Not "a magical problem", rather this magical problem, and where she suddenly has reason to doubt her own memories or experiences.
I think the obfuscation/omission/lie to the Justice League was more to build up the tension within Diana and between Zatanna and Diana than anything else, and make clear in more than one way that the members of Justice League Dark were on their own. More of a character than plot moment.
You're right about Tynion forgetting Diana's ability to commune with animals, but I also think that there is a discussion or two that Tynion omitted from the narrative. I'm pretty sure Diana was confident in her ability to approach Circe directly and receive help from her; it was rather Zatanna and Constantine who thought they needed offerings and sacrifices. Which Circe mentioned was more a thing to keep people from bothering her, and never applied to Diana.
I think Diana's and Zatanna's approaches and relation to magic are fundamentally different, even if both see it as dangerous and has a deep personal relation to it. I have a feeling that the resolution to the arc will require them to reach some form of synthesis of their views, even if they probably always will view magic from different vantage points.
(It's also interesting how this issue, talky as it is, mirrors the movie, with Zatanna taking Steve's role of telling Diana no and calling for planning before action.)
Tomato/tomahto, I guess, lol.
Be it this or that magical problem, I still don't see how it can make Diana so unsure of herself, the she would forget that above all else, she is a leader and a problem solver & suddenly lash out at other teammates. This new power is certainly terrifying, but this isn't how Wonder Woman deals with her fears. Writing her this way just to create some tension between her and Zatanna is definitely a plot driven decision. Diana and Zatanna could certainly have a difference of opinion on how to deal with this problem and that in of itself can create some tension. She also wouldn't just blindly hand herself over to Circe without at least saying "Hey - hold my lasso and tell me what you know about all this and what your intentions are". I'm willing to wager that somewhere down the line - after Hecate's been defeated, Circe will betray everyone and make a play for the power within Diana for herself. You would have to write Diana is some ditz not to see that coming a mile away!
And that thing with the poor unicorn - How many blanks should the reader fill in for the writer in order to make the story work..?
I view it the other way around: the way she acts out of character shows how rattled she is by the events. It is even discussed on page 10 of JLD 2.
My impression is that Diana is quite careful about using the lasso, maybe especially now that she is out of balance and unsure of herself. Also, given my own knowledge of mythology, my impression of Circe as a baddie is that it's not that fitting with how she was presented in antiquity, or how Diana would view her. More than anyone else in the DCU, Diana trusts people beyond reason. That's how she can achieve things beyond hope. (Paraphrased from Lois Bujold in the wonderful novel A Civil Campaign.)
As for the poor unicorn, yes, it was a weak point in the plot. I think it was included mostly as a way for Diana to reminisce about her youth as a source for later quips from Circe and Deadman. Otherwise I'm used to interpolating stuff in fiction, and I'm not sure a new reader would think all that much about the unicorn.
They got it backwards. The "theatrical" look as she put it, in other words the actual costume, should be the true look, and that normal appearance the mask. Nothing about gods, nor any superhero/villain should be normal on the reg, especially their appearance. But I do agree its nice that they're both canon. Again, the explanation is just totally backwards for my taste as a fan of comics and all that come with it, including flashy costumes.
"They can be a great people Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you. My only son." - Jor-El
It was an okay issue and It was nice to see Manitou Dawn. Im just going to drop Justice League Dark though because I kinda struggle to enjoy it and its already looking like the books just a continuation of the previous Justice League Dark with Deadman popping up, giving us half of the original JLD's cast.
Currently(or soon to be) Reading: Alan Scott: Green Lantern, Batman/Superman: World's Finest, Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Jay Garrick: The Flash, Justice Society of America, Power Girl, Superman, Shazam, Titans, Wesley Dodds: Sandman, Wonder Woman, & World's Finest: Teen Titans.
There was nothing wrong with the previous JLD, I just got into this book because I wanted to see a team led by Wonder Woman. Instead its Justice League Dark essentially guest starring the only character on the entire team that I have any interest in.
