 Hey everybody, welcome to another exciting episode, another edition of A Week in Geekdom here on YouTube and today we are going to talk about Justice League Dark. Yeah, I finally gave this a go. Actually, I've read it for a while now, but I just now got to this and it is pretty freaking interesting. If you are not aware of what the Justice League Dark book is, basically it is sort of like the supernatural division of the Justice League. It started back in the New 52 when they constructed this team to handle supernatural threats and villains and all that fun stuff. And it was one of my favorite books from the New 52 era. I'd love the concept of getting together all the superheroes to fight magical threats and whatnot because magic can be really diverse. It isn't necessarily like a super strong bad guy. It can be like this weak looking dude like Clarion for example. He looks super wimpy but he's actually super powerful. I love that about magic and it changes of the dynamic of how you construct your team and the plot and all that stuff. Unfortunately with the New 52 version of Justice League Dark, while the concept and execution was fine, it never got to the heights I wanted it to be, especially when it crossed over with I believe Trinity War and then the Forever Evil stuff which made the Blight series. And yeah, different artistic changes and writing changes. It just was an uneven book with a stellar concept in my honest opinion. Now with Rebirth we have a second opportunity to do something really cool with this team and boy in my opinion do they deliver. So required reads. Okay if you want to start reading Justice League Dark, you are okay for the most part but however I would suggest picking up a DC medal, the event that preceded this. The medal event sets everything in motion as to why there are so many new teams in the Rebirth era. There are a couple of chapters that you need to know as well which is Justice League Neo-Justice. This was sort of the prelude to everything that's happening post-metal. It was four issues and it sets up the status quo for what Scott Snyder did with the DC universe as a whole with you know on an epic grand scale. The story of course teams up an awesome eclectic roster of DC staples. You've got Wonder Woman which right there one of my favorite characters actually I should just tell you Wonder Woman, Swamp Thing and Zetana are in my personal top 10 list of favorite DC comic book characters. So right out of the gate I'm sold on this book. I am really excited about this roster. Now you've got Detective Chimp which is a strange addition but if you like magical stories in the DC universe it makes sense that he would be there because he is linked to so much of the underworld and magical scene and it's plus it's really fun to have an anthropomorphic animal in there Chimp talking with all these guys and you know trading quips and and saving the day but the strangest addition to this team right there is Manbat. Yeah that I think everybody that caught everybody off guard and I love the idea because if you look at this roster right here on the cover it is Manbat that provides sort of this link between the human side and science into the magical paranormal side when it comes to the DC universe so I thought that was a really smart and clever introduction plus the way that James Tinian writes Manbat it's almost you sort of feel empathy you sort of feel for this guy because he is in this state of when you see him he's in this mid-stage transformation so he's sort of like this half well technically his name is Manbat I do know that but sort of like this half morphed state and you sort of go like oh Manbat but he's actually pretty terrifying if you think about it so yeah without spoiling too much he is on the team for a very specific reason it is that Diana is assembling this new iteration of Justice League Dark to combat a very specific crisis magic has been broken and it is being consumed and on the verge of extinction the story begins literally with Zatanna doing a magic show and it fails horribly and the magic attacks the crowd and so Diana arrives to defeat this monster thing and of course to help Zatanna and propose the idea of hey we should all team up and let's see what is happening and how we can save the world from extinction and what I really loved about it was that Zatanna and all the other mystic heroes like your Constantine or Jason Blood, Morgan LaFaye, Clarion all these wonderful characters they're like maybe we should team up and Jason of course aka Etrian no these Justice Leaguers and world heroes they don't they don't mix with us and they're outsiders and we do things our way in the shadows so I thought that was pretty cool that you know even though there is this crisis you still have a way that these characters behave and stay true to themselves they're not suddenly gonna go out and get Batman and Superman to help out they do things their own way totally different from the Justice League or the Teen Titans etc and of course the character of Wonder Woman she's so famous worldwide and in real life that you even I start to think about it and I'm telling myself like yeah her origin is very magical but all of these characters do not consider her a part of that community so I thought that was a pretty interesting way to have this clash of