Review: Justice League Dark Vol. 1- The Last Age of Magic

Quick Summary

Pros: The opening story arc is awesome and captures the combination of fun, fright, and magic that makes the Justice League Dark enjoyable. The closing story is a great horror showcase. The entire collection builds anticipation for the future. The artwork is gorgeous, particularly in the opening story arc.

Cons: An awkward narrative transition takes place halfway through the book. The volume’s second story arc is lackluster.

Overall: This is an engaging start to a new series. Many of the stories here are highly entertaining adventures with magic told through simply beautiful artwork. All of the stories also help build the mythos surrounding the series and gear readers up for more in the future. The collection has some problems but the majority of the read still manages to be fun. In the end, any fan of the Justice League Dark or of DC’s unique take on magic should consider checking out this book.

Story

Justice League Dark Vol. 1: The Last Age of Magic, by James Tynion IV, has some troubles but is mostly an enjoyable read. The volume opening with the exciting formation of the Justice League Dark and begins to show the intense troubles they will face, while constantly hinting that these troubles are just the tip of the iceberg. Then, the quality of the book suffers for a bit as an awkward narrative transition takes place and a less interesting, but thankfully short, story arc takes place. Finally, the volume closes on a high note with a closing chapter that captures the opening arc’s sense of excitement. Together, these stories create an engaging start to a new series, one that I am interested in seeing progress as it continues.

(spoilers start here)

The first half of The Last Age of Magic focuses on the formation of a new Justice League Dark. It explains that the universe’s magic has been corrupted and that dark forces are invading the world. Uncovering all of this leads to a great feeling of excitement and anticipation, as readers are constantly learning new information and given the opportunity to make theories as to how this new information will impact the future of this series.

At this point the book jumps forward somewhat as it omits the events of Wonder Woman & the Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour (Review), which technically take place in the middle of this book . The jump is a bit frustrating as the full mystery behind Wonder Woman’s powers is actually explored in this crossover, causing readers to either jump to a different collection in the middle of this one or proceed in reading this collection without resolution for Wonder Woman’s story. Why these comics were collected in this way is a bit of a mystery to me and is definitely something I believe damages the reading experience.

The second half of The Last Age of Magic is also a bit frustrating as it is noticeably less compelling than the first half. It starts out with some great emotions and meaningful passages, as Detective Chip further confronts the loss of Nightmaster and his new responsibilities. However, the arc isn’t long enough to make the situation on Myrra feel as tense or as dire as it should. The arc also concludes with Detective Chip simply using magic spell books to save the day and then move on, which is essentially the some actions that lead to the mess on Myrra in the first place.

Luckily, The Last Age of Magic ends strong. The final chapter tells multiple stories depicting what the Otherkind are doing on Earth. Each of these stories works as a flash of quick but effective horror. These stories are fun to read and also build suspense and intrigue going into the next volume, as the reader is made well aware of the immense threat posed by these creatures.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in The Last Age of Magic is gorgeous and is one of the best aspects of this collection. The majority of the volume’s artwork, from penciler Álvaro Martínez, inker Raúl Fernández, and colorist Brad Anderson, is stunning all around. It is able to capture the beauty of magic through some of the heroes’ triumphs, while also capturing its creepier aspects through the villains with the main villain standing out as a real piece of horror. This creates a book about magic that actually manages to feel magical. This arc also has some of the collection’s best splash pages, which are highly effective in emphasizing the gravity of a specific moment. Chapters from other artists aren’t quite able to meet this high level of quality but even this decrease in quality is only very slight and still ends up producing two great-looking chapters. All in all, this book is chock-full of impressive pages that really suit the theme of this book.

Continuity

Justice League Dark: The Last Age of Magic starts the Justice League Dark Vol. 2 series. Though it incorporates characters from the previous Justice League Dark series, it is mostly disconnected from the previous series and, instead, mostly comes into existence as a spin-off of events taking place in Justice League: No Justice (Review) (Reading Order).

The events of Wonder Woman & the Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour (Review) take place during the middle of this collection.

The story here continues in Justice League Dark Vol. 2: Lords of Order (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• The Source Wall broke at the conclusion of Dark Nights: Metal (Review) (Reading Order). This event also saw the rise of the Dark Multiverse, the death of the Oblivion Bar’s owner, and Detective Chimp’s return to comics.
• Some of the fallout from the Source Wall’s cracking was explored in Justice League: No Justice (Review) (Reading Order). This event also saw Wonder Woman begin to explore her connection to magic.
• Zatara’s death and the actions leading up to it are depicted across Swamp Thing Vol. 2 #35-50, collected in Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book Four.
• Khalid Nassour’s connection to Doctor Fate is explained across the New 52 Doctor Fate series, collected across Doctor Fate Vol. 1: The Blood Price and Doctor Fate Vol. 2: Prisoners of the Past.
• Justice League Dark #5 takes place after the Wonder Woman & the Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour (Review) crossover event.
• Bobo mentions that “everyone was a fish-person three days ago”. This is a reference to the Justice League/Aquaman: Drowned Earth (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• Constantine previously had his cancer cured in Hellblazer Vol. 1 #45, collected in Hellblazer Vol. 5: Dangerous Habits.