Review: Justice League Dark Vol. 4- A Costly Trick of Magic
Quick Summary
Pros: The opening story arc starts out very strong. The main story arc is a satisfying conclusion to the series as a whole. The entire book has a nice mix of action and horror. The artwork looks great in some chapters.
Cons: The conclusion to the opening story arc is weak. The quality of the artwork fluctuates a bit too much.
Overall: This is a very fun and satisfying end to a great series. The story here, on its own, would be one of the most enjoyable the series has produced thus far. However, this volume uses the development accomplished in previous volumes to tell a story that is even more epic and meaningful than before. Fans of previous volumes in the series should absolutely keep reading here.
Story
Justice League Dark Vol. 4: A Costly Trick of Magic, by Ram V and James Tynion IV, is a satisfying conclusion to the Justice League Dark series. It successfully brings together open story threads, character development, and the earlier promises of the series into one climactic story arc. This, combined with the comic’s unique blend of horror and action, produces a fantastic read. The only real downside is that the opening story arc is a little weak, however, this flaw is not nearly significant enough to distract from the collection’s positives. In the end, this is a fitting conclusion to the series, one that fans are sure to enjoy.
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A Costly Trick of Magic opens with a story arc that starts out great but doesn’t maintain this quality. The opening pages hit some awesome horror notes, with a head-exploding parasite infecting an entire city and the personification of death causing trouble. The arc also manages to develop an intriguing plotline around the balance between the different Parliaments.
However, the conclusion of the arc feels very rushed. Despite most of the story stressing the need for a harmony and balance between the Parliaments, the conclusion essentially has Swamp Thing clean up the entire mess in a few pages by strong-arming everyone. The arc still ends up being alright but feels like it could have been better.
Luckily, the rest of the book is great. The final few chapters are basically the finale for the entire series. They heavily reference all of the trials faced by the heroes and all of the development they have undergone. Then, the progress made through the series is used to ultimately secure the heroes’ victory again the Upside-Down Man. This helps give the victory weight and makes it all the more satisfying.
It also helps that this finale is extremely fun. This series has managed a great balance between horror and action so far and this is clearly evident here as well. The finale is creepy and bombastic at the same time. It builds the traditional levels of excitement one would expect from a superhero comic but does so with a weird and wild twist. The overall impact is positive and solidifies this as a worthwhile read.
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Art
The artwork in A Costly Trick of Magic is odd. On one page, it might look fantastic. There are pages here that capture magic in a unique way or that dramatically present an epic moment. However, on other pages, the quality significantly drops. There are pages where characters’ faces look strange and may vary from panel to panel or where it is hard to tell what is happening because the artwork is confusing. On the whole, there are more good moments than bad ones and the collection ends up looking very nice. However, the jumps in quality are unfortunate and disrupt an otherwise great reading experience.
Continuity
Justice League Dark Vol. 4: A Costly Trick of Magic continues the story from Justice League Dark Vol. 3: The Witching War (Review).
The main Justice League Dark series technically continues in the Justice League: Endless Winter crossover. However, the storyline teased at this collection’s conclusion continues in backups from the Justice League series. These backups start with Justice League #59 and are collected in Justice League Dark: The Great Wickedness.
This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:
- As the climax of the Justice League Dark series, this volume heavily references nearly everything that happened earlier in the series. This includes The Last Age of Magic (Review), The Witching Hour (Review), Lords of Order (Review), and The Witching War (Review). See our “Justice League Dark Reading Order” for more details.