ideologies between superheroes and villains because not all the mystic heroes are technically heroes also I have to give big props before I forget Alvaro Martinez Bueno Raul Fernandez Brad Anderson you know the artistic side of this book is fantastic it really sets the mood and when things get creepy they get creepy I have to give props to Tinion for having the the bravery to do a it's more like an action horror book but still it has some horror elements to it especially when you see all the victims of this incoming threat which I won't spoil but when you see the victims and sort of like this body horror imagery starts to surface that I loved it it was creepy and it was awesome and I really enjoyed the usage of shadows when you start reading the book Satana's doing a show so there's minimal lighting and she's talking in the middle of the road and John Constantine shows up and all you see is a black panel and all of a sudden this you know the cigarette light pops up and you just see the vague outline of his face it has that horror vibe and that aesthetic from 70s and 80s you know paranormal movies and all that stuff so I really liked that attention to detail of course it's magic based so it does get wild and crazy when characters like detective chimp and swamp thing jump into the mix swamp thing you know being the protector of the green and all that stuff and there are so many fantastical elements that happen that it's just a visual treat in my honest opinion with a character like him you know being so green and tall and pretty mighty also I love the hair beard combo I know a lot of people like to make this joke but he really does look like a version of Alan Moore which is strangely epic and awesome I really enjoyed that I love that the book is divided into two separate story arcs although they're technically all related it's one big story but the first three issues they set everything up in a awesome manner and there is when you do get to see the main bad guy that was an awesome reveal and super creepy might I add but those first three issues they don't miss a beat they're really fast paced and interesting there's this intrigue that keeps building throughout those three issues with so many cool reveals so many explorations and just creepy wonderful horrific sides of the DC universe that if you are not into this genre you might not see coming if this is your first time dipping your toes into the magical side of DC comics you're gonna be like okay that's interesting there's a part in this book that relates to Wonder Woman's origin and her as a kid that I thought was spectacular and I would have read a whole comic book based on that but you're in luck because we do have with us Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark the witching hour you don't technically need to read it but I would read it anyways because it's an awesome story and even though it's not part of this video review it does take place right in the middle of Justice League Dark after issue three and it explains why an issue what was it issue five of Justice League Dark certain characters are talking about things relating to Wonder Woman and the status quo so yeah do pick up the witching hour you're gonna like it don't worry about it it's fun and and like I was mentioning exploring that side of Diana is awesome I loved it so much Justice League Dark guys fantastic I love this team so much and I love like I said the team dynamic it's strange and it's wacky but that's the whole point because it is supposed to be creepy and mysterious and I love it superheroes and horror storytelling are two things I really enjoy and if you're able to pull it off it's gonna be a winner and I do think James Tinian has done a fantastic job of rebooting if you will the Justice League Dark franchise or book or however you want to say it into something exciting fun and accessible to readers if you want something a little bit spookier a little bit edgier and more in your face with crazy fantastic visuals about horror and so many cool characters that I love that I cannot talk about because I would be spoiling some things if you know if you have some idea of what I'm referring to then yeah I'd love that part and the villains are interesting uh it I I fear that they might get a little generic uh but for the most part I'd love the concept and the idea behind what is happening and of course like you know magic existed before humans and now uh it's coming back to haunt everybody because of certain events and characters and the shift in the status quo is going to be really interesting uh going forward I hope that it builds up to this grand epic story that I am itching to read when it comes to magic characters plus you know any book with Zidana is a okay by me guys have you read Justice League Dark let me know in the comment section down below do you prefer the new 52 version do you like what's happening with Justice League Dark um post rebirth and all that stuff uh let me know yeah in the comment section thank you everybody for liking commenting and subscribing to if we can geek them as always follow me on your favorite social media platform you can talk to me on facebook twitter instagram all that fun stuff I've got to go I have more stuff to read play view and just geek out over so I will catch all of you on our next episode