stand (or sit and writing, in this case) corrected. While the cohesiveness of the 'New 52' universe is nice, it's refreshing to see a series so far removed from the main line of books, similar to Dial H and Resurrection Man. I know, I know - a certain someone shows up in the final panels to put a slight damper on that notion, but "Amethyst" is such a cult favorite that I assumed it would be a total bust trying to interpret it for a modern audience, in a more modern comic book universe. It would seem like it's actually the perfect time for something like this.

Christy Marx does an excellent job setting up Amy Winston in the opening pages of Sword of Sorcery #0. The "cool kids" chatter in the halls of a high school is a passable way to introduce readers to Amy and her current situation, but it's also a little sappy. It really gets interesting when Amy's mom takes her out in the evening for what seems to be battle training. Why is she training? Why is her mother so adamant about it? Why does this training interfere with regular life? Marx skillfully navigates this narrative, revealing only small bits of information at a time, and switching focus from Amy and her mother to the Queen of GemWorld, a planet (I'm assuming) that doesn't get much of an explanation - it stands to reason that a bit more will be revealed in issue one. In this regard, Marx has succeeded in truly writing a worthwhile "Issue Zero". She's given us readers enough information about the beginning of this tale to keep us interested, knowing that Sword of Sorcery #1 will start to answer some of the questions brought up in these pages.

Similarly, I was originally put off by the prospect of the "Beowulf" back-up story. Why, for goodness sake, do we need another Beowulf story? Hasn't this tale been done to death already in every medium imaginable? Again, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Tony Bedard's first chapter of this epic. And really, all that interest comes from the fact that Beowulf apparently exists in an advanced cryogenics chamber within an abandoned laboratory, while the world outside is seemingly dated somewhere in the Dark Ages. It's utterly fascinating. Seriously. All the Beowulf/Grendel stuff aside for now, the dichotomy of technology in a pre-pre-pre-industrial civilization is just so cool, I'm going to keep buying Sword of Sorcery if only for this back-up.

GRADE

B+