One more character was rescued from being captured by the Crime Syndicate. John Constantine, who wakes up in the House of Mystery, knows things aren’t quite right. First he finds himself attacked by miniature demonic versions of himself. He then stumbles around trying to put the pieces together, with the environment constantly shifting around him. He isn’t quite sure if he’s hallucinating or if the House is trying to tell him something, but slowly he starts to notice the darkness, shadows and sins are growing more powerful and taking form.
He finds himself battling his JLDark teammates, but by this point, he’s figured out that they are just magical constructs, but that doesn’t help much when must face Zatanna, whom he can no longer deny he has real feelings for.
There’s a twist that actually plays off of events in ‘The Phantom Stranger’, which I haven’t read. But ultimately, with his team captured, Constantine must form a new team to free them.
Mikel Janin’s artwork as usual is simply stunning. His facial expressions are flawless. Especially with focal character Constantine, he conveys so many emotions, shifting from panel to panel.
As far as the plot itself, it was a little rockier than this book usually is. It probably had to do with the constantly-shifting scenes and moods and the fact that Constantine himself was so disoriented in the beginning. Well, that plus new writer J.M. Dematteis takes over for Jeff Lemire.
Even so, we get some nice examinations of the House of Mystery and its connection to John as well as John confronting his feelings for “Zee.”
This book has been consistently well above average and much better than the regular ‘Justice League’ series. But ‘JL’ has actually gotten better and not that this issue was poor by any means, but I can’t help be a tiny bit disappointed. Maybe it was the absence of the rest of the cast and their interpersonal bickering. Maybe once he puts his new gang together and they hopefully recover the existing team, things will get back on track. Or maybe it’s just going to take new writer deMatteis a few issues to find his footing.
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #24
Written by J.M. DeMatteis
Art and Cover by Mikel Janin
