jld17cvrBy Jeff Lemire, Ray Fawkes and Mikel Janin

The Death of Magic arc has been pretty decent. It’s interesting to see members of the team have their powers go haywire, especially Constantine losing his ability to tell a lie. However, this story has lost a bit of its luster. Lemire and Fawkes are great storytellers, so it’s very disappointing to see this arc lose so much steam.

Issue 17 isn’t bad by any means, but necessary plot threads are not furthered in any way, making it feel like nothing goes on. The biggest plot development is Tim Hunter deciding to accept his destiny and lead an army of magical creatures to battle against the forces of Epoch. The problem with this is he just changes his mind and attitude with no progression towards it. What the heck changed his mind?

Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes are still able to make the core JLD characters very interesting. The best part of this issue is Frankenstein, since he’s still relatively new to the series and it’s still fun to see his role in the group. Deadman and Constantine have an interesting back and forth and since Constantine can’t lie at this point, his reactions deepen the character immensely.

Mikel Janin does a wonderful job drawing this issue. Tim Hunter’s magical army looks stunning, with interesting looking faces and torsos. Aging Madame Xanadu looks positively grotesque and really makes the reader feel a sense of impending doom for the character. Janin also draws a very detailed Frankenstein, with some creepy looking stitch work and scars.

Justice League Dark #17 doesn’t deliver the goods, but it definitely leaves fans hopeful for a stunning and satisfying end to the story. These characters are still well written and too interesting for this series to not get back on track. Let’s not give Lemire and Fawkes too much guff –this series is still one of the best DC titles.

Writing: 6/10
Art: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

Derek Baker

Derek Baker

Managing Reviewer/Reviewer at ReadComicBooks
Derek Baker lives in a small town right outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has been collecting comics since he was about 8 years old. When he first walked into a comic book shop, he knew that he was home. Derek has never really stopped reading comic books since. It all started with him watching the Batman and Robin and Superfriends cartoons in the ’80s. In the ’90s, his need for comics grew even more with the comics boom of that time, as well as animated television shows like Batman: The Animated Series and Spider-Man. For Derek, being an adult just means having a job and getting more money for comic books. Although he enjoys indie comics, Derek is a DC and Marvel fanboy at heart. Especially DC. His favorite characters include Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, Swamp Thing, The Flash, Aquaman, Spawn and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Derek is also a toy and video game collector, old and new. Derek lives with his lovely girlfriend, Nicole. He works in the health care industry and is also going to school to be a registered nurse.
Derek Baker

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@xamuzaran '99? For music? Meh. Agaetis Byrjun was released that year. That's about it, as far as things that stand the test of time. - 2 hours ago
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