Justice League Dark #2 Review

Writer: James Tynion IV

Artist: Alvaro Martinez Bueno

Inker: Raul Fernandez

Colourist: Brad Anderson

Letterer: Rob Leigh

I was impressed with the quality of the first issue and was equally as impressed with this second outing by Alvaro Martinez Bueno and James Tynion IV. I’ve come up with a phrase to describe this book: confident quality. It’s moving at a nice pace and the stakes are slowly starting to reveal themselves. I feel like most writers might try and cram these first two issues into one, but Tynion is plotting this thing quite well and I’m enjoying myself.

Martinez, Raul Fernandez, and Brad Anderson may be one of the best art teams in comics, which is something I may have said in the previous review. The scale and quality they achieve when they work together is extraordinary, and I feel like Tynion has found his Greg Capullo; these collaborators work very well together and this thing moves like a dream. Not a single panel feels out of place, and the dialogue feels structured in a way to really let the art do the talking.

The circumstances of the team coming together still feels a tad bit contrived, especially now that Man-Bat is essentially obsolete now that they know what the problem is. The same goes with Detective Chimp as well, since he was only accompanying Wonder Woman because she couldn’t find any help. Now she has all the help she needs in Swamp Thing and Zatanna. Speaking of Swamp Thing; fans of the character will definitely want to pick this up as Tynion introduces a new development that I personally haven’t seen before, only having read Alan Moore and Steve Bissette’s run on the character.

Pick this up confidently. Fans of the magic side of he DCU will enjoy this, as will fans of the individual characters of the book, particularly Wonder Woman and Swamp Thing fans. The art is incredible to say the least and I can’t wait to read more.