Justice League Dark, Vol. 2: The Books Of Magic (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
I think I get it now. The New 52 is not for brand-new DC readers after all - in fact, only people who have read every single issue of every DC series ever are really the only intended audience. Apparently many of these characters who seem all new aren't actually new. Shade, Dr. Mist, Black Orchid, and others have been along for quite some time - many of them have even had their own series many years ago. Apparently this totally-important Tim Hunter also was in some important Vertigo series about 20-some years ago. Go figure. Of course, none of this information is available to people reading New 52 series unless they a) actually have that information or b) go searching for it elsewhere. Would it really hurt to have little footnotes that say "*Tim Hunter was a main character in the Vertigo series Books of Magic" or words to that effect? No. That little teeny textbox would do the opposite of hurt: it would improve the audience's knowledge and respect a great deal. Otherwise, everything seems like an antagonist Easter egg or worse, a mean-spirited (so to speak, here) inside joke brazenly told to those not on the inside. Rudeness.Combined with the pervasive attempt to pretend "everything is new! except we are only resurrecting forgotten characters you've never heard of and not explaining their backstories though demanding you already know their backstories!" is the gigantic REDO button pushing 1/3 of the way into volume 2 of JLD (as the kids call it). Apparently in "tribute" to the departing Peter Milligan (is there some new law in the DC creative dept. that says writers are not allowed to stay on the title for more than 7 issues in a row in order to prevent accidental continuity intelligence?) this new guy totally abandons most of the supporting characters we had almost come to know from vol. 1 and just dumps them and completely re-writes both the team's makeup and purpose. So, just like that one Batman series and Superman series. No explanation is given for the Mondo-like disappearance of Mindwarp, the shunting away of Madame Xanadu into a wholly irrelevant character, or the assumption of leader by Constantine.Not only that, but entire storylines are abandoned! Just when the JLD are about to confront a world-shattering menace of Vampires and the ancient one of evil, a new story begins with nothing more than a "oh, he's on our side now" half-panel. What?! Did I miss some issue of something somewhere, and if so, why did I? Why is the conclusion of the "Rise of the Vampires" story not in this trade? Isn't that the purpose of the trade, to collect the relevant issues? Or was the meaning of the title "The Leaving" referring to a) Milligan leaving, b) Shade leaving, and c) our respect for the series leaving.Equally disappointing is the treatment of Zatanna as someone whose powers are ineffectual in every single encounter in every single issue. Why is she on this team if she can't do anything meaningful? Black Orchid, likewise, starts off as different and intelligent, but by the end of this collection her dialogue/diction is just as mediocre as the rest of the ruffians posing as protagonists. No one says anything clever in these issues; it's all just patronizingly obvious majick-speak. This is especially unfortunate as the creative teams do dangle some interesting ideas out there (like the Black Room and ARGUS's involvement in JLD and the Books of Magic), but none of them come to any fruition and no time is spent developing ideas. Instead, we get retcon after retcon after "you're supposed to know these people from that September '78 issue of DC Showcase - everyone remembers that one!" Disappointing.And the #0 issue is wholly self-serving in a short-term way, giving us another retcon of Constantine's history simply for the conclusion of the present storyline, not anything of long-term consequence. And it doesn't even hold up, that's the more frustrating part (as it's an attack on our intelligence, as if Lemire is daring us not to pay attention): if young Constantine is truly on the lookout for the real magic, why would he go to some mid-level pillock like Necro? why not go straight to Zatara or Dr. Occult? He supposedly knows they exist, so why not seek their tutelage? Something's not right.At least we can say there's far less surfeit of grotesqueries in this collection contrasted with volume 1. Good thing the end of the issue called "War for the Books of Magic Conclusion" doesn't end with "to be continued." Oh, wait. Yes it does. If the "conclusion" is "to be continued," that's a fairly good sign someone is not paying enough attention. If they don't care about making this series make sense, why are we supposed to care about it? The book is called Justice League Dark, Vol. 2: The Books of Magic by Jeff Lemire. I REALLY liked this story for mainly it's story and characters. The main setting is really all around the world and in Limbo. The main characters are John Constantine, Zatanna Zatara AKA Zatanna, Boston Brand AKA Deadman, Alba Garcia AKA Black Orchid, Nimue Inwudu AKA Madame Xanadu, Nommo Balewa AKA Doctor Mist. The story is about these Vampires across the world have gone berserk, attacking anything with a life. Fearing her apocalyptic vision of the future has come to pass, Madame Xanadu mobilizes the team to intervene and stop the choas . But everything the Justice League Dark members know about how to slay a vampire won't work and right now they don't know what to do except fight to save the human race and even the world because the world has changed since Vol 1. I wouldn't recommend this to my friends because they don't exactly like this team of misfits, they more like heroic men and women like The Justice League and Super friends, their more like the Suicide Squad.
What do You think about Justice League Dark, Vol. 2: The Books Of Magic (2013)?
An interesting, but ultimately pointless story
—Shelby21
