Review: Justice League Dark Vol. 6- Lost in Forever

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline does a fantastic job in blending meaningful messages with suspense and action. The emotional moments are executed wonderfully.

Cons: The book’s conclusion is more Zatanna and Constantine focused than some would prefer.

Overall: This is a book where thought provoking messages are wrapped in entertaining stories in order to provide a ton of entertainment. This is all done to make a book about magic that is both fun to read and fun to ponder long after reading. Every character has their chance to shine and fans of the series are sure to find plenty of moments to love. This is a comic for anyone who wants to read about deep and existential themes in an exciting and approachable way.

Story

In Justice League Dark Vol. 6: Lost in Forever, J.M. DeMatteis achieves a full return to the quality and wonder that was present when this series first began. Within this volume, fans will explore the past, present, and future in ways that become increasingly existential and thought provoking, all while being treated to a magic show courtesy of the Justice League Dark. This is where DeMatteis encounters success, in mixing distilling complex messages through a magical filter in order to create a story that is adventurous and meaningful all at once. In this way, this volume feels like a classic Vertigo story and is great for that reason alone. Diehard fans of this comic will appreciate this emotional conclusion to a great series.

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The book starts out with a story about the House of Mystery and the House of Secrets coming to life and seeking to take over the world. It is a concept just weird enough for the Justice League Dark and fits perfectly within their wheelhouse. Here fan get to their fair share of action and fighting but also get to see some emotional drama as well. The story ends with an absolutely heartbreaking conclusion to Zatanna and John Constantine’s romance where one is forced to forget they were ever in love and the other has to remember it forever. It is touching and emotional, but also provides a nice conclusion to the feelings that have been building up since Forever Evil: Blight (Review).

At this point, the story splinters and the entire League is sent to the past, present, and future. Zatanna’s story takes place in the past and is another emotionally draining journey. She meets illusions of her family there that she, and the reader, believe to be real. However, the twist comes when she realizes they are not and has to give a tearful goodbye to her father. It is another heartbreaking story that works incredibly well for Zatanna’s character.

In the future, Frankenstein, Swamp Thing, Nightmare Nurse, and Andrew Bennett are confronted with a dying world. It is a deep story that confronts the inevitability of death and the unrelenting forces of entropy through magic. In this way, it becomes a psychological horror piece that had me more than a bit unnerved at times.

In the present, Madame Xanadu, Black Orchid, and Deadman are trapped in a dimension where time does not flow but is constantly stuck in one moment. Nothing in this dimension dies or is born because time does not exist, every moment is now. It is a psychological trip that left me pondering the very concept of the place for a while afterwards. The story also has a lovely message about how the fleeting nature of time is what gives life its beauty.

All of these stories come together in the end, when the League meets back up and goes head to head with a being that represents the very end of time itself. Once again, this is another story that blends allegory with action in a way that works well for the Justice League Dark. It is exciting but also deep and meaningful at the same time. My only complaint is that the final farewell to the entire League seemed to be mostly aimed at Zatanna; characters like Deadman, Madame Xanadu, and Swamp Thing just kind of leave with little fanfare. Besides this though, the ending still works very well and left me in a place where I already miss reading about this team and their adventures.

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Art

The art throughout this volume walks an interesting line where it is technically impressive but visually a bit lackluster. Klaus Janson and Andres Guinaldo’s structure and layouts looks fantastic. They present sweeping imagery and magical wonder in a way that is impressive at first glance and sets the stage for a comic about more than just the physical world. In particular, I loved the way Guinaldo handled the book’s conclusion and thought that the cosmic imagery shown there was stunning.

However, there are more than a few moments where the actual detail of this artwork fails to impress. Static images and poorly drawn characters are the biggest problems and effect many of the book’s pages. This does not mean that the book looks bad though, it simply means that the artwork is a bit more average than I would have hoped it would be.

Continuity

Justice League Dark Vol. 6: Lost in Forever continues the story from Justice League Dark Vol. 5: Paradise Lost (Review).

The Justice League Dark series ends with this volume and does not necessarily continue in any one comic book from this point.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• A few mentions are made to the events of Forever Evil: Blight (Review) (Reading Order).
• Constantine mentions his recent trials on Earth 2. Those adventures are catalogued in Constantine Vol. 4: The Apocalypse Road.