Last September, there was one book that more people around Ground Zero were talking about and anticipating more than any other, and that was Justice League Dark. Arguably the best concept to come out of the New 52, it unfortunately lacked somewhat when it came to follow-through. While very much a solid book, with some pretty spectacular art, the first arc lacked the zip that a lot of people were hoping for.
What we have now with # 7 is a bit of a ‘mini-arc’ that fills the time until writer Peter Milligan leaves the book – it’s also crossing over with I, Vampire for a big, dark, scary, super-horror-hero-palooza. Daniel Sampere is filling in on art duties for this issue, and he turns out some outstanding work – however, his stuff here is still such a downgrade from the amazing artwork being put out by regular artist Mikel Janin that it seems severely lacking. The same can also be said for the story, although its not as much of a downgrade as the art, because it was starting from a lower point. I’m very much looking forward to Jeff Lemire’s upcoming run on the book, so that hopefully we can start having some deeper characterization than ‘Constantine is surly and British, Shade is neurotic and scary, Xanadu is mysterious, Deadman is angry, and Zatanna is…well, kind of bland, so far, actually’. We don’t even have a compelling villain, especially considering this is a crossover event – Cain is extremely hackneyed and one-note in the brief time we spend with him. In a book that should be all about the way these character’s personalities interact, they’ve instead been reduced to the barest of archetypes, and lots of vampire action is used to try and cover it up. None of this is really to say that the book is all that bad, really – its just fairly shallow stuff, and doesn’t live up at all to its excellent premise.
Its very fortunate that Justice League Dark‘s art has been so stunning thus far (both from Janin and Sampere – despite Sampere being a downgrade), because without that, the book might not be looking at a particularly long lifespan, and the premise deserves to be explored over a much longer period of time. Hopefully with the start of Jeff Lemire’s run with # 9, we’ll start to see the series live up to its potential. Until then, I’m still along for the ride, and hopefully you are too – we’ve got to support good ideas, even through the rough patches.
Be sure and check out DC’s official page for the book here: http://www.dccomics.com/comics/justice-league-dark-2011/justice-league-dark-7 and you can purchase the book digitally from Ground Zero Comics here: https://comics.comixology.com/ret/383/Ground_Zero_Comics_DC_Comics_Digital_Store/#/issue/22345/Justice-League-Dark-2011-7
As published on examiner.com
http://www.examiner.com/dc-comics-in-dallas/michael-seigler
