Justice League Dark #13 Review

History and Questions

Written By: James Tynion IV

Art By: Mark Buckingham, Mick Gray, Adriano Lucas, Rob Leigh, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran

Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 24, 2019

Magic is broken, but sadly, we'll continue to wonder what that means after Wonder Woman used the chaos infused Ruby of Life to change magic in the previous issue.  This issue though, we have big and exciting things to take care of now that the Lords of Order have been put aside and Nabu has been contained within the Helm of Fate.  I say new and exciting, but what I really mean is we have a book with three chapters here that for the most part want to tell you things that you may already know.  Let's jump into this issue and check it out.

I've been a bit back and forth on this whole Justice League Dark title because while there are some amazing characters involved in the series and a plot that seems larger than life that threatens all magic in a big way, there are times in this series that we seem to be just standing around talking or just running back and forth trying to survive.  Yeah, we saw an end to the Lords of Order and Doctor Fate last issue, but now that that's over and all we have to worry about for the most part are the Otherkind, who by no means are any slouches, I figured we'd be going after them in a big way because they've been the background villain for a year now.  Instead, we spend this issue regrouping, which I guess was needed after our big ass fight the last issue, but we essentially learn the origin of Kent Nelson and then move on to Zatanna and Constantine talking about what John does and doesn't know about Zatara's plan.

The problem is, the big part of the Dr. Fate chapter is who is going to wield the power of Fate...... only to have no answers and the big question for the second chapter is what does Constantine know..... and he's magically not allowed to answer.  With that, besides for Kent giving us a history lesson, which was actually a fun part of the book and Zatanna and Jon sitting at a bar talking........ nothing happens in this issue.  Yeah, I guess you get some personal moments and the realization of what Zatanna uncovering Jon's connection to her father will mean for both of them in the future, but I wanted some answers to something here.  Well, technically I guess I got an answer to who was getting an offer because in our third and final chapter of this issue we see Circe getting an offer from Lex Luther and I will say that this offer does get me a bit intrigued with what will happen down the line.

All in all, I loved the art in this book and think that both the artists this issue did a fantastic job, I just wish they were given more to work with here because there was a lot of sitting around and talking, while nothing was really resolved.  I am intrigued by the offer in this, but with the threat of the Otherkind still looming, I'm wondering when it will actually show up or if it will push our main big bad to the side, which I hope doesn't happen because they've been just chilling in the background for far too long now.  I just really wish there was more to this issue than a history lesson from Kent Nelson and John Constantine because, for the most part, the majority of the JLD doesn't show up here and are barely mentioned.

Bits and Pieces:

If you wanted some backstory to Kent Nelson and Constantine than this issue is for you because it really does little to push the story forward and decides instead to give you a history lesson.  At least there was an interesting offer from Lex Luthor because besides for some decent moments between characters and some great art, there's not much to this issue of Justice League Dark.

6.5/10