Justice League Dark #23
The truth has been revealed. For the longest time the box has been a mystery, and what it does to people even a greater mystery, but now all is becoming clear.
Where the Justice Leagues which were split and fought against each other, it’s good to see that as things became clear their direction changed and now they are after the real source. The reason for Madame Xanadu’s capture, the intent by the villains pulling the strings, with the threat of the box itself surfacing. Everything is moving like pieces on a chessboard which shows the effort put into this event to make every transition make some sense.
It was clever that with everything happening, Waller finds herself seen as the enemy. Even to those who supposedly were on her team as well. It makes for a great set up down the line because we all knew she would be exposed for trying to make a contingency plan against the Justice League, but we never considered what would come of it when her plan was brought to light. Not to mention the recent explosion landing her in a rough spot as to accusing her of playing opportunist.
The one thing that left me a bit flabbergasted is how the corruption of the box grew. Up until now all you had to do was touch the box, but now all you had to do was be near the box for it to affect you. That seemed to happen pretty suddenly and I think there was wasted time with everyone trying to grab for the box who was not corrupted knowing that it would do the same to them. You could also ask how Constantine found himself right where the box was given his motives beforehand. This was also very sudden which didn’t have much of a lead towards from the more recent issue of his solo book.
Aside from this, a good issue as the event comes to what I believe to be the climax as the villains are to make their move. Proves that DC can handle an event without overreaching. It’s a condensed storyline and it’s progression is swift enough that you don’t see anything that is too unnecessary.
