Someone Forgot to Add the "Dark"

Justice League Dark:  The Books of Magic (Volume 2)

by Jeff Lemire

Illustrated by Mikel Janin

Published by DC Comics

2 1/2 Out of 5

I really wanted to like Justice League Dark, but the irony is that it just wasn't as, well, dark as I wanted it to be. Maybe that was an unfair expectation on my part, but with John Constantine in the lead I was really hoping for a more mature plotline and something a little grittier. In the end, it's a fairly conventional storyline that kind of plods along without gaining any real momentum. The keys to the legendary Books of Magic have been discovered, bad guys want them, good guys want to stop them, John Constantine may or may not be a good guy as he might just covet the books for himself . . . yawn.

Also, so many characters weave in and out of the narrative in a completely transparent attempt to lure readers into other series that none of them are actually there long enough to be fully developed or fully utilized. I was initially drawn to the series because Andrew Bennett was being introduced to the team, but he pops in and out with such underwhelming results that I could go for an issue or two and completely forget of his existence until I saw an asterisk with "Check out issue # of I, Vampire for this exciting storyline!" When Amethyst from Sword of Sorcery* checks in, I decided I was ready to check out of this series.


*(I've never read Sword of Sorcery, but the covers smack a little too much of She-Ra, Princess of Power, to pique my curiosity. Way too much pink and purple happening there.)