John Constantine narrowly avoids an assassination attempt by the Cult of the Cold Flame. Elsewhere, Deadman secretly meets with Steve Trevor, whom the heroes seemingly split from for good last issue. Their meeting is brief, as Deadman takes off suddenly whens something supernatural draws his attention. One by one, he, Madame Xanadu, Frankenstein and lastly, a charred Constantine gather to try and determine what the Cult of Cold Flame has planned. Constantine also reveals that when he was distracted by the assassination attempt, he lost control of the House of Mystery and in that tiny window of time, someone else seized it. He brings in Swamp Thing to try and track it down, but the plant elemental isn’t pleased to be there. The Cult strikes unleashing horrors on downtown New York and separates each hero, forcing them to face their own, specially crafted nightmare. The guest hero on the cover only pops up in one panel toward the end, as does this tale’s mystery villain.
I pretty consistently enjoy this book, but something was off this time. The meeting with Steve Trevor felt forced and a bit unnecessary. The dialogue didn’t flow as smoothly as it usually does. I don’t what happened, but I just didn’t enjoy it as much as past issues.
The art was not completely rendered by Mikel Janin, so it wasn’t as nice as usual, but it’s still pretty great! Janin provides layouts, with Vicente Cifuentes finishing it. It isn’t as lush and rich as usual, but hell, it still looks great! Smooth, detailed, clean– very appealing all around.
So even if this wasn’t this series best single issue, it’s still well above average!
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #19
Written by Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes
Layouts and Cover by Mikel Janin
Finishes by Vicente Cifuentes
