Justice League Dark #9

Let's go to DC today, starting with Justice League Dark, which has a new writer in Jeff Lemire.

Justice League Dark #9:

Story Points:
-Steve Trevor comes to Constantine asking for help in retrieving a magician(Dr. Mist I think was the guy's name...) who had been captured by Felix Faust.
-After Trevor agrees to allow Constantine access to the US government's top secret room where they stored tons of magical artifacts, he agrees to the job.
-Constantine manages to bring Deadman, Andrew Bennett, and Zatanna on board after telling Zatanna that he saw her father's hat in the picture of the secret room Trevor showed him
-The group(along with Black Orchid, who was the government's “babysitter”) head to Peru(I think?) and locate Faust, who's WAY stronger than they expected.
-In the end, the group defeats Faust and rescues Mist.
-They also find the object that was powering Faust, a magical cube that was a map to the locations of the most powerful magical artifacts on Earth.

Thoughts: Now THIS is more like it! I mean I love Peter Milligan's work on Hellblazer, but his work on this series just never clicked for me. But Lemire seems to have a strong grasp of the characters in this series, as well as a good storyline set up and ready to go! This is probably the first time since issue #2 that I'm not dreading the next issue of this series!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Justice League Dark #8

Tonight we'll tackle the final two parts of the Rise of the Vampires storyline crossing over between Justice League Dark and I, Vampire. First up is the penultimate issue of this x-over.

Justice League Dark #8:

Summary: Deadman and Constantine fail in their mission to get Andrew Bennett to return to life, mainly because Andrew felt he had done too many evil acts while “alive”. Meanwhile, Madame Xanadu begs some god-like being for assistance against Cain, who was draining the world's magic into himself. The Shade's technicolor dream coat goes crazy and transports him to a world with his dead girlfriend, which makes Shade happy so he decides to stay there... Wha?! Deadman and Constantine meet up with Zatanna, Xanadu and Mary(the vampire), as they prepare to make their final stand against Cain and his overwhelming vampire horde. However, this issue ends with Xanadu's master returning Andrew to life.

Thoughts: I don't really have much to say about this one... The “team” here still hasn't ever been called the Justice League Anything, and don't exactly act like a team. Shade left in a very offhanded manner(“Yeah, they don't need me anymore. I'm out.”), and Andrew suddenly comes back to life after having whined about the fact that he didn't want to. Whatever says I.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Hey look, it's a random Batman appearance! That's how you can tell the setting here is Gotham City.

Justice League Dark #7

Last review of the night is the first part of the I, Vampire/Justice League Dark crossover. The first part of this x-over takes place in JLD #7, so that's what I'll be reviewing here. I bet you can guess what the first review for tomorrow will be!

Justice League Dark #7:

Summary: Madame Xanadu has Shade teleport the JLD team to Gotham City, where Cain(the apparent first vampire) was drawing magic into himself and dramatically powering the other vampires in the world. Xanadu tells the team that she had to take a stroll on the astral plane to find some help. Before Xanadu has her out of body experience, she tells Constantine and Deadman to go to the afterlife to find Andrew Bennett, whose death allowed Cain to escape. As for the rest of the team, they meet up with Batman and battle vampires.

Thoughts: Meh. That's my thought on this issue in a word. I mean it wasn't horrible or anything, it just didn't grab my attention. On the plus side, this was probably the best issue of JLD since it debuted, so that's something...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Of course Constantine is insane!

Justice League Dark #6

Ah, now here's a series I am seriously considering dropping... The first storyline was, in the vernacular of John Constantine, rubbish. This issue has to be REALLY good for me to keep this series on my pull list.

Justice League Dark #6:

Summary: Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman & Shade all have some really bad nightmares. They all head to Madame Xanadu since the nightmares began after the end of the battle with the Enchantress. Before Xanadu can shed some light onto why these four characters were experiencing these terrible dreams, the creature from the Shade's nightmare attacks. Somehow Deadman and Shade pool their talents to defeat the creature... And no, I haven't the slightest idea what they did... With the threat over, Xanadu tells the group that the nightmares were actually glimpses of possible futures that would occur if the heroes didn't remain together as a team. Before she can impart any more wisdom, Xanadu screams as she senses something gone awry with the vampires, signaling the beginning of the crossover with I, Vampire.

