Forever Evil Event: Justice League Dark 29

Justice League Dark 29

J. M. DeMatteis, Vicente Cifuentes

Forever Evil Crossover

Spoiler alert!  You have been warned!

This book, much like the event-within-an-event as a whole, has its ups and downs.  But, much like the rest of Forever Evil: Blight, the good far outweighs the not-so-good.  And thankfully, there really isn’t any bad.  J. M. DeMatteis finishes up the story that him and Ray Fawkes have worked so hard on over the last several months with not a bang, but a pathetic whimper.  And I mean that as a complement.  And though I would have preferred that the conclusion have artwork by Mikel Janin (and not just a cover by him), artist Vicente Cifuentes does an excellent job transitioning from action to drama in the last pages of the final Forever Evil storyline involving all of the “dark” characters of the DC Universe.

So John has a plan, and it’s altogether Constantineesque in the fact that it’s slightly less heroic than most would like for it to be, a little bit unpredictable in his approach to saving the world, and very poorly executed.  He’s going to steal all of Felix Faust’s newly-gained magic and save everyone, but at the cost of, well, his own life.  But, as it turns out, there’s no reason (or time) to argue with Zatanna, because another John shows up and calls him an imposter.  They fight.  One sacrifices himself.  And then turns into a demon, after he dies.  Luckily, Pandora is there (along with the rest of the recently-freed but still pretty much worthless team) to explain what really happened.  The only groan-worthy moment of the issue comes in her convoluted explanation of the ridiculous plot device that pretty much proves that part of John loved Zatanna enough to turn a demon into a good person in his final moments.  Okay.  Whatever.  But before they can mourn the loss (or, more accurately, understand what the hell just happened), the Sons of Trigon attack.  Some awesome fighting and the survival of everything inside the temple of Nanda Parabat at stake, Zatanna uses all of her magic and takes over the leadership of the team (as John weasels his way out and leaves the team to die, being shown up by his own demons.  Literally.).  So everyone lives.  The end…

But not really.  The epilogue is the strongest scene in the whole issue, by far.  Zee visits John while he is wallowing in self misery (as is his preferred method of existing) within the House of Mystery.  She bitch slaps him.  Tells him they’re officially over.  And takes over leadership of the team.  And the House.  I for one am glad that John and Zee are done with each other.  It was a great story, but it went about as far as it could.  There will always be the ever-present tension whenever they get together, but with how Nick Necro went out (and the final reveal of the threesome), I feel like the story is over.  I am eagerly anticipating the new direction of this title, as well as the most likely final stories presented in the two Trinity of Sin titles (Pandora and The Phantom Stranger).  And, of course, John getting back to basics in the pages of Constantine.  That’s the best part, by far.  Well done, team.  This was a quality read.

My Rating: 4/5