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Justice League Dark is absolutely one of my favorite series out today, probably because it has some of my favorite characters, many of whom I would guess you have never heard of.
The old school Justice League is made up of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern and whoever happens to be hanging around that week.
The only character who generally crosses over to Justice League Dark is Wonder Woman but is mainly made up of John Constantine, Zatanna Zatara, Bobo the Detective Chimp, Swamp Thing, and Man-Bat, not to be confused with Batman. A character named Phantom Stranger pops in and out of the series so far.
The two are hard to confuse, considering one wears a cape, cowl, and broods constantly and the other is a man who, well, looks like a bat.
Justice League Dark, as described in the headline, handles things of a magical and mystical nature. Everyone on the team, with the exception of Wonder Woman, has a connection to magic, the mystic arts or is a British cigarette smoking, sarcastic trench coat wearing guy named John Constantine who prefers to work alone and does NOT like being part of a team.
This, of course, makes for a great story, which is what writer James Tynion IV has given us so far. There’s no reason to think that will stop anytime soon.
The series opens up with Zatanna Zatara, the stage illusionist who also spends time with her backward magic (she says all her spells in reverse) fighting the dark arts. She has a passion for this because she lost her father to the dark arts. She has little fear and will take on any mystic she comes across.
But back to the story…
Something goes wrong with the magic at Zatanna’s show and Wonder Woman just happens to come crashing in to help save the day. They run into Constantine who is aware that several magicians and mages worldwide have suddenly lost their ability to work their, well, magic.
Wonder Woman ends up having a drink with Bobo the Detective Chimp at a bar in a pocket dimension that only certain people know how to access. Having a limited customer base has to be hard on business and as the series progresses, Bobo ends up taking ownership of the bar after some nasty business inside the establishment takes the life of the owner.
I could tell you more, but that would only spoil the fun when you read the series. What I can tell you is that I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes good storytelling or who has a thing for magic and the dark arts in general.
Justice League Dark #9 hits stores March 13 so you have a week to go and get issues 1-8 and get caught up!
The second Justice League Dark series gets a solid 5 purple goatees out of 5!
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Photos courtesy DC Comics.