Thoughts: Well NOW sure would be a great time for my comic shop to FINALLY get I, Vampire #2 in stock so I can catch up on that frigging series! As for this issue? It didn't do enough. To be perfectly honest, if it wasn't for the I, Vampire crossover, I'd be dropping this series this Wednesday when I hit the comic shop. It just doesn't do it for me. With that said, I'll continue reading through the I, Vampire x-over stuff, and once that ends? I'll be dropping this series. I'm sure I can find a more creative way to waste $3 every month.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Well, at least I can still read about Constantine in Hellblazer...

Justice League Dark #5

Here's a series that's hanging on to my pull list by a thread. I've already given up on the first storyarc(no matter what happens in this issue I doubt it'll save this storyarc), but I'm planning on sticking around for at least another storyarc, since I still see SO much promise here...

Justice League Dark #5:

Summary: Having been dropped off near the Enchantress last issue, June Moone is rescued by John Constantine(where'd he come from?!). Constantine realizes that the only way to halt the Enchantress's worldwide attack was to reunite June and the Enchantress, even if June doesn't want to. With that, Constantine begins reciting the spell(actually that annoying rhyme from the past few issues) that would forcibly reunite the two. Deadman shows up and demands that Constantine leave the terrorized June alone, but Constantine refuses. Deadman tries to possess Constantine but can't because Constantine is too “filthy”(HA!), and Constantine finishes the spell, reuniting June and the Enchantress. Now combined into one being, Enchantress/June seems to have no recollection of what happened. With the threat over, Madame Xanadu has all of the characters involved in the storyline stop by her house and asks them to stay together for the good of the future. Constantine refuses to work with Xanadu, and storms off, as do the rest of the characters, leaving Xanadu alone amongst her cards.

Thoughts: Meh. This issue, much like the rest of this storyline, did nothing for me. If I had to say something positive, I'd say that it's nice to see that Peter Milligan finally featured Constantine prominently in this issue, since that was one of my main gripes about the prior few issues. But the Enchantress/June Moone storyline? I have no idea what happened, and to be honest, I could care less. The only thing that matters to me is that it's over, and hopefully things will get better moving forward.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Next issue: John Constantine recites Humpty Dumpty!

Justice League Dark #4

And now we head back to DC as I post a rare forth review in the same night. Due to the Year in Review post I did on Saturday, I'm kind of behind with this week's comic reading and reviewing. As such, expect this to be a REALLY slapped together post, as a) I rushed the hell out of it, and b) I have little interest in a series that wants to push Deadman as the starring character.

Justice League Dark #4:

What Happened: While Deadman is trying to keep June Moone safe from the Enchantress, John Constantine and the Shade are independently searching for Deadman. As for Zatanna, she heads to the barn the real Enchantress was hiding out in, but is attacked by a bunch of super-powerful, magic-proof fake Enchantress's and June's. Z teleports herself away from the area and ends up with Shade. As for Madame Xanadu, she... I'm not really sure what the deal is with her. Anyway, Constantine hunts Xanadu down and accuses her of... um, something. Obviously I'm lost here. Deadman decides to travel to Shade with June and enters one of Shade's teleportational doorways, but somehow June is pulled towards Enchantress, while Deadman is whisked elsewhere.

The Good: I liked the art. It was nice to see Constantine and Zatanna get a slightly larger role in this issue than the prior three issues. The team is SLOOOOOWLY coming together.

The Bad: Now, I don't know if it's because I pretty much rushed through this issue, but I had NO clue what was going on here! The sooner we're done with June Moone and the Enchantress, the better! Although the other characters are starting to get more page time, there was still WAY too much Deadman in this one. I'm not sure what Peter Milligan's infatuation with Deadman is, but I most certainly do not share it.

The Verdict: When you don't get/don't care about the story in a comic, that's a pretty good indicator of what kind of a score it's going to get. I was happy that we had more from the characters I actually care about here, but I'm still going to be VERY happy to see this storyline end, hopefully as soon as the next issue.

Score: 4 out of 10.What an English gentleman!

Justice League Dark #3

Okay, this is one of THOSE comics... What do I mean by that? If I don't enjoy reading it, I'll be dropping it since this is the third issue of my try-out period. There's not really anything else to say...

Justice League Dark #3:

What Happened: Constantine wakes Zatanna up and Z tells Constantine that she had put herself in a protective trance to avoid being killed by the Enchantress. Meanwhile, Madame Xanadu sends Shade, The Changing Man(that is the WORST name ever, imho) to try to recruit first Deadman(who ignores Shade since he was busy protecting June Moone from the Enchantress), before settling on Mindwarp, who seems to be able to murder people via his astral projection. This issue ends with the Enchantress finally tracking down June and Deadman and preparing to bond(?) with June.

