Magic has its costs, and the Justice League Dark is quickly re-learning that, but not before The Witching War begins. Minor spoilers for Justice League Dark #14 follow.
Justice League Dark has consistently been one of the best books that DC has been publishing seen the series began last year. Now, going into its third arc, that continues to be the case. “The Lords of Order” was excellent and, based on the set-up in this issue, “The Witching War” looks to be even grander somehow. Right now though, all we are the set-up of the arc and that set-up is paving the way for glory.
For being a set-up issue for the conflict ahead, James Tynion IV goes a long way toward continuing to world-build. The mystical and horror corners of the DC Universe are things that have constantly been neglected and the fact that this series is willing to hold-heartedly embrace those corners is wonderful. In this issue alone we get the Justice League Dark fighting a coven of vampires, which is amazing. This is played much lighter in tone than most of the series has been, but it totally works because it provides a breath of fresh air for the issue and the series.
That’s not to say there aren’t horror elements in this issue because there definitely are. In fact, the opening dreaming sequence between Wonder Woman and Zatara feels ripped straight from early issues of The Sandman, which is fitting cause it was a dream. And even a couple of pages toward the middle that could be deemed filler, aren’t. There’s an existential dread that seeps out of these pages that transforms them from filler content to potentially a big plot point. It’s executed brilliantly.
Just because this is a set-up issue though, that doesn’t mean that it only sets the pieces and does nothing else. No, this issue moves forward several key plot points in subtle, yet important ways that set-up stories rarely do. There was obvious potential that doing so could go wrong though, but Tynion manages to keep the everything relatively balanced throughout.
Probably the worst part about this issue is the art. Not because it’s bad, for, from the contrary, it’s great. It’s just that Alvaro Martinez Bueno isn’t really able to do the mind-bending art that he normally does on the series. There are moments early on the issue where his trademark mind-bending is on display, which is incredibly unsettling in the best way possible. However, the rest of the issue ends up feeling like pretty standard comic book fare. The story being told doesn’t offer many chances for Martinez Bueno to work his artistic skills to their fullest. However, that’s not really the point of this issue, so it’s completely understandable and his art is still great.
CHECK OUT: Justice League Dark Annual #1 Review: A New Avatar Rises
[…] CHECK OUT: Justice League Dark #14 Review: The Witching War is Upon Us […]