“Death of the Dark”
Artist: Will Conrad
Color Artist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Andworld Design
We got the death of a family in this issue. The workings of the villainous characters blew up in issue 6, but here, the good guys are the ones bringing the explosions. Our heroes have been through an intergalactic ringer and Dan Abnett picked up the title and brought that feeling home. Readers can clearly feel how wiped out the Justice League is. The last issue made it literal, with Jessica’s worry about her dwindling power, keeping that up here shows consistency in the arc.
There’s something about the richness of Beredo’s colors combined with Conrad’s art. We start the issue with Blackfire’s army of Tamaraneans, followed by views of monstrous armies, showing the huge scope of the wider, cosmic, DC Universe.
We then get the exchanges between rattled, addled heroes in the cool blues of the inside of the spaceship. It’s common in comic books these days for them to go from one action sequence to another, with a breather right in the middle. This is no different – however, the way these characters are handled really shows a perfect blend of telling a strong story through both art and dialogue.
Conclusion
This issue ends in another unreasonably open way, as it’s essential for certain issues to draw the readers back for more. As cliffhangers go, this is the most original and deeply uncomfortable one I’ve read in a while. I really want the resolution, but simply can’t have it. Yet. With issue 10 looming, this spells an explanation as to why these particular members of the Justice League were called to deep space. Only time and patience will give us the delicious answers this strong issue teased us with.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment