Justice League Dark, Bd. 6: Das verlorene Paradies

Justice League Dark (2011) (Single Issues) #30-34

by J.M. DeMatteis, Andres Guinaldo (Illustrator)

The fallout from the Justice League Dark's battles with Blight and the Trinity of Sin, during the DC crossover event Forever Evil, has left the team in tatters.  Zatanna assumes leadership of the team and prepares to rebuild.  With team members angry and confused by John Constantine's methods during the fight with Blight and the Trinity of Sin, how will John Constantine fit into this new team, if at all?

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK VOL. 5 pits the team against the greatest evil in the DC Universe--and against one another! Collects issues #30-35.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Fantasy, Superheroes, Horror, Fiction

132 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2015

About the author

Also Credited As:
DeMatteis, John Marc
Ellis, Michael
Lombego, Wally

Bio:
J.M. DeMatteis was a professional musician/singer and rock music journalist before entering comics in the late 70's.

Credits include Spider-Man, Moonshadow, Brooklyn Dreams, Justice League, Abadazad, Hero Squared, the Life and Times of Savior 28.

Created I, Vampire , Creature Commandos, Moonshadow, Hero Squared (co-creator), Abadazad, Stardust Kid, Savior 28 and more.

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great artwork with some interesting subplots which are mostly not mined properly or default to derivatives. This is an improvement from the previous book but it's still stuck in being somewhat good at best.

OVERALL GRADE: B minus to B.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This can be completely skipped unless you really love Nightmare Nurse and/or Deadman. Which I do not.

Otherwise the majority of this volume is just wasted on everyone being pissed at Constantine.

[Lost Planet Airman]

After the Forever Evil arc, the Justice League Dark is paused... and imploding.

Aftershocks: Constantine's got the boot after a major betrayal, and yet he's back. Orchid and Frank choose to leave. Something's up with Nightmare Nurse.
Nightmares: Yep, something is definitely up with Nightmare Nurse. It might be catching.
Between!: Confusion reigns as the House of Mystery enters an inimical realm. A decision by Nightmare Nurse is tearing her apart.
Paradise Lost: a barely-welcome Constantine stays. Deadman feels lead to search for Nanda Parbat.
Paradise Lost Conclusion: JLD has to fight the big can of Nope they opened.
Scars: a.k.a. Justice League Dark: Future's End #1, a.k.a. Not Really Canon, So... Bored.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so Volume 5 of Justice League Dark, “Paradise Lost”, kind of redeems itself after that loathsome and (frankly) unreadable Volume 4. Kind of. It’s got a long way to go to make up for it.

In this one: Constantine comes crawling back, asking for forgiveness; Night Nurse’s past comes back to haunt her… and possibly kill everyone in the House of Mystery; an evil being named Pantheon tricks Deadman into wiping out the magical city of Nanda Parbat; five years later, Etrigan the Demon is getting it on with Zatanna…

Wait, what?

Anyhoo, some British dude named Eric has been floating around in the ether for a hundred years; the House of Mystery is being sucked into the maw of a giant disembodied head named Non; Zatanna has to make the hard choices now, since she’s the leader.

So, what the hell happened to Constantine, Swamp Thing, and Deadman in those five years? Curiouser and curiouser…

Fine, I’ll read Volume 6…

[Bill Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not the best of the series. Feels disjointed and too involved with larger story arcs in the DC universe. Ready for some tighter more coherent plots.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon · Rating 2 out of 5]

More coherent than the last story, since it was actually a complete story, but not a whole lot better.

Got some backstory on Nightmare Nurse, which was interesting, and backstory on Deadman, which was kinda hokey. Nightmare Nurse is really a demon inhabiting an almost dead body. Deadman was a neglected child who spent his childhood astrally projecting into Nanda Parbat and is secretly - even to himself - all mystical or some such nonsense.

Every installment has them doing some dangerous, "this will kill you if you do it remotely wrong", and then it gets pulled off easily. The only "consequences" ever faced in this book is no one likes Constantine, shockingly enough, and he's turned into some sad sack because of it.


