Review: Justice League Dark #1
DC are at it once more. Not content to let the sleeping dogs of failed series lay, they have looked to reanimate the corpse that was Justice League Dark, with the cracking of the Source Wall seemingly allowing the magic of the DC Universe to be warped and turned against those that would both defend and defile it!
This distortion of magic is affecting the whole range of magic folk, including the fishnet less (once again), Zatanna whose simple rabbit out of a hat trick goes so wrong, it takes an Amazonian Princess to lend a hand in solving this particular illusion turned death machine. Wonder Woman is on a bit of a crusade, hoping to recruit Zee to join the new Dark division of the Justice League. Of course, this being comics, there has to be a bit of “nope, that’s not for me” before its “all hands to battle stations!”
Comic book convention aside, James Tynion IV certainly has his work cut out for him. To start, there is the mix of characters, including Detective Chimp and Man-Bat; the latter causing me some confusion as he is a creature of science rather than magic. The inclusion of a villain on the team has become popular since Tynion himself tried it on Detective Comics with the inclusion of Clayface. Now, its all the rage. Don’t believe me, go check out Justice League Odyssey, when it eventually hits the racks! As you would expect, Tynion covers the bases with minor explanations of all involved to aid those new to these characters. The sideways dimension bar from Metals, makes another appearance, although with no obvious means of getting in or out. Also, if I was being critical, I would have thought that Zee would be able to pull off the “rabbit out of a hat” without using her magic powers. Could it be that Zee can’t even do a a simple card trick?
The art for the book is provided by Alvaro Martinez Bueno whose work has been seen in a number of DC and Marvel books. Here, he works hard to give the book, or a least the characters a recognisable look, (did I mention that Zee isn’t wearing fishnets?). For the most part, the art works, though with so much action going on in conjunction with the amount of that action is crazy magic stuff, something has to give. In this case, its details around faces, which is a malady that seems to affect more and more artists these days. This is by no means the worst example of this phenomenon, you can still tell who is who, (fishnets would’ve helped, no doubt). Raul Fernandez provides great support on inks and Brad Anderson is allowed to demonstrate a wide range of schemes in a number of scenarios from street light dalliances, to an incinerating father to daughter catch-up to all out battles.
I am not sure of the logic of this book. Is there a huge Detective Chimp following that I am unaware off? The previous series suffered, as did many of the New 52 books, falling to crossover hell, with the Trinity War and Forever Evil causing all sorts of problems as well as other minor crossovers with books that had very little fan appeal. In the end, not event the writing might of J. M. DeMatteis could stave off the Cancellation Demon. Now Tynion and gang have a chance to show the DC universe in a different light. Ironic, given the title of this series.
Writing -Â 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; James Tynion IV
Art by;Â Alvaro Martinez Bueno & Raul Fernandez
Colors by; Brad Anderson
Published by; DC Comics
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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