Darkness falls.
Mar. 28th, 2012 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandraerinSo, this is the month that I give up on Justice League Dark. I was disappointed by the first story arc but I recognized that it was the first story arc and was prepared to see if the next one would be any better.
And no, it's not. It just crystallized a lot of what I don't like about the series.
In the middle of a vampire uprising in Gotham City, John Constantine makes a protective circle for himself to hide in while everybody else gets killed by vampires. It's not... it's not the action itself that bothers me. It's that it seems like such a pantomime of the character. And that's really my problem: he's a broadly drawn caricature of himself.
The magic circle? It's not the kind badly drawn in chalk with shaky hands, either. It's the glowy blue runic sigil stuff you'd expect a real magus to be able to conjure through sheer will.
Later in the issue he opens a blue glowy portal to an afterlife by sacrificing a dead rat and using whiskey as holy water. Again, it's not that this is entirely not in keeping with the character... it's like a zany parody of him.
And the fact that they keep having him do big blue glowy magic is probably because they feel the need to explain what he brings to a superhero team. After all, he's standing side by side with characters like Zatana and Xanadu. So he needs to bring the magic, right? Not just his typical blend of synchronicity-spotting and suggestion punctuated with the occasional big thing but super magic.
But the problem is that on a team that has Zatanna, Xanadu, Enchantress, and Shade the Changing Man (who isn't "magic" but does things that seem magical), you don't really need John Constantine there to do magic, do you? You don't recruit him to your team because you need someone who can draw magic circles in chalk and do divination with a pendulum and summon and consort with demons...
No, you recruit him because you need someone who will deal with demons, and who will figure out a way to come out on top. He's the rake at the gates of hell. He's the man who's been running cons on angels and demons and has run out of safe places to go when he dies.
The first story arc ended in a very "this is what John Constantine brings to the table" kind of way, but it took a long time getting to that point.
He should be there for the corkscrew thinking. He should be there to point out (or do) what needs to be done. Having him open up a portal to the afterlife so that Deadman(!) can go to the afterlife to find a dead person... that's some Super Friends level nonsense.
"Look, Aquaman! He's jumping into that giant aquarium!"
My complaints about my favorite character aside, this is just not a well put together team or a well put togther book. When twice in a row they've faced threats that basically immediately nullify their powers, you realize that somebody wasn't thinking when they decided to make a team that consists mainly of people whose powers are "I am a wizard" or "I can alter reality by thinking hard".
And no, it's not. It just crystallized a lot of what I don't like about the series.
In the middle of a vampire uprising in Gotham City, John Constantine makes a protective circle for himself to hide in while everybody else gets killed by vampires. It's not... it's not the action itself that bothers me. It's that it seems like such a pantomime of the character. And that's really my problem: he's a broadly drawn caricature of himself.
The magic circle? It's not the kind badly drawn in chalk with shaky hands, either. It's the glowy blue runic sigil stuff you'd expect a real magus to be able to conjure through sheer will.
Later in the issue he opens a blue glowy portal to an afterlife by sacrificing a dead rat and using whiskey as holy water. Again, it's not that this is entirely not in keeping with the character... it's like a zany parody of him.
And the fact that they keep having him do big blue glowy magic is probably because they feel the need to explain what he brings to a superhero team. After all, he's standing side by side with characters like Zatana and Xanadu. So he needs to bring the magic, right? Not just his typical blend of synchronicity-spotting and suggestion punctuated with the occasional big thing but super magic.
But the problem is that on a team that has Zatanna, Xanadu, Enchantress, and Shade the Changing Man (who isn't "magic" but does things that seem magical), you don't really need John Constantine there to do magic, do you? You don't recruit him to your team because you need someone who can draw magic circles in chalk and do divination with a pendulum and summon and consort with demons...
No, you recruit him because you need someone who will deal with demons, and who will figure out a way to come out on top. He's the rake at the gates of hell. He's the man who's been running cons on angels and demons and has run out of safe places to go when he dies.
The first story arc ended in a very "this is what John Constantine brings to the table" kind of way, but it took a long time getting to that point.
He should be there for the corkscrew thinking. He should be there to point out (or do) what needs to be done. Having him open up a portal to the afterlife so that Deadman(!) can go to the afterlife to find a dead person... that's some Super Friends level nonsense.
"Look, Aquaman! He's jumping into that giant aquarium!"
My complaints about my favorite character aside, this is just not a well put together team or a well put togther book. When twice in a row they've faced threats that basically immediately nullify their powers, you realize that somebody wasn't thinking when they decided to make a team that consists mainly of people whose powers are "I am a wizard" or "I can alter reality by thinking hard".