Written by J.M. DeMatteis
Art by Vincente Cifuentes
Published by DC Comics
As Forever Evil races towards its conclusion, so do all of the tie-in books that were telling narratives of their own. Aside from the main storyline involving the Crime Syndicate, for me, the most entertaining of the tie-ins is the story being told in Justice League Dark. John Constantine has finally found and freed Zatanna from her bonds and they’ve defeated Felix Faust and with the help of a special someone, freed the Justice League Dark. There are a ton of twists and turns that you’ll definitely want to see!
This issue was much lighter in the way of combat-action than previous ones, but it has plenty edge-of-your-seat action to make up for it. There’s a HUGE twist (no spoilers!) at the end of this issue that I’m incredibly interested in seeing how it plays out. I’ve really loved J.M. DeMatteis’s ability to tell such a great narrative in the massive amounts of action this book has had so far, so I know that we’re in for something really special with this new dynamic to the JLD we’re going to be seeing in the books to come. I also really love that Zatanna is really coming into her own since she’s been back with the group after being captured. It’s a side of the character I’ve never seen before and it’s obvious that DeMatteis plans on giving her an extremely prominent role of leadership in the DCU from now on.
I really missed Mikel Janin’s art in this issue. It’s not that Vincente Cifuentes does a bad job, I just feel like Janin would’ve really captured the scope of the powers on display in this issue wonderfully. The art just seemed a bit flat to me at times, but there’s one splash page that shows Constantine displaying what he’s truly capable of that was absolutely stunning. Other than that one instance though, everything just felt really flat to me which was disappointing because J.M. DeMatteis gave this issue a TON of potential to reach new heights.
With Forever Evil nearing its end I can’t help but love how it’s helped other DC books really hit their stride. No titles have benefitted more than the Justice League books and this one is no exception. While I’m sure this book was terrific before Forever Evil, it was the event that drew me in and it was J.M. DeMatteis’s incredible ability to tell a great story that’s going to keep me around once the event is finished. I really hope Mikel Janin is coming back, I haven’t seen any news about a shift in the creative team, but the combination of DeMatteis and Janin were doing some really incredible things before this issue!
3.5 out of 5 nerds
Irwin Fletcher
I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.
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