Justice League Dark #1

What the normal Justice League of America is to the main DCU, the Justice League Dark seems to be the spine for the "Dark" books.  The Dark books were all aces in my opinion when looking at the 52.  Most of the Dark books had Vertigo writers or characters and that is why they have a very Vertigo feel to them.  When Superheroes moved to Vertigo, the series tend to have short life since the support was not there, since most people support the mainstream.  With the 52 it seems the classic Vertigo voice is being found back in the DCU, almost in the same spirit of Alan Moore in the 80s with Swamp Thing, Grant Morrison with his 90s work, Peter Milligan with Shade as well as Garth Ennis' with Hellblazer in the 90s.  Somewhere down the line the Vertigo fans grew up and left, now with the 52 DC is trying to attract those readers who want more out of comics then just pretty pictures and shallow drama.  Peter Milligan is the perfect choice for the spine of "new Vertigo".  Milligan has worked in the mainstream long enough his name is trusted and Milligan has also worked in Vertigo so long his voice is one of the loudest.  He redefined Shade the Changing Man and he is currently redefining John Constantine in the pages of Vertigo's Flagship series Hellblazer.  Milligan understands how comics and Magick work together.

 The Tarot is an important narrative device in this comic.  Partly because the two leads are Madame Xanadu, who represents "Sanity" and Reality, while Shade The Changing Man is the other lead and he is "Madness" and "Meta"-Fiction.  The picture above has some of the official Vertigo Tarot dark cards scattered to show a contrast. For those who have the comic at hand, you can see Milligan did not stick with the official Vertigo depictions, which I found interesting.  I also noticed, like Aleister Crowley's Thoth Deck, Peter Milligan has changed a few cards for his narrative purpose.  At first I did not like the idea of it, since I felt it was a lack of understanding he did it and ran with made up cards.  Later I flipped the pages to prep for this review and noticed although he changed the name of "The Tower" the picture is similar and the message for this "new" card is clear.  Those changes would later sit better in my stomach because comics can be pretty pictures or Sequential art laid out in a narrative.  Milligan altered cards for clarity.  The Tower traditionally refers to the idea something has to be destroyed so it can be rebuilt and on "The Sickness" the same image the Tower would have is in the background of Shade.  Shade would be used symbolically as Milligan's Molder of Meta-Fiction and changing perception and reality.  By calling "The Tower" Madness and placing Shade on it, he marries the idea of the Hangman as well, since Shade The Changing Man is the Hangman in the Vertigo Deck.  The Hangman traditionally suggests a voluntary change of view from sacrifice.  The Tarot become layered messages for those who reflect on their image.

  Shade again comes up in a "new card".  This one I can accept, since Justice is its traditional title, Crowley went a different direction with "Lust" and now Milligan is calling it Madness.  This works since all three are meant to bring a form of order.  Justice is clear, but something like Lust is interesting since it switched from spot "8" (the mobius strip number)  where it is normally called "Strength" and swamped straight forwardly with Justice's Crowley reinterpreted Justice, which he called "Adjustment".  Again it is almost a marriage of classic Tarot ideas with a modern deck, in this case the Thoth.  Shade is Lust, he is the Id, a desire to create and in this desire it can be lust.  Shade is also Justice because his presence is adjustments to reality in Milligan's Meta-Fiction.

 Without my clutter of Tarot Cards we can see now "Madness" and that Madness is a "Sickness" that Milligan wants you to catch.  Since Madness is an idea and an idea is contagious, this idea can spread all viral. I love the title of the arc: "In the Dark". In the dark is what most readers who read this comic will be.  Some readers will get the main points, but most will not see the real ideas underneath the curtains and hopefully I can play your Lucifer... I mean Lightbringer to open the curtains. The issue name: Imaginary Women, again a great play on words.  Comic book characters are Fictional... well minus John Constantine... but that is a whole different discussion.  There are many Imaginary Women in this book, a actual imaginary woman in comic level, would be both the multiple June Moones as well as Kathy George.  In a symbolic way Milligan is telling vertigo fans that these characters were never real and this is their imaginary world now. 

Surreal is the purest word I can use to describe this books' art design.  With Peter Milligan narrating with Madame Xanadu and driving the plot with Shade, those two perceptions clash a little where Surreal like Dali art is the only way to explain it.  Mentioning Dali art I loved the Dali inspired painting in the room in which Shade talks to Kathy.  Kathy was a former lover of Shade and their is a sexual tension as see weeps for his love.  This tension I feel is suggested in the painting.  the circled area was blown up to highlight the top half of a clown or what I think is a clown.  The clown is not the important part, the part that is is the head and the two round areas.  I have to suggest this, but did this team get away with inserting a penis on paper?  Art is subjective and that looks "Dali" inspired to me and I love Dali and I call tell you he drew a lot of "sexuality".  

 There is one topic I did not explore in this review and it is accessibility.  I felt this comic failed as a jump in spot if the 52 were meant for new readers.  There was a lot of things in this comic where if you didn't know the characters, not even a little, a lot of meaning is lost.  There are a lot of familiar concepts in characters, such as John Constantine's friendship to Zatanna, Dove and Deadman as well as June Moone verses the Enchantress.  Speaking of John Constantine, I really don't like that so far he had a three issue mini and very few pages in Brightest Day #24 and now this.  DC brought him back and he hasn't really made an impact.  This is bothersome since the DCU John perverts the legacy of John Constantine in Hellblazer that has aged in real-time, so this cameo of John is a losing one for me.
 
For a DCU book it is nice that the Vertigo Voice is getting exposure to the mainstream.  I was worried the 52 would water down readers ability to decipher the Sequential Arts presented, but many of these books actually challenge a readers ability to understand what is happening on the page and why comics is a special and unique medium of its own right.  I honestly believe this comic was more intended for the Vertigo fans because many of these characters were Vertigo in the past: Deadman, Shade, Kathy, John, Madame Xanadu and even Zatanna.  This series didn't need to be released since the Vertigo versions were great in their own rights.  I did enjoy the book, but I am a Vertigo fan, this in my eyes in a weird bizarro John Constantine vertigo story, but Vertigo level all the same.  I would love to thank Peter Milligan for all the great "Meta" he writes.  Your "Madness" infected me years ago and its time to spread your ideas.
 
"Be Seeing You"
- Silkcuts