James Tynion IV's Justice League Dark coming July 2018

[kjn]

Preview for Justice League Dark #12

We get a flashback to the formation of the Justice League Dark, including Batman batsplaining magic to Diana.

[Frontier]

Preview for Justice League Dark #12

We get a flashback to the formation of the Justice League Dark, including Batman batsplaining magic to Diana.

I don't think he's so much trying to "batsplain" magic (as even he says he really doesn't know anything about it), just making sure Diana is aware of the darkness she's creeping into with this team.

[Doctor Kent Nelson]

and my bud Kent Nelson is pushed to the side again to make way for a new host ... again!

[Sam]

Damn, that issue was impressive. Tynion is really doing career best work here.

[kjn]

I don't think he's so much trying to "batsplain" magic (as even he says he really doesn't know anything about it), just making sure Diana is aware of the darkness she's creeping into with this team.

Given how Batman continued for the rest of the issue, he was totally batsplaining.

[Frontier]

and my bud Kent Nelson is pushed to the side again to make way for a new host ... again!

Like, what was even the point of bringing him back...

Although I hope the JSA will at least need a Fate once they're back in the modern era.

[Vordan]

Batman explaining magic to Diana was super annoying but otherwise it was a great issue Zatanna’s Magic changing when she became a Lord of Chaos was well done, and I liked the ending with Diana. Can’t wait for the Diana vs. Circe showdown that’s coming up.

[kjn]

I really like how Tynion and the rest of the team has managed to craft tension and emotion into this story so far, even if the resolution nearly always seems to be a bit of a letdown in these types of stories compared to the setup (but that's largely due to the inherent trickiness of sticking a landing in horror stories, and the demands on the publishing medium).

However, I think the story has world-building issues that might come back to bite it later on. Tynion has introduced order-magic, chaos-magic, Hecate-magic, and Otherkind-magic, and while they form into two pairs of mutual opposites (order–chaos and Hecate–Otherkind), it's not clear to me how the two pairs relate to each other.

It's also interesting that Diana now has given up "raw" access to magic power twice in the series: first Hecate-magic and then chaos-magic. I'm reminded of Pratchett's Equal Rites, where the witch Esk defeats the encroaching magic-eating shadows by explicitly not using magic, but I think that particular twist is something that doesn't really fit into the tone here.

But kudos to Tynion to finally twigging into that Zeus is nothing to Diana. Though I wish she had called out to Hestia, or even Hecate or Aphrodite, when doing her enchantment at the end. Persephone would also have made a great choice.

Another thing I really liked is how Tynion manages his large cast. There are so many great moments for various characters both in and out of the core team—Zatanna, Detective Chimp, Jason Blood, Kent Nelson—but I think the true lynchpin, moral rock, and MVP of this issue was Khalid Nassour.

[Doctor Kent Nelson]

Like, what was even the point of bringing him back...

Although I hope the JSA will at least need a Fate once they're back in the modern era.

Maybe Tynion will make the new host be a dude with an Ankh tattoo on his eye and craft the helmet of Nabu into a cool looking dagger... wait, that's been done before right?



... new host... lame!

The Dr Fate character has become the toilet paper for DC writers as the musical helm of Nabu continues.

1. Kent Nelson
2. Eric Strauss
3. Eric & Linda Strauss
4. Linda Strauss
5. Kent Nelson
6. Kent & Inza Nelson
7. Inza Nelson
8. Kent & Inza Nelson
9. Jared Stevens
10. Hector Hall
11. Kent V Nelson
12. Khalid Ben-Hassin
13. Khalid Nassour
14. Kent Nelson

Throw in a few more Elseworlds and alternate Earths as well

[kjn]

Some thoughts about #13.

After the action of last issue, we get a quiet, talky one with three chapters. The first one centered on Kent Nelson talking with Diana and Khalid Nassour, the next on John Constantine talking with Zatanna, and the last on Circe and Lex Luthor. There is really not much resolution or decisions here, but we get some depth for Nelson's relation with Nabu and for Constantine.

Art-wise, it is servicable but with some poor artistic choices. Buckingham has Diana walking around in the halls of the Justice League brandishing the sword and shield and with her cloak on. The last I can get as her signature look for JLD, but not the sword and shield. Khalid is drawn in a way that makes him looks stunted.

In the next chapter, Sampere is missing Traci-13's mischevious attitude that I've come to expect from her. I'm also not sure if it's the dialogue, the art, or both, but there is something that doesn't connect in Zatanna's attitude to Constantine, especially her parting words. She feels more like a marionette saying whatever the script demands than flowing through her emotional states on her own accord.

[kjn]

One of the creators behind Hellblazer #11, which featured the Casanova Club and John Constantine's first (and badly done) exorcism, also participated on JLD #13: Mark Buckingham.

In Buckingham's words:

My main focus this year has been to lock myself away in my studio to quietly plug away at the long-awaited return of Miracleman, so I’ve been doing my best to keep extracurricular comic work to a minimum. However writer James Tynion IV and new series editor Brittany Holzherr did an excellent job in twisting my arm to make a guest appearance on their fantastic Justice League Dark book. I asked them to limit it to ten pages so I limit the impact on my day job to a minimum.

I really enjoyed the nostalgic revisiting of Doctor Fates origin, from More Fun Comics way back in the 1940’s, plus a first chance to draw Wonder Woman was a real treat. I didn’t realise at the time, that the second half of the book would include a brief nod to my very first series at DC, Hellblazer, with a look back at the Newcastle incident.

It’s funny how so many things I’m doing these days seem to take me full circle through my thirty plus year-long career!”

[Doctor Kent Nelson]

Latest issue? At least they didn't kill Kent Nelson again but hell... Another new Fate? Writers need to stop leaving their mark on this character. Disappointed.

[kjn]

I think you are reasoning ahead of your data here. It's not like they have introduced a character who can or will be the next Doctor Fate.

I think it's at least as likely that Tynion choose to have Kent Nelson (and Khalid Nassour) decline the helmet for now, to make any of them picking it up at a future date the more impactful, and to dig into their own individual characters.

Or it's all a tie-in to YotV, and the helmet is the artifact that Circe is after in #16. That could certainly be why the helmet is kept without a bearer for now.

[kjn]

Preview for Justice League Dark Annual #1 is up over at Newsarama.

It opens slightly ahead of #13, as they discuss asking Nelson and Nassour for help. Tynion also makes a parallel between magic and life: both are continually adapting and changing to the circumstances.

[Vordan]

Annual was pretty good. The artist did a good job with Circe’s new look.