The Five DC Reboot Comics We Like The Look Of

#1 Justice League Dark

We know a lot about Madame Xanadu and Zatanna. They’re great, interesting, complex characters. Well… Zatanna isn’t particularly complex, but she’s certainly a lot of fun. We have no idea who Deadman is. Never read about Shade the Changing Man, although we know of him. We’re seen the Keanu Reeves Constantine film (and actually kinda liked it). And so, given that we only know about two of the cast-members of the book, have never heard of one of them, and have our thoughts of one warped by a film where Shia LaBoeuf ultimately turns into an Angel, you could be forgiven for wondering why we’re so keen on reading Justice League Dark.

In part, it’s because we care so little about the Justice League(regular). While the Marvel Universe has a multitude of interesting teams like the X-Men, Avengers, FF and so on, the DC Universe has always struggled to provide anything like as interesting a group of characters. The Teen Titans strike us as the singular most boring premise for a series ever devised. And the Justice League has never stood out for us, particularly. There’s an interesting in seeing the inter-dynamics between Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman… but what’s the appeal in then shoving Hawkman or Green Lantern of (ugh) The Flash on top of that trio? The Justice League is a boring team, because almost every character on it is invincible. The Avengers gets beaten up all the time – but who’s going to defeat a team with The Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Batman etc all on it?

That’s what’s so fun about Justice League Dark. Milligan is almost certainly going to maim people. Someone could die in the very first arc, for all we know. Peter Milligan has no qualms about doing serious damage to people at the drop of a hat. His dialogue is just the right side of campy, too, which makes him perfectly suited to Zatanna’s quips and Xanadu’s mysticism. He’s a version of Grant Morrison with all the optimistic spiritual stuff stripped out: this series will genuinely live up to the title. He also has a lot of experience with Shade and Constantine, so we’re confident he’ll give them a good voice. What Justice League Dark offers is a book with consequences, magic, and gruff Scousers. Perfect!