The Good: We finally got to see more than just Deadman and Dove in this issue! As a matter of fact, Dove didn't even appear here, making that a HUGE plus in my eyes. Zatanna and Constantine(who SHOULD be getting a majority of the page time) did a little bit more than in last issue. Horrible name aside, I was happy to see Shade, The Changing Man do stuff this issue. Really, everybody who is supposed to be a member of this title did substantial stuff, so in my eyes, that's really good! The cliffhanger has me interested in picking up issue #4.

The Bad: There was still WAY too much Deadman in this issue... What the hell? Did I miss a memo or something? Is this series actually “Deadman and the Justice League Dark”? After seemingly turning evil last issue, Xanadu was back to her normal self, which was a bit confusing. While Zatanna and Constantine were on more pages this issue than last, they still aren't being showcased as they should be... And that's not even me being a big mark for those two characters, just check out CBR's top 50 DC characters list for 2011... You have Z and Constantine on the list, and Deadman no where to be seen, thus proving that no matter how badly Geoff Johns and company want Deadman to get over, it's not working... Give the people what they want!!!

The Verdict: The cliffhanger, as well as getting to see more than just Deadman, saved this series from being dropped. Plain and simple. I was honestly all prepared to dust my hands of this series and drop it, but getting to see some other characters, a story that's SLOOOOWLY developing, as well as a strong cliffhanger had me sticking around for at least one more issue. Unless something awesome or terrible happens in the forth issue, I'll be collecting this series on an issue-by-issue basis, but hey, that's better than simply dropping it, no?

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.But... But where's Deadman?!?!?

Justice League Dark #2

And we're back to DC. The first issue of this series was a HUGE disappointment to me, as I was expecting great things what with the cast of characters and the writer. Instead I got a mess and a story that made no real sense. This issue is actually going to go a long way in deciding whether I drop this series from my pull list, so here's hoping it's WAY better than the first issue was...

Justice League Dark #2:

What Happened: The various magical beings in this series(Zatanna, Constantine, Deadman) all wind up having various bad things happen to them. Much of this issue revolves around Deadman's relationship with Dove, and their relationship troubles. In the end we discover that Madame Xanadu appears to be working with the evil Enchantress.

The Good: I liked the swerve with Madame Xanadu apparently being evil. I didn't see that coming. The parts with Zatanna and Constantine were, as I'd expect, my favorite parts of this issue. Xanadu's actions make me somewhat intrigued to see what happens next issue. The art was good.

The Bad: Pretty much everything else... I could give a rat's ass about Deadman or Dove. And unfortunately, most of this issue(inexplicably) revolved around them. I'm not exactly sure what happened to Zatanna, nor was I sure why Constantine had come to the States. In general this issue was just plain boring.

The Verdict: When I was about 3/4 of the way through with this comic book I was positive that I wouldn't be picking up issue #3. The Deadman stuff was that brutally bad. The twist at the end, with Xanadu apparently pushing the Enchantress to attack the other mystical beings in the DCU is the ONLY thing that saved this title from joining the LONG list of DC comic books that I was dropping. As it is, this series is probably the closest one to being dropped by me as I'll keep reading it on a month by month basis. But if we get another issue of the Deadman and Dove show, I'm finished with this series.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Hey look, it's one of the two pages John Constantine appeared in...

Justice League Dark #1

Let's take a look at the comic book that sounds like it should be a candy bar, Justice League Dark! Hmm, you know, I could go for some dark chocolate Raisinets right about now...

Justice League Dark #1:

What Happened: The Enchantress is losing her mind and throwing all sorts of unstable magic spells around. Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg go to stop her but are unable to cope with her magic and are defeated. Zatanna decides to go after the Enchantress against the wishes of Batman, and Madame Xanadu contacts Shade The Changing Man and tells him he needs to collect several other mystic individuals to deal with the Enchantress.

The Good: Hmm, not much to be honest with you... I guess the storyline holds some potential. A series that has both Zatanna AND John Constantine in it can't be all bad...

The Bad: This issue was as confusing as all hell. It had random cloned woman getting run over by cars, people babbling gibberish, and all sorts of other weird happenings. We really didn't learn all that much about the characters who are starring in this series.

The Verdict: I WANT to like this series SO bad... I really do. I mean it's right in my wheelhouse, what with the magic, and Zatanna and stuff... But this issue just didn't do it for me, which means it too will be put on the dreaded 3 more issues list... If things don't pick up by issue #3, it'll be so long, good-bye JLD.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.At least Constantine said “bollocks”...