jldark-01-cv-1124977Justice League Dark #1

DC Comics

Written by James Tynion IV

Art by Alvaro Martinez Bueno

Inks by Raul Fernandez

Colors by Brad Anderson

Letters by Rob Leigh

There is something fundamentally wrong with magic and it goes far beyond just being out of balance as Zatanna discovers when a routine rabbit out of the hat trick turns into a fight against demonic tentacles attacking the audience. Only the brute force intervention of Wonder Woman is enough to stop the creatures. In the aftermath, Diana speaks to Zatanna about joining her magic-centric Justice League team and the magician refuses. Instead, she seeks the council of other magic users including Etrigan, Klarion the Witch Boy, Deadman and others. It’s a meeting that is not exactly going well when she notices that they are being spied on.

jldark-01-7-1124974

Zatanna traces the spy back to Swamp Thing, who is watching over the Tree of Wonder and trying to communicate with it. When she asks the keeper of the green what to do, she is shown a shocking vision of a possible future that she must try and prevent. Unfortunately, with everything going wrong with magic, they might cause more harm than good.

James Tynion IV has done a great job of introducing new readers to many of the power players in the world of magic in the DC universe. I love how the story in this new series is connected to the previous events in series like Dark Nights Metal and No Justice. It gives a great continuity to events and allows for the consequences of those acts to have resonance beyond the pages of the books they were featured in. He manages to make the world of magic and its users into a shadow society that most people fear to tread and that goes a long way towards making the story itself more ominous and intriguing.

Bueno has some great art in this issue. I love how Kirk Langstrom is drawn in this issue with his bat features prominent in the panels. It’s a great look for the character and it looks both menacing and cute depending on the panel. This is a great first issue that looks like it’s taking the reader to the darker side of the huge story arcs we just finished. Can’t wait to see what happens next.

Justice League Dark #1

8.5

Overall

8.5/10

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