The Good
The House of Mystery has been stolen from under Constantine's nose! Constantine uses Swamp Thing to make a connection with the house to find out what happened to it. Things start to get a bit nightmarish and crazy right afterwards.
While I've been really loving this book, the last story arc wasn't really my cup of tea. I loved the start of this new arc for a plethora of reasons, and the first is the reveal, at the end, that the person in charge of the House of Mystery is actually Doctor Destiny. I'm a big fan of this character's appearance in SANDMAN, and he will work extremely well in this book. Since that's all blacked out because it contains spoilers, I'll let you know that there's one awesome moment featuring Colonel Trevor is talking to Deadman, early in the issue and Deadman says that he, and the rest of the "team" hate the name "Justice League Dark." It's been mentioned before, in the series, but I love the fact this team is simply a team for the greater good. It's not about name recognition. However, it seems Deadman may actually want to be a part of the JLA. Writers Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes are doing a stellar job with this series and its characters.
These page layouts, by Mikel Janin, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK's normal artist, are amazing, especially during these nightmare scenes, later in the issue. This book should be known for Janin's unique way of putting action sequences together. Panels are skewed and angled. It gives scenes an uneasing feeling which always fit the scene so well, adding a whole new dimension to the overall book.
The gatefold cover doesn't ruin the end of the issue! This is a good example of gatefold covers working well. It features Swamp Thing's face over the House of Mystery, which is a big part of this issue, but it doesn't ruin the reveal, and the cover says a lot about why Swamp Thing is in this issue.
While Flash and Swamp Thing crossing over into this book isn't insanely necessary, I really enjoyed it. The back and forth between Swamp Thing and Constantine was pretty cool, and it ties back to the Rotworld story line, and while I love JLD being in its own little pocket of the DCU, it's cool to see some familiar faces jump in as well.
The Bad
The biggest disappointment, for me, was the fact that the art in this issue isn't all done by Mikel Janin. The art is awesome here, but I was a little saddened that he didn't do it all himself.
Flash's involvement in this issue is exactly as long as it is on the cover: one page. It seems that Flash's appearance in this issue is simply because of the nightmares that the new owner of the House of Mystery is unleashing on the JLD.
The Verdict
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK continues to be one of my favorite DC books on the shelves, right now. This new story line is extremely promising and I love the reveal at the end. While Janin didn't do all the art himself of this book, the finishes of Vicente Cifuentes and the colors of Jeromy Cox were a great touch to the overall issue. Having Flash on the cover didn't really reflect what was going on in the overall issue, but this was the best gate fold cover so far, in terms of actually making sense with the story.
Overall, I highly recommend this issue.