Justice League Dark #7

Has Zatanna's costume always been lingerie? Didn't she used to wear a top hat?

Justice League Dark has finally become a proper team. Well, as proper as they're ever going to get. At the beginning of this issue, John Constantine is already trying to walk out because they're going to fight a few vampires. They're going to fight some vampires because Madame Xanadu had a vision of the ending of I, Vampire Issue Six and now she thinks the world needs their help to stop the daddy of all vampires, Edward Cain!

Nearly all issues of all comics ever are still on sale somewhere! But forget that. Look how cute Zatanna is here! *swoon*

Shade and his M-Vest transport everyone to Gotham City. They're all lucky they didn't end up on Meta. Or Apokolips! I wonder if Shade's time with the Suicide Squad is still part of the DCU's history? Gotham, at the moment, is being overrun by vampires. Hasn't this happened before?
One more time: Why the hell does anybody live in Gotham?!

Since all of Batgirl's villains seem to be metaphors about her life, what do the vampires represent? Painful menstruation? Anemia from an iron poor diet?

Deadman and Constantine keep Batgirl from being bitten. She recognizes them as 'Zatanna's team' and Constantine seems a bit miffed by that. SRSLY! I thought it was Madame Xanadu's team!

Is there anything Batman doesn't know about? They just fucking agreed to form and he's gossiping about them to the Bat-Family.

The last few vampires have to be taken out with Constantine's axe since Shade can't seem to control his Vest and the others seem to be losing their magical ability. Once they're dead, Batgirl takes her leave since Batman 'ordered' her across town. Maybe the Night of the Owls is starting right after the Twilight of the Vampires is dealt with.

Meanwhile, Batman, Hippie John, and Tig get one panel to themselves. John blames Tig for what's happening since, apparently, Andrew Bennett was the only thing keeping evil at bay! Hopefully that will be explained in the next I, Vampire when we see that Bennett is somehow still alive.

Shouldn't you have seen this coming in time? Maybe you should summon Etrigan!

The first half of Xanadu's plan is for Deadman and Constantine to travel to the afterlife and retrieve Andrew Bennett. Oh yeah, that's a great plan. The second half of her plan is to take an astral vacation. While she's gone, Shade manages to teleport himself, Zatanna, and Madame Xanadu's husk on to the rooftop where Batman, John, and Tig are fighting vampires. That wasn't part of the plan but it's probably been the most successful move yet. Any move that gets you closer to Batman is a good one.

Xanadu's Astral Vacation Destination: The Astral Zone of the Crystal One.

I have no clue who this crystal guy is. Or how he's going to help Xanadu which will make her Dark team hate her. Maybe he's going to link their spirits so that they must continually associate with each other across the rest of their journey along the paths of reincarnation. It's Peter Milligan so it'll probably be something like that.

Justice League Dark #7 Rating: +1 Ranking. These characters and this comic deserve to be ahead of Frankenstein, Agent of Shade. But I'm not sure this comic can rise much further up the ranks until it really sets out on its own. That means getting past this crossover with Andrew Bennett. I can't wait until Milligan really begins to cut loose with this crew.