As for whether Constantine and Deadman are officially on the team I suppose it depends on how you count it. At this point hes with the team working with them, pushing them in specific directions, providing intel, and at this point whose actually leading the team seems split between him, Diana and Zatanna. Deadman popped up in the last three pages saying he heard the JLD reformed and he came to get help for Namby panda bat is under attack by Hecate
My guess is that Deadman will stick around but I can't see Constantine sticking around unless he's the leader.
Currently(or soon to be) Reading: Alan Scott: Green Lantern, Batman/Superman: World's Finest, Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Jay Garrick: The Flash, Justice Society of America, Power Girl, Superman, Shazam, Titans, Wesley Dodds: Sandman, Wonder Woman, & World's Finest: Teen Titans.
We got some interesting new tidbits in the history of magic in the DCU from Circe. Now, I think neither Nabu nor Circe are that trustworthy, but here is what we get from them:
Nabu in JLD 2, showing people (mostly men, but I believe also two women) entering and leaving a cave, and talking about the Primal Void:
Circe in WW 56, with a small frame showing a similar scene to Nabu, apart from other scenes involving Hecate:It was the dawn of man. Primitive and wild. They were scientists. Explorers. Philosophers. They wished to put the world in order. In harmony with its elements. Like Prometheus, they found a power and dragged it into this world. To do their bidding. The first magic of this world. They were the Lords of Order. The great peacemakers. Sorcerer kings. The power was unspeakable. Their bodies could not hold it… so they bound themselves to artifacts that could focus and contain it, prevent it from spreading. But it was too late. The power had caught. Magic was spreading across this world like a disease. They taught means to guide and control the magic, tools of language, staffs, wands, rules, counterbalances… the tools of order. The means to prevent any being from handling the power in its rawest form. Together, they wrote the first books of magic.
Adding some knowledge of Greek mythology (see the thread "Revisiting Olympos"), it seems that Hecate first shielded the world from the Primal Void. Some men tried to steal her power, but instead tapped into the Primal Void. Hecate split her own power into the witch-marked, but also herself became corrupted by the Primal Void, thus ending up as we saw her in WW/JLD The Witching Hour 1.Before the gods first walked the earth, before all the panthons of all the cultures of the world… there was Hecate. She was the primal woman incarnate. Maidenhood to motherhood to crone. Birth, creation, death. Her symbol was the full moon, the symbol of mankind's great collective unconscious. She represented nature itself and the potential of nature. They would come to call her the triple goddess of magic. The witch-mother. In the early days of man, when she still consorted with an open heart and mind, the first human magicians attempted to steal the unlimited power within her. But they failed, caging something darker, something that would slowly infect the world with darkness.
To protect her boundless power from the growing darkness, she broke it into five pieces and hid it within five young women until the hour came that she would need to take that power back [ … ]
For centuries she has hated what magic has become on this world. She has known that she could wield enough power to supplant it, if it became necessary. What you have told me of the Otherkind and the Upside-Down Man… I fear that time has come, she will burn out the hearts of magic on earth and replace them with her own power. If she succeeds, she will control all of magic like she can control the witchmarked, and prevent the Otherkind from ever crossing to our world. Understand this, too. Hecate may have once represented something light in this world, but she has become a twisted force of hate.
At the same time, I'd say that both Hecate and the original Lords of Order were working for order, in keeping things in their proper place, but both Hecate and the items seems to have been corrupted. That leads me to speculate that the conflict between Zatanna and Diana will carry over to the metaphysical level, with Zatanna not only fighting for Diana's soul, but Hecate's as well.
However, I'm unsure what the difference is, if any, between Hecate's power and the Primal Void.
Also, the pointer to that Hecate here also represents nature gives a clue that Swamp Thing will become a battleground in its own right. Right now he is the member of the team that is most apart from the rest and has contributed the least apart from brute strength.
If ten years of recording The Young and the Restless for my mother have taught me anything, it's that characters in serial dramas are always happily in love...until they're not
“The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views...which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.” - the 4th Doctor