(w) Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes
(a) Mikel Janin
Justice League Dark continues to be one of my favorite series from DC's 'New 52' thanks to it's unique take on the superhero genre. Jeff Lemire has crafted an incredible ongoing narrative that isn't confined to separate arcs, but rather builds upon itself with each storyline. Things started off with "The Black Room", which quickly turned into "War for the Books of Magic", and now, we're shoulder-deep in "The Death of Magic" that's bringing Lemire's big epic to a head.
Though it sits in the middle of this newest arc, Justice League Dark #16 doesn't fall prey to the 'filler syndrome' -- it's full of intense action, story development, and some not-at-all-annoying exposition that gives readers a better look at how magic originated in the DCnU. I've mentioned in past reviews how much Lemire's Justice League Dark resembles a serial television drama in it's structure and pacing. Much like LOST, True Blood, or Game of Thrones, each issue of JLD has enough self-containment to feel satisfying as a stand-alone story while contributing to a much grander vision.
Using context clues, it's been pretty evident that this world our heroes have found themselves in was once a magical realm that has since been taken over by a fascist, scientific society. The somewhat lengthy history lesson about Timothy Hunter's ancient mystical ancestor reveals a lot about how things came to be in this world known as Epoch, how men became jealous over their inability to wield magic, and how that led to a campaign to exterminate all magic from their world. Lemire is doing a absolutely amazing job at mixing traditional fantasy tropes with high concept superhero drama, and it shows in the way he seamlessly juxtaposes the mystical concept of the series against a world where magic is considered the ultimate heresy.
Mikel Janin's artwork is beautiful as ever. While many of the characters featured in Justice League Dark are featured in other titles, they seem to always look the best when Janin is as the table (except for maybe Bernard Chang's Madame Xanadu in Demon Knights). Especially John Constantine, whose facial expression perfectly match his confused and frustrated feelings over losing his silver tongue.
Justice League Dark #16 is another excellent chapter in "The Death of Magic" and the series in general. Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes have such a knack for fantasy writing it's uncanny. There are so many different elements that affect the story at any given time, and each of them is handled with care and precision to create one of the most entertaining and fun books DC currently publishes.
GRADE
8.5/10
(w) Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes
(a) Mikel Janin
In this modern era of fascination with all things magical and mystical from our entertainment outlets, it takes a lot of courage to challenge the status quo of how people perceive "the supernatural", as a media concept. Just look at the popularity of True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Once Upon A Time, Grimm, or any other number of supernatural shows (including Supernatural) that all seem to have a concept of magic based around a shared aesthetic: magic is chaotic, everywhere, and cannot be contained, hence how and why people can utilize it for their own means. While all of these shows have different storytelling methods and dramatization processes, they all stick within a fairly narrow definition of "supernatural".
Jeff Lemire is taking a different approach with Justice League Dark, specifically this "The Death of Magic" arc that was prefaced by the discovery that the ancient and mythical Books of Magic were actually highly advanced technological machines seemingly capable of imitating what humanity knows as magic or mysticism. One of the most common shared elements of magic-based fiction is that magic is ever-present. Lemire has penned an arc that challenges this standard by flipping it on it's head.
At the end of Justice League Dark Annual #1, Timothy Hunter opened the Books of Magic before he and Zatanna were teleported, by the books themselves, to a new and unknown world. This month, Lemire reveals that in this new world, anything remotely connected to magic is hunted down and exterminated with extreme prejudice. Zatanna also discovers her backwards magic is super-charged in this new place, and uses her heightened ability to fend off an assassin gunning for the two individuals who just used teleportation illegally.
The only problem I had with this issue was Amethyst. Constantine uses a crystal he stole to summon Amy from GemWorld in order to help stop Nick Necro, then in JLD #14, she's seen exploring the House of Mystery with Black Orchid and Frankenstein, then in this issue, she's just gone. Granted, she does mention something about Constantine giving her the port crystal once everything had settled down, there just isn't a scene or even an off-handed comment about Amy's departure. It feels like that detail just slipped through the cracks, which wouldn't be a big deal except Amethyst didn't really need to be there in the first place, so bringing her in then dropping her from the book without even a modicum of explanation is kind of frustrating.
Justice League Dark #15 does an excellent job of setting up "The Death of Magic". Lemire is playing around with the idea of magic in the DC universe, something that's only ever been lightly done, due to the ingrained nature of continuity-based comic book mythology. As long as I can remember, magic has always been regarded as a more 'powerful' or 'enigmatic' force than science in comic books. With the 'New 52', all bets are off, so making magic and science more equivalent doesn't seem like such a far-fetched idea.
GRADE
9/10
(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
(w) Jeff Lemire
(p) Mikel Janin
Last month's Justice League Dark #0 gave readers a look into the romantic history of John Constantine and Zatanna, which included a master mage named Nick Necro. In previous months, a mysterious man smoking a cigarette has been the guiding hand behind the JLD's troubles concerning the Books of Magic. How I did not infer that Nick Necro was the mysterious smoking figure from the last few issues is beyond me. But there you have it: sometimes you win, sometimes you totally miss the obvious clues.
The Justice League Dark seems to be getting smaller, with it's members either ditching the team altogether (see Andrew Bennet) or revealing themselves to be traitors (see Doctor Mist). With the coming cancellation of Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Jeff Lemire is planning on bringing Franky over to JLD bringing the roster back up to five including Constantine, Zatanna, Black Orchid, and Deadman. It's not a huge deal, but it's just interesting to see how many different characters have now been members of the JLD, and it's only issue 13.
Basically, Justice League Dark #13 is the prelude to the conclusion of "War for the Books of Magic". Nick Necro is putting his final plans together to find the Books, part of which includes Felix Faust retrieving Timothy Hunter, the boy who is supposedly the key to finding the books and unlocking their power. Fortunately, Madame Xanadu is on site and whisks Timothy away before Faust can take him. Meanwhile, the rest of the team takes on the combined power of Nick Necro - recently returned from Hell with a cadre of new powers and abilities - and Doctor Mist. This isn't the final battle. Mostly, Lemire uses this issue to put all the pieces into place for the coming showdown. Yes, there's a lot of magic being thrown around, but it's the personal relationships that take the heaviest beating this month. Constantine, Zatanna, and Necro have a past and it comes back to bite them. And we only have to wait one week for Justice League Dark Annual #1 for the final chapter!
GRADE
8/10
(w) Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes
