Zatanna and Wonder Woman have descended into the Upside Down Man’s realm to buy time for the rest of the Justice League Dark to find something that may help. Spoilers for Justice League Dark #25 follow.
Ever since this volume of Justice League Dark started, the Upside Down Man has been a thorn in the side of the team, namely Wonder Woman and Zatanna. So, while this may seem like a bit of an annoyance, this issue proves that it’s not. It really feels like a midpoint of the story being told by both James Tynion IV and Ram V and this issue holds up really well in that respect. There’s a bit of an anti-climactic ending, but the rest of the issue makes up for that.
Where this issue excels though is with its character work with Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman, namely Zatanna and Swamp Thing. To start off with Wonder Woman though, she gets a great scene between her and the Upside Down Man that perfectly captures who she is as a character. It’s only a couple of pages, but those pages are fantastic for her. As for Swamp Thing, we finally get to see him and Abby reunite! It’s only for one page, but it’s an absolutely gorgeous splash page that portrays the importance of their relationship beautifully while also creating a heartbreaking feeling at the same time.
As for Zatanna though, this really is her issue. The issue starts off with a flashback to her bringing a bunny back to life with her father saving her from the cost of doing so. It’s a wonderful moment to see his love for Zatanna that also serves as an important thematic moment. Back in the present though, we get to see Zatanna as the incredible magician that she is. She can’t beat the Upside Down Man in his own realm, but she can keep him at bay. It may not seem like much, but it’s always great to see Zatanna being the absolute badass that she is.
As mentioned above though, the issue does end a bit anti-climatically due to Swamp Thing seemingly imprisoning the Upside Down Man inside a large version of Swamp Thing’s hands. Visually, it looks incredibly cool and fits the mind-bending style of the series really well. However, it just feels like an incredibly quick ending to the issue, which is a bit jarring.
As for the art, Amancay Nahuelpan does a really solid job with this issue. He channels the otherworldly, mind-bending style that Alvaro Martinez Bueno did very early on in the series, while also doing his own thing. There’s a great amount of emotion in this issue as well, which he absolutely nails when it appears. And, in an unusual turn for the series, there’s a joke. Not a dark humor joke or sarcastic, but a genuine joke when Zatanna says “Pew, Pew,” and proceeds to blast the Upside Down Man. It’s so unusual for the series that it could have fallen very flat, but Nahuelpan does a great job with it and it works very well.
