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“Wonder Woman And Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour” #1

By | October 4th, 2018
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

“Justice League Dark” is only three issues into a brand new run and is clearly trying to establish a series and a team of heroes. However, writer James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno’s run is already getting interrupted with a crossover. This crossover spans multiple titles and kicks off with a special issue. Will Tynion be able to keep the focus of his Justice League work despite this new crossover?

Written by James Tynion
Illustrated by Jesus Merino
Colored by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Lettered by Dave Sharpe

Just in time for Halloween, it’s “The Witching Hour,” a five-part weekly event that will rewrite the future of DC’s magical heroes!

If readers were worried about ‘The Witching Hour’ crossover derailing any of the momentum of the core “Justice League Dark” title, they need not worry any longer. This issue takes the conflict from the previous arc of the “Justice League Dark” title and expands on the concept, showing readers a different facet of the conflict. Right now the Justice League titles and characters feel more interconnected than ever before. “Justice League Dark” wonderfully continues this trend and does an excellent job staying grounded and establishing the overall Justice League tone.

The plot for the story involves a lot of setup which is slightly disappointing if only because it felt like the initial chapters of “Justice League Dark” had already spent so much time setting up the series. The setup does a wonderful job expanding on the scope of the story and shows where the threat actually comes from. Tynion also spends the time to single out the new members of the Justice League Dark team to explain why only they are able to take on this threat.

Tynion also wisely paces this story out, making sure there is plenty of action and drama packed into installment. Towards the end of the issue, readers are given the action and proper next steps towards engaging with the story. Above all else, “Justice League Dark” has an extremely specific tone that only works within a really rigid context and within a narrow set of rules. “The Witching Hour” continues that specific tone while adding in a couple new characters and paces out the story well. At the beginning of the issue, the comic is mostly focused on establishing a set of rules. Towards the end of the issue, readers are thrust into the base portion of the conflict.

Jesus Merino’s artwork in the chapter does a great job following in the footsteps of Alvaro Martinez Bueno while not feeling like an homage. There is also enough innovation in the work to properly disseminate the styles while retaining a similar level of quality. Merino’s grounded approach to the pencils does a great job making some of the more heady elements of the story feel real. “Justice League Dark” is a dark fantasy title merging lots of different styles. Merino perfectly acclimates to the series fleshing out the more interesting parts of the cast including the changing physicality of Swamp Thing and dark nature of Zatanna. Merino’s page layouts are ambitious and beautiful.

In some pages, characters are banding together and bleeding right out of the panel. Merino also wonderfully blends the inter-team dynamics of the story by establishing the clout of the core Justice League team. The complicated, detailed nature of the pages make the consistent level of quality really awe-inspiring from Merino. This is a double-sized issue loaded with content and the art has a consistently beautiful level of quality.

Tynion also does a great job paying off the smaller moments and having fun conversations between Detective Chimp and Man-Bat. With a wildly eclectic team of Justice Leaguers to play with, it is important to have a title with a more diverse tone. Thankfully, Tynion seems to be aware of the complicated situation and styles the series calls for. The issue is very complicated as it also spends a large amount of time showing readers how the Justice League heroes are different from the Justice League Dark. Tynion also ties his hole run on the title together with ‘The Witching Hour’ showing that this is going to be an important story. Thankfully, Tynion is able to deliver on the great ambition within the comic with a larger-sized opening chapter. If readers had to sit through a whole issue of setup that didn’t finish establishing the crossover, this entry would have felt much less satisfying.

Starting a crossover three issues into the run of anything is an ambitious and potentially disastrous gambit. Thankfully, Tynion has put a lot of planning into this story an script to make sure that it doesn’t detract from any of the momentum of the story. Merino’s impressive approach to the pencils also cannot be understated here. The creative team does a wonderful job of giving the same level of qualify readers have come to expect with “Justice League Dark” on a grander scale.

Final Verdict: 7.8 – “Wonder Woman And Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour” #1 is an ambitious and beautiful next chapter of “Justice League Dark” taking on a larger scope.


Alexander Jones

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