Read Online Justice League Dark Vol 1 The Last Age of Magic James Tynion IV Alvaro Martinez Books

Product details Series Justice League Dark (Book 1) Paperback 160 pages Publisher DC Comics (March 12, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1401288111

Justice League Dark Vol 1 The Last Age of Magic James Tynion IV Alvaro Martinez Books Reviews

• So, the whole story resolves around all magic users turning into magical time bombs, while eldritch abominations invade the Earth. Most of the parties involved are literally useless against it, and yet, we're obligated to see them face a threat of this level all by themeselves.
  
  Regardless, they will fail no matter what. From the whole team involved, only one is fully capable of facing this threat, but can only make sense if you read Witching Hour. The rest are just utterly incompetent into doing anything besides getting themselves killed in failed attempts at fighting the menace, or not even lifting a finger because they're suddenly too dumb to try to defend themselves. Certainly, it was very frustrating to read.
  
  Not really sure if I'll buy Vol. 2. Althought the last chapter made up of short stories about the effects of the new threat in the world are interesting, the main story might not be as amazing as the cover makes it look like.
• With all it's problems. Heroic Constantine is throwing fireballs (once in a second half of the book but once is too much in his case) again, epic events happening (this time it's all magic going wrong for everyone) and supposedly creepy Otherkind is invading. The whole idea of JLD is meh and I don't like Zatanna's new design and face which somehow never look good except on alternate covers by Capullo.
• Looking forward to reading this. But it gets annoying when there is a deep crease going from the front cover right through the back cover. Whoever packed this book should have handled it with care.
• Every since the events of DARK KNIGHTS METAL and NO JUSTICE, the rules of the DC Universe have changed under the guidance of Scott Snyder at the helm with his JUSTICE LEAGUE series. The Dark Multiverse busting through and breaking The Source Wall has changed the rules of just anything for the current climate of the DC comics, spinning out into two other JL main titles DARK and ODYSEEY, with writers James Tynion IV doing DARK and Joshua Williamson on ODYSEEY. While Snyder’s JL series is a bit to in-coherent for my taste, ODYSEEY has Cyborg leading his own team into space, Tynion gets to write the more magic/occult side of the DC universe and it looks to be the best of the three series.
  
  JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK VOL.1 THE LAST AGE OF MAGIC collects issues #1-3 of “The Last Age of Magic”, issue #5 and #6 of “The Shadow Pact” and issue #7 does four small stories. After the events of NO JUSTICE, the Tree of Wonder is still planted on Earth and that doesn’t sit well with Wonder Woman, who senses magic isn’t working like it used to as its turning on various witches and wizards into deformed monsters. So Wonder Woman is trying to round up members of the magic community to fight and understand this new threat, but the magic world deals with these problems within their own circle (that’s a big no-no to Wondy.) Only a select few people of the occult world finally see the threat known as The Otherkind, the true source throughout the DC Universe of the most powerful and darkest magic freed from the Source Wall. Those members join Wonder Woman’s Dark team including Man-Bat, Detective Chimp, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and John Constantine.
  
  James Tynion’s past work on Detective Comics gave him plenty of practice of a team book and he handles this extremely well checking the boxes in balance of action, horror, character moments, flashbacks, and some surprise turns along the way. I’ve always thought Wonder Woman straddled the magic spectrum considering her origin, so it’s awesome she’s in charge of a team and focused around magic, with Zatanna being second-in-command. The dynamics are on point with Wonder Woman as the strong leader, Zatanna being a mediator of knowledge, Man-Bat using his scientific/grounded approach, Swamp thing being the elemental guardian of the planet, and Detective Chimp being the wise-cracking comic relief. And of course, Constantine is here because Tynion wrote his solo series during the DCYou period and as a call-back to being the leader of the team in the NEW52 era, though he makes way more sense in the context of this book over that. John isn’t listed as a member of the team, as you see he’s not on most of the covers, but he plays such a large part supporting the team he’s pretty much an un-official member. Tynion juggles the team and I love the weirdness about it.
  
  Let’s also talk about the big bad her The Otherkind. These guys are legit scary as hell as they infest magic users contorting their bodies into mashed up sack of meat akin to John Carpenter’s The Thing. It’s grotesque to see the horror happening And it’s all lead by The Upside-Down Man, a scaly-white humanoid being who is not only hunger to eat up magic, but massively powerful to take on anyone. There’s always an unsettling vibe here with these guys and it works, even more so because of how ambitious tale Tynion is writing here with The Otherkind. This is especially prevalent in issue #7 an anthology issue where every team member gets a few pages fighting the Otherkind told from the perspective of Man-Bat narratoring it to the reader like ghost stories (with some surprise, obscure occult DC figures mixed in.) The issue was released around Halloween, so that would explain the vibe, but its brilliant in keeping the horror tone, continuously building up The Otherkind as universal threats, and team building.
  
