The Justice League Dark has no more ground to give and Circe is bearing down on them with full force. The Witching War is nearing its end, but who will prevail? Spoilers for Justice League Dark #19 follow.
Since the series began, Justice League Dark has been my favorite series that DC has been publishing. I’ve loved pretty much every issue that has been released to this point for two reasons. One, it’s complete and utter foray into the horror genre. And two, it’s usage of magic to redefine characters and the world. So now, with this issue being James Tynion IV’s final issue due to obligations on Batman, does it end well? Yes and no. It’s by no means bad, but it doesn’t feel like the proper end to his run.
So, to start off with the positives, Tynion knows how to write Wonder Woman so incredibly well. She’s arguably been the main character of his run and this issue really feels like a satisfying conclusion to that story. Diana starts out relatively naïve to the inner workings of magic, despite that she is a demi-goddess. Now, with this issue, the character growth that has had in response to the magical world is apparent. Taking a character like Diana and successfully giving her a solid character arc is no easy feat, but Justice League Dark has done so.
The problem with this issue though lands with the amount of threads that are left hanging. If Tynion was still on board, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but given that he’s leaving, it kind of is. Everything revolving around the Otherkind is still up in the air and there’s plenty to still fix in the magical realm. It’s pretty obvious that this was not the planned ending to Tynion’s run. Hopefully, incoming writer Ram V will take those threads and build on them in a satisfying way moving forward though.
But hey, even though Tynion is leaving, at least Alvaro Martinez Bueno is staying on board for a little while longer. His art on the series has consistently been phenomenal and his work here is no exception. It’s not as mind-blowingly crazy as some other issues have been, but his work doesn’t need to be. It’s cinematic in the best ways possible and channels magic from the page to your eyes spectacularly. Honestly, there are some pages where the pencils are so intricate that I asked “How do you ink and color this?” Luckily, I’m not the one doing either as Raul Fernandez on inks and Brad Anderson on colors work wonders in this issue.