Kissed By a Curse
Writer: James Tynion IV
Pencils: Emanuela Lupacchino
Inks: Ray McCarthy
Colors: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Cover: Yasmine Putri
Variant Cover: Jenny Frison
Assistant Editor: Dave Wielgosz
Editor: Chris Conroy
Group Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: October 10, 2018
**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE
BOTTOM**
Oh boy, it’s part two of “The Witching Hour,” the
crossover between Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark happening this
month! The first bookend issue was pretty good, but I wanna know more about
Hecate and their evil plot to undo something-or-other! So I’m gonna review Wonder Woman #56 right away, and you can
read it, right here!
Explain
It!
In order to find out what’s up with this witchy power
Diana got from Hecate as a kid, the Justice League Dark team snatches up a
unicorn in order to petition one of the main witches, Circe. Problem is, Circe
hates Diana, and lets her know as much by turning all the dudes into animals
upon arrival on her shore. But when Diana lifts up her tiara in order to show
off the witchmark, Circe calms down and takes a more kindly form, because some
serious shit is going down.
Indeed, Zatanna thinks Wonder Woman isn’t taking the
elimination of magic…or the takeover of reality by chaotic magic, I’m not
positive what the endgame is here, but whatever it is Zatanna thinks Diana is
being too flippant. Perhaps too traditionally heroic, seeking to smash the
problem with might instead of, uh, whatever magic is. Is magic might? Might be.
Thing is, what Zatanna thinks about Wonder Woman using Hecate-level power is
irrelevant. If Wondy wants to blast magic lasers, she’s gonna blast magic
lasers.
Look at Manitou Dawn, for instance. She was hanging
out in New Mexico, when her witchmark activates and she zooms off to Nanda
Parbat. Deadman catches wind of this, and in his follow up learns something of
great importance that he must tell Justice League Dark immediately: Manitou
Dawn is razing Nanda Parbat to the ground! And that’s where Deadman keeps his
comic books! Don’t worry though—Wonder Woman has activated her white-haired
witch self, so we’re gonna see what happens when like magic slams against like
magic. Next issue!
I enjoyed the heck out of this, it had a lot of
trappings that I enjoy, and a mystery that is deep enough to be intriguing, but
not so overwrought that I am lost. This might be the best thing I’ve read by
Tynion, which is not to denigrate his other works: it’s just working at a higher
level. The pacing is good, the art is phenomenal, and if the next issue in this
crossover keeps up the quality then we could be looking at some potential Books
of the Year! Or maybe I’m just infused with that Hecate magic, I’m not sure. I
haven’t checked my forehead.
Bits and
Pieces:
The intrigue of this story is maintained as more succumb to Hecate's witchmark. The dialogue is sharp, the pages will dazzle, this is a good comic book. I don't know if folks new to DC's Dark characters will like it, but they should sure give it a look anyway!
8/10
I was aware of the dark characters, but always used to think they sucked. That changed a bit reading some of the old Hellblazer (thanks to the short lived TV show) and then going back and reading some of Neil Gaiman's old stuff. Tynion, in 5 issues, has turned me into a big fan. Magic is tough because it's easy to become total nonsense, but he's doing a really great job of making it seem powerful but not a cure all.
ReplyDeleteThe dynamic between the dark characters is so much stronger than what I saw in Detective, and even the token antagonist, Zatana, is coming across as likable/ practical. Compare Zatana's role with Spoiler's in Detective and it's night and day. By the end of Detective, I hated Spoiler. Here, I look forwarder to seeing the evolution of her relationship with Diana and Constantine.
This is just a good arc and I'm totally with you that if it finishes as strong as it started, it's my Book of the Year. My only creeping fear is that Tynion will have a hard time following up this story because out of the gate, it's reading like a really great event book. Smaller, personal stories, are going to feel weird, and if he just one ups this, it's going to feel overdone. In any event, I'm just hoping this arc finishes strong.