  Tynion collaborator Detective artist Alvaro Martinez Bueno does “The Last Age of Magic” arc and issue #7. I’ve really come to appreciate his art work over the years as being a decent fill-in artist for Eddy Barrows, yet he has come along way since then. His story telling and artwork is top notch without being confusing or odd. His overall dark designs fit this series to a T in tone and conveying dread. Daniel Sampere does issues “The Shadow Pact” issues who is another excellent fill-in artist that I hope stays on the series when Martinez Bueno can’t finish issues.
  
  While I do love this series and the characters, there still are a few problems to be had here and, they are akin to Tynion’s previous work on Detective. Tynion makes certain changes that I feel are out of character at times to fit the story. As a fan of these characters, you might cringe at moments like that. Like Detective Chimp not really doing any forensic work and mostly comedic relief, Man-Bat being pseudo-human/bat looking and carefree, and one major DC hero who I personally consider in my top 5 favorite heroes ever who looks like a bigger villain in the making than the Otherkind in volume 2. It’s nerve-racking as Tynion’s done this before, but I know he has ways to make it all come around in the end on a solid note. Tynion also continues his habit of overwriting at times, filling word balloons to overstuff pages with grander and built. It only works if occasional, yet, he does it just about every issue. His mentor and teacher, Scott Snyder, does it way too often as well. Guys, just ease off describing everything on page. This isn’t a typical book where you have to describe every detail; it’s a comic book. Let the art tell part of the story.
  
  Second, after reading Jason Aaron’s Doctor Strange run back in 2016, I can’t help but feel Tynion’s story is very close to Aaron’s. The same overall idea is there Magic isn't working right, magic has a cost if used, and magic is going to die because the villains are based around it. Heck, even the titles are near identical. Aaron’s Doctor Strange title was “The Last Days of Mgic” and Tynion’s “The Last Age of Magic”are pretty close. I’m sure it’s merely coincidental. Beyond the theme, everything else is different.
  
  Finally, you will notice issue #4 is not here. Why? Because it’s part of the crossover event “The Witching Hour” with Wonder Woman. I thought as a rule of thumb was to not introduce a crossover this early in any series, especially a new one. It muddles everything up! Series should only crossover after 20 issues as to let it build the world and its characters. But, someone thought it was a cool idea to make from the get! *sigh* Any who, I can see where DC management probably had a nightmare to figure how to collect this series as no real way would have done the trick. It would have worked either way for JLD volume 1 to include the first three issues and the entire “Witching Hour” sans issues #5-#7 material would have sufficed just fine. I do think what is collected here in volume one is workable, surprisingly. “The Witching Hour” doesn’t affect the outcome of the series that much actually, so that is a positive. Though why would DC release “The Witching Hour” two months away is beyond me.
  
  JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK VOL.1 THE AGE OF MAGIC is a solid opening volume from James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. It hits all the buttons of a solid team book in action, suspense, horror, lore building, and every character getting their moments to shine. It does hit a few hiccups because “The Witching Hour” isn’t here, Tynion’s habits of out-of-character moments, over writing, and that one particular DC Hero going villain ticks me off. Yet…I still loved it. I loved the art, the story, the team dynamics, and I do want to see where it goes.
• This is a comic I mulled about for quite a while. I do admit, Justice League Dark is not one that I have gravitated towards and though I like some characters frequently in JLD (like Zatanna), it is not one that I've enjoyed over the years. The animated movie really showed me how these characters can click though and this comic, continues that trend.
  
  James Tynion balances this team and the horror/action/fun aspects very well. I am not familiar with him as a writer and I was quite impressed. The art though is not the best, a lot of it is quite well done but some, by a fill-in artist apparently, varies in quality. BUT overall there is a lot of great horror imagery, some straight out of THE THING, that it is hard not to recommend and love this title.
  
  This comic features many characters joining Wonder Woman's "dark" team including Man-Bat, Detective Chimp, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and John Constantine. The standouts being Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and Jonh Constantine, who continue the fun banter and crazy acts of magic that make this all stand out. Detective Chimp and Man-Bat felt a little off in my mind, maybe I am not familiar enough with the characters but from what I've read and seen, something felt off, especially how human Man-Bat felt.
  
  Overall this series, collecting the first 3 issues of "Last Age of Magic" 2 issues of "The Shadow Pact" and one of four small stories, is quite good. The first 3 issues of Last Age really were the highlights and I found myself enjoying the last issue of the short stories quite a bit. It definitely peeked my interest to know more and though I am not a huge fan of JLD I felt it gave me a good stepping stone from the animated movie to dive into the comics and I am curious where this goes and what else Tynion has done (I've heard he did fantastic work on Clayface, so i will check out that next).
  
  Great effect, not the best set but a solid B+, worth checking out.