Doctor Fate
Hauhet is still a thing and I mean that literally because she's devoid of personality that she can't be called a character. She's a device. For some reason, she was the only thing Geoff Johns thought was worth keeping from the JLD continuity. If you're going to throw JLD continuity out the window, at least retcon Nabu's bullshit death and put him back into the helmet. He's central to the Doctor Fate mythos, has a good dynamic with Khalid and is an actually character with agency who does shit. I'll take the horribly inconsistent, mood-swinging Nabu from JSA over no Nabu. Since Nabu (and Kent) is still dead, Khalid has no one to bounce off except for Salem and we're getting to her.
I love most of Justice League Dark, but I'll never forgive it for deciding to just kill off so much Doctor Fate stuff and completely screwing over Khalid as a character. Even the Tower of Fate was slated for destruction and the only reason it survived is because the series got left hanging (Thank god)
Anyway, Salem. Can't stand her. Here's why: she's a bully. There's nothing fun in her dynamic with Khalid. If it had been a case of Khalid giving as good as he got or even better, it'd probably be really entertaining to have these characters alongside each other. But because he's not written like that, Salem just comes across as an annoying bully and I couldn't care less about her issues. There's a point in the issue where Khalid is trying to send her back to Limbo Town which I would call a dick move since they're the people who cursed her, but because she's such a unlikable jerk, I just want her gone too.
It's not that her character doesn't have potential - I actually don't think she should have become a villain - because she does: she was rejected by her people and cursed by them, her only mentor and friend (save her broom) is dead in the present and died not remembering her, and the only thing she had to remember him by belongs to someone else. Not to mention that every time she sees Khalid, she's reminded of Kent and thereby all the sad shit that happened to her.
Her having a solid mountain of a chip on her shoulder makes complete sense, but her being this asshole just overshadows all of this because it means I don't care about her emotional boo-boos. Again, this could have been solved by simply writing Khalid as someone who's his old competent self and can fire back.
Speaking of which, I really hate how Khalid is treated in the swamp where he's just written as incompetent who doesn't even create a barrier to protect himself against being grabbed by a big zombie and then, while grabbed, still doesn't do anything to free or protect himself. Yaaaay. What great portrayal of powerful character. Then again, Batman (and everybody else sans Salem) is useless and doesn't use any of his gadgets, so maybe Grundy just got a magic shield that renders him impervious to anything that's not the plot. Seriously, Batman and Helena tries to hold Grundy still despite the fact that he's massive compared to them. Doesn't try to wrap his legs to use his size against him or anything. Batman The Genius, everyone. Also, Alan takes one shot at Grundy, while they're doing this, misses and then doesn't take another shot. By the way, Batman's still here. I don't know why. Because Helena's here? I think Johns is building to something about him doubting Helena and taking charge over her, but just throw that scene into somewhere else as a downtime moment between him and Helena. I still say he shouldn't be here and it's annoying seeing him try to be squad leader, especially with Alan being present (in the background with no lines)
I’d almost say the ending made up for how shitty Khalid is treated earlier in the issue because it’s basically Khalid going “You’re an asshole, you don't want my help, you want to use me as a punching bag and that's not going to happen. You're not getting my stuff, and I'm showing you the door. Goodbye.” to Salem, but in a mature, mostly professional way. That’s the Khalid I love. He has a spine, he's good with magic and he's not just going to take shit. It feels close to Khalid's portrayal in the LoO which, in my opinion, is honestly the best Khalid portayal, especially since he’s not stuck in a perpetual inexperienced-successor-character-development that he’s never allowed to develop past.
Of course, the “almost” is because it feels like the series doesn’t write Khalid consistently in terms of power and personality. This is even on display in the issue itself because the beginning fits with how Khalid was portrayed in the Golden Age and most of the series. Which was not a good portrayal and neither is the swamp segment of this issue. Even if he doesn’t want to hurt Grundy, he doesn’t even throw up a barrier for self-protection. It's honestly insulting to see the character treated this way. The ending feels more like JLD Khalid in both power and personality. This isn't a new thing either because issue #5 had Khalid suddenly be confident, powerful and in his element for the sake of the climax because the plot needs him to pull a bunch of JSAer from a snowglobe-shaped hat.
There's also a weird discrepancy because Khalid is trying to send Salem back to Limbo Town, but then he says that he pre-arranged with the JSA for them to take her in. Those two outcomes don't seem compatible with each other. Maybe Khalid just really wanted Salem out of his life so badly that he was going to chuck her in there and just be like "Oh, she decided to go home, guys" to the rest of the JSA when they asked about her /j.
It’s also weird that Khalid refers to his beloved mentor and relative by his full name, especially when he's alone and just talking to himself. It doesn’t make sense for the character nor as a clumsy attempt to remind the audience because the issue itself re-established Kent’s connection to Khalid.
I can't tell if Salem's been set up as a jerk villain or as a sympathetic villain.
Everything else
The first pages featuring the Harlequin got me intrigued because it does a good job setting up the character's blend of personality. I also like that he's a vigilante who's clearly motivation by attention, which manifests itself in the way he marks criminals, and he's awareof it. He's conciously motivated by it. It makes me want to see him interact with the heroes because it's ripe for interactions both fun and dramatic.
I also like Icicle. No idea what they're referencing, but you still easily get the context: he helped the heroes against a villain, so hero has faith in him. He also seems like he'd be a fun fit.
There's also some stuff with Doctor Midnite, the Atom's former wife and evil Wildcat, but honestly, I don't care. I have no idea what they're talking about and I'm not interested, so I'm not going to bother to find out if it's some stuff tied to event comics or some previous series.
Why are the Legion here? Seriously, I know they got ties to the Justice Society, but why are they here now? We've just introduced a bunch of characters, some of them very new. Focus on them. Build them. Give more downtime interactions between characters.
The art's very pretteh.
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