A couple of years ago, Guillermo Del Toro, the acclaimed horror director, came out and said that he was planning on doing a Justice League Dark Film. Many years have passed and those plans have not come into fruition. And so, the potential for this series remains untapped.
‘In the Dark’ is the first Justice League Dark Novel and tells the story of Madame Xanadu attempting to recruit a number of different individuals, all of whom are connected to the world of magic and mystery. She does this in order to stop the Enchantress, a witch who is looking for her human host, June Moone. These individuals include Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman and some others. Although reluctant to work together, eventually they see that their powers collectively may harbour better results.
In all honesty, I found the novel very confusing, and the entire time was wondering what on earth was actually happening. ‘In the Dark’ didn’t really go into the characters’ backstories either, so I presume that that will come in future novels. I did, however, see how the magical characters in one team could be a good idea.
The artwork was done by Mikel Janin who has a very distinct style. For the purposes of this novel, it was pretty good, although in my opinion sometimes he struggles to draw the female characters. The covers were okay, not really my thing. In conclusion, I think this series needs to do something drastic to improve my view of the series.
Favourite Panel:
Deadman egging on the Shade is so funny!
Favourite Character:
Probably Deadman. He has a pretty good sense of humour and he’s badass.
Rating:
Story Arc: ★★½
Character Development: ★★½
Artwork: ★★★
Enjoyability: ★★½
Re-readability: ★★½
Level: Advanced