Zatannurday: Justice League Dark Review

Justice League Dark was released this week and since it features Zee as a main character I thought a review would be in order for today.

I like the idea behind JL Dark to be honest; cases and missions that are to dark, to scary and too dangerous for the Justice League.  In the first issue Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg get their asses handed to them by the Enchantress and she is still imprisoned.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

The story is by Peter Milligan and it is a good little mystery.  We have a woman, June Moon, that seems to be crazy and a bunch of copies of her getting killed all over the place. 34 copies according to Batman. All the while we get this voice over from Madame Xanadu about how the future is in trouble.  We are introduced to Shade the Changing Man (at least I have no familiarity with him except from the Flashpoint miniseries) and his girlfriend, who seems to only be a figment of his imagination.  Xanadu is shooting up.  Oh and John Constantine is here too.  Obviously this is not the Justice League.  What about the Justice League?  Oh yeah they are trying to stop Enchantress and getting their asses handed to them.  Not Booster Gold and Blue Beetle here, Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg.

And aside...I read Wonder Woman #1 as well and I liked it, but where is this in that continuity?  No idea.  Not sure I even care to be honest.  Anyway back to the story.

We get to see Zee chatting with Batman and she decides that if the best of the best can't deal with Enchantress she will have too.  She ties up Batman and heads out to where Enchantress is causing all this damage while still in prison. And insane.

What is good?  Well the Mikel Janin art is great.  There is such a cool style here and there is no cheese cake shots to speak of.

What is good?
I like the story so far, though it is not great or perfect, it is certainly a mystery.  This is story that gets this group together and it is bound to have some issues.  I like that all the characters are "damaged goods" somehow, but all have some great power.  And Constantine is still smoking, that is good since it is so much a part of his character.  He looks younger here, like many of the new 52s.  But really he should look more like Sting or Johnny Rotten. (see here)

What need work?
Not enough Zee so far.  AND we have not been given much on her background in this reboot.  She obviously is part of the JL proper and has had dealings with Batman and Enchantress before.  I'd like to know more about her costume change, but may that will be explained later.

I am not a fan of Deadman though.  His costume is too silly for someone as serious as he is supposed to be. I know his backstory, but I need to see a good reason for including him in this group. Other than of course he is dead.

Also if this is the JL Dark should we get Raven at some point?  Is she still part of the Teen Titans?  After all if Cyborg is now part of the JL (as he should be really) then Raven can be part of this league.  Especially since we seem to be using everyone else from the Flashpoint Secret Seven group.

Of course I am going to keep up with this one.  Magic and comics are a potent mix for me.  Plus I have always wanted to see more Madame Xanadu and Shade (a character I wrote off) seems more interesting.