By: Jeff Lemire (story), Graham Nolan (layouts), Victor Drujiniu (finishes), Jeromy Cox (colors)
The Story: It’ll be hell for the real estate agent who has to put this house on the market.
The Review: I must apologize for the delay on this one, but my shop actually received this issue late this week. I’m actually not entirely sure how an entire slew of comics could be delivered on time and one got left out, but such are the vagaries of the modern day shipping system. I once ordered a book from a seller who lived only two counties over, and another book from a seller across the country. The cross-country book arrived two weeks before the intra-county one.*
Anyway, I’m not sure anyone really needed to rush-order this particular issue. One major complaint I’ve had about nearly all of DC’s fantasy offerings is that none have really been very daring, creativity-wise. I don’t quite understand how, in a setting where literally anything can happen, we can get so very little of novelty. I’d hoped that Lemire’s chops would move at least this title out of that rut, but I’ve been sadly disappointed so far.
I still don’t understand how things could’ve turned out this way. The premise of Black Orchid, Amethyst, and Frankenstein navigating the strange interiors of the House of Mystery should be plenty fertile ground for anything Lemire’s imagination can devise. Alas, alas—most of what we discover in the physics-defying mansion boils down to random minions, the kind you slaughter a dozen at a time in Diablo III. Amethyst at one point posits the house contains “thousands” of rooms, each with its own set of discoveries, but for the most part, the tour proves disappointing.
Lemire does manage to put this otherwise forgettable excursion to some use when Orchid stumbles upon a room with Constantine’s version of the Rip Hunter blackboard (though John upgrades by sticking notes on a corkboard). Nearly all the scribbles refer to easily identifiable plotlines from other books, but a few hint at stories to come:
“Green Arrow: Playing both sides?”
“ADAM ONE: Is he the Big M?”
“Frankenstein:…Possible ‘cure’ for [the Rot]?”
Maybe Lemire would’ve been wiser to devote a whole issue to this little misadventure, rather than sidle it alongside the ongoing action—though “action” is something of a misnomer, considering how little actually happens in this issue. Basically, John, Xanadu, and Steve Trevor stand around fretting over Zatanna and Timothy’s disappearance while Dr. John Peril (the magic expert at A.R.G.U.S.) engages in some exotic pseudo-scientific theories to solve the problem. At the very end, Lemire throws in Phantom Stranger, DC’s go-to guy for jump-starting new plots, only for the Stranger to refer to an upcoming Event all of us know about anyway.
While I wouldn’t say that Nolan-Drujiniu are an improvement over Mikel Janin per se, I do find the art a little easier to take this issue. But it really has nothing to do with the linework and figures themselves, which have some of Jesus Saiz’s elegance. No, more likely than not, I’m reacting to Cox’s colors, which are smooth, polished, and pleasingly rendered. It’s a welcome break from the waxy, pasty stuff Ulises Arreola usually burdens this series with.
Conclusion: I still have faith in this cast under this writer, but these kinds of issues can make you start to doubt whether they’ll deliver the glory they promise.
Grade: C+
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * But then, I live in California, and we all know things are not going great here. Hopefully, there’ll still be a state left by next year for me to write reviews in.
– As it turns out, Black Orchid is, outside of her purple garb, one Alba Garcia, formerly quadriplegic and armless. Obviously, she’s had a life full of ups and downs.
Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: A.R.G.U.S., Amethyst, Amy Winston, Black Orchid, DC, DC Comics, Frankenstein, Graham Nolan, House of Mystery, Jeff Lemire, Jeromy Cox, John Constantine, Justice League Dark, Justice League Dark #14, Justice League Dark #14 review, Madame Xanadu, Steve Trevor, Victor Drujiniu |
Weekly Comic Book Review 
The state will still be here, Minhquan, the question is, will you? There’s no industry here that’s growing, and it makes sense to seek real employment in another state.
Unfortunately, I don’t have that option.
There’s gotta be a better joke there about Black Orchid. I’m riffing off your review itself, simply because I haven’t found a good reason to buy this book yet, 14 issues later….
From what I’ve just read at your site, it seems like both of the big two suffer from having too many characters, and too many books. Of course, I remember when it was possible to buy all the books from both of the big two every month, and not spend a lot of money….
Who knows? I may be elsewhere a couple years from now (due to law school, I’ve got to stick around for at least that long), but anyway, I was making a mostly affectionate joke about the state I call home.
As for Black Orchid, I wasn’t actually making a joke; it was more like a bemused observation–an accurate one, too, I might add.
There are too many books and too many characters, but that wouldn’t be such a sin if they were all written with greater craft. But DC and Marvel, being big businesses, insist on exploiting popular material as far as they can, with little thought as to how to make something actually novel and well-rendered. I have often felt that the editors at the Big Two can’t be doing that great a job if they let certain titles/issues of such poor and mediocre quality go out on the stands–not that they have much choice, but perhaps they should have greater choice.
Goodness, I’m just being a whiner today, aren’t I? I guess the important thing is that we reviewers continue to critique these titles as completely as possible so that everyone else can vote with our money. I always say that if we simply stopped buying poor issues/series, they will have to stop producing them.
I’d like to believe that, however, sometimes, it seems like there are too many titles coming out with not enough interest in the need for them in the first place. If the big two as you say can afford to continue to put out mediocre material, then more power to them, however, it’s turning off the long time comic readers like myself.
I’ll probably never get up the medium entirely, however, my tastes have grown specific.
Well, comics, like most forms of art, are also a business, and if that business continues to make money despite its mediocrity, there’s little impetus for change, is there?
Colorist Jeromy Cox will stay in JLDark for next issues. Also, you’ve seen: Black Orchid is a latina. 😉
Take care.
Yes, indeed. And I’m very glad to hear that Cox will stay on for a while; it will be a relief to see your art with different treatment.