Justice League Dark #13

Why is Deadman reacting to the blast? He's such a drama queen.

Last regular issue, I remember thinking it would have been better to let the readers know the villain's identity. But I guess it wouldn't have mattered since the villain was revealed in the Zero Issue and it was (as far as I know) a completely new person named Nick Necro. [I just looked did an internet search on him and, yes, he's completely new.] This guy was Zatanna and John's magic mentor and he's completely obsessed with the Books of Magic. And he finally has the information he needs to find them. He also has a House of Secrets. Speaking of House of Secrets, I really need to reread that series. Fantastic.

I also forgot about the big cliffhanger! John Constantine and Black Orchid were facing off against a gigantic WoW Boss outside of Gotham. The fight doesn't take very long as Black Orchid pulls off some plant manipulation magic and John Constantine stuffs the troll into a Fairy Prison he stole from The Black Room. It's one of those cliffhangers I just wish had been left out since it uses up a few pages at the beginning of this issue being deal with and it's hardly even a threat. Although the reader does learn that Black Orchid has some vegetable powers and that John Constantine stole a few more items than he's let on from The Black Room.

Meanwhile in the Amazon, Deadman and Zatanna are fighting a WoW Boss of their own: a druid man made out of the Amazon itself. This isn't much of a threat either as Deadman quickly possesses the man behind the vegetable golem.

Prepare to be judged!

Nick Necro and Dr. Mist step out of the house and Zatanna stihs herself.

Meanwhile in London, Madame Xanadu is leaving Timothy Hunter's place in her search for somebody that can control the Books of Magic and remain uncorrupted by them. But Tim gave up his magic to some as yet unrevealed source. It turns out that Xanadu isn't the only one after Hunter though.

"Oh, hey! This...um...isn't what it looks like! I'm just trying to strangle him."

Faust doesn't get anything from Timothy either. But Xanadu drags Tim away and leaves Faust to do whatever he wants with Tim's dad. That doesn't seem like the best plan. Shes says there is no time to grab Tim's dad. But now Faust can just take his dad hostage and Xanadu is going to have to confront Faust anyway.

I had a whole drunk driver, hit and run analogy here but decided I'd rather just keep reading the comic book. You can probably figure it out on your own anyway.

Back in the Amazon is where the real action is as John and Black Orchid show up to help out Deadman and Zatanna.

And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all...well, they don't actually look the same. But I like to see them back together anyway.

One of those battles where the bad guy is immensely powerful because he wields all of the same powers as the good guys takes place. He defeats everyone single-handed and takes Zatanna with him to find the books. Necro blasts off in the House of Secrets while Constantine follows in the House of Mystery. Yes, everyone is involved in a high-speed house chase.

The House of Mystery crashes into a barren landscape leaving the story to be concluded in Justice League Dark Annual #1. That's strange. To put out an Annual that tells the end of a tale. How is that going to lure in any new readers? They'll just be confused! I think DC has forgotten what annuals are for and now they're just tying them in to the regular storylines to make sure that the regular readers buy them. I remember the good old days when Annuals were optional!

Justice League Dark #13 Rating: -1 Ranking. The overall story was just flat and boring and felt like a bridge to the conclusion in the annual. And since I have the Annual on hand, I guess I'll read it next! Too bad even if the Annual is amazing, Justice League Dark won't get its dropped rank back because of my policy of not judging a book by special issues! Ha ha! Losers!