Justice League Dark #26 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: J. M. DeMatteis

Art By: Mikel Janin

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 1, 2014

The Sea King Cometh, And.............Goeth.

Well luckily a new aspect of the story started so I can stop with the Blight rhymes.  Last time we saw our heathen heroes everyone died, and Constantine even had his head knocked off.  Hell of a way to end a story.  But we find out that the team had put a spell on themselves called, the mark of Dun-Kon-Wen.  This allowed the group to die, and remain in limbo for a bit, and somehow have their bodies transported to Dr. Thirteen, where hopefully they will be alright.  So let's find out if this just a memorial service, or we can continue Forever Evil: Blight.

Explain It!:

Into the limbo our heroes souls flow, where they might end up nobody knows.  But as a head spinning about Constantine has time to reflect on everything that's transpired.  During his moment of zen, Dead Man appears out of nowhere, and pleads for Constantine to help him.  

Constantine awakens in the home of Dr. Thirteen, the rest of the gang seems to be getting up as well.  As they try to explain to Dr. Thirteen what happened to them, and how they got here, Constantine intends on finding Boston Brand.  Pandora uses her magic to locate the source of the vision, and gets a ping.  Everybody is ready to go on Constantine's crazy rescue mission when they realize that Phantom Stranger, and Dr. Thirteen are gone.  God damn Judas's.  

The location of Dead Man's energy seems to be at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and our new JLD travel there riding a giant moss covered whale.  Yup Constantine, Pandora, Nightmare Nurse, and Swamp Thing are riding a giant whale to the bottom of the ocean.  Oh magic, you make any story make sense.  *A little note here, J.M. DeMatteis informed me that the whale IS Swamp Thing.  Damn my eyes!* When they get to the bottom, the team passes through a mystic portal, and gain access to one of the oldest lost cities, Nan Madol.  Magic courses through these ruins screaming out at the intruders, and as Swamp Thing tries to reach out to this very old unknown green, the team is attacked by the Sea King.  The Crime Syndicate apparently put his body in the ocean, and Nan Madol called his corpse home.  

This Sea King did die though, and the spirits of Nan Madol are the ones pulling the strings looking for a host to have their revenge against a air breathing world, who cursed them into a barrier beneath the ocean.  The fight leads to the top of the water where Nan Madol uses all it's magic to try and kill the team, but what does a ancient mythological city of spirits have on our Constantine?  Huh?  Anyone?  The answer is nothing.  Constantine takes a blade, and imbues it with a severing spell, and *Tukk*, Sea King Goeth. 

*Tukk*

After the battle Constantine goes to the body of the Sea King, and gets what he came for; Boston Brand.  We find out that when the Crime Syndicate crossed over, and whooped everyone's asses, that Dead Man hid inside the dead body of Sea King, and was trapped.  Constantine removes all the evil energy trapped inside the body, but also puts on a lock of his own, continuing to trap Dead Man inside.  For finally having a body, Dead Man isn't to pleased about.  Let's hope that Constantine has a plan up his sleeve.  In the end we go back to Phantom Stranger who appears to have actually been a damn Judas, and partnered up with Blight.  Say it ain't so!   Say it ain't so.  Well there you have it.  Come back next week for the continuation in Phantom Stranger #15.

Bits and Pieces:

Seems like Forever Evil: Blight is still struggling, but I can dig where they're going.  It's a slow burn, that I hope will be worth the wait in the end, and finally it feels more like the rest of the Forever Evil events with the inclusion of Sea King, so there's that.  I'm really just digging this rag tag team, and hope that they continue to be part of the JLD when all this is over.  So go check it out, and get your Blight on.

7.8/10