Then the last story in the installment jumps ahead 5 years, we have yet a bit of a different cast - because every fucking story has had rotating cast - and random wackiness. I'm like, "I don't know what's going on, and I don't know why I'm meant to care."


I was so looking forward to this series. The first 3 had their problems, but were decent enough. These last two are just calling it in, man.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was better than Forever Evil Blight. Though the funny thing is I feel like I could've skipped that comic and still mostly understood this one. I mean, I'd be a bit confused about why Zatanna is now bonded to the House of Mystery instead of Constantine, as well as why some of the team members up and quit. But much of the story here would still make sense. And it's pretty funny that after such a big deal is made of Constantine's betrayal that he still manages to show up in every issue in this volume, except for the Future's End tie-in.

This volume goes back to the style of the third volume, with a series of smaller stories rather than one big one like the early volumes. First there's finally some more information about who Nightmare Nurse is, as it's revealed she's actually a demon parasitizing a normal human woman. It's rather like Enchantress's other self appearing in the first volume. Nightmare Nurse possesses Zatanna briefly and there's a trip to some sort of nothingness dimension when Constantine's attempt to undo that goes really badly. It's an alright story but give that as far as I can tell Nightmare Nurse only exists in the New 52, I wasn't super excited about it.

I'll admit I also wasn't super invested in the next story, which focuses on Deadman and Nanda Parbat, the magical hidden city that's popped up way more than I would've expected. It turns out Deadman's origins are tied to the city, and when he travels across dimensions to visit he winds up bringing a malevolent force along with him. The rest of the JLD, even including Constantine who again I thought had been kicked from the team, follow along and pitch in to fix things as best they can. I got curious and checked Wikipedia and it seems Nanda Parbat was created alongside Deadman, so it makes sense that they'd appear together like this. It was a neat little story, and I do like Deadman since he showed up in the Brave and the Bold cartoon. So I had some fun with this one, though I'm hoping this is the last I've seen of the generic secret city for a while.

The final issue is the JLD's tie in to the Future's End storyline. From what I can tell, this was another big crossover type event, spanning around 50 weekly issues of the main book and then a series of five year into the future flash forwards from all the other comics. So it's kinda an inversion of the zero issues from earlier in the New 52. Amusingly, this is the only issue in this volume not to have Constantine, and it also feels completely disconnected from Future's End at large. I'm admittedly not sure if any of the other Future's End one shots tried to tie into each other, but this has the JLD stuck in some sort of limbo dimension inside the House of Mystery. Black Orchid is back after quitting at the start of this volume, and not only is Etrigan here but he and Zatanna have become lovers. It's not clear how long the team has been lost, but the story depicts an attempt to escape that inevitably goes awry. It's an alright story, but it's a bit funny because I know there'll never be anything properly showing the leadup nor anything following on from this, so it feels like a random thing thrown in just to appease the editors.

Overall, this volume was better than all of the stuff that tied in to various crossovers that formed volume 4 of this series. But I didn't like it quite as much as the second volume, which still stands as the high point of the series to me. I think the problem is that these stories do a fun job of fleshing out some of the characters but the team goes through so many status quo and membership changes that it all starts to feel a bit aimless. Still, I've been having mostly a fun time with this and I do hope that the last volume will manage to wrap up the New 52 run in a satisfactory manner.

[J.R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series is getting stale fast. Every issue has this formula:

1) Someone on the team is hated by everyone else.
2) The hated one shows up even though everyone hates them and doesn't trust them.
3) Some mystical, ancient force shows up
4) At least one member of the team has to cast a spell that is so dangerous that the caster might die if they don't do it right.
5) Whew! They did it right.
6) Everyone likes each other again (mostly)

[Dramatica Darmody · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what the hell happened to Zatanna in this series, but at least Constantine is somewhat back to himself.

[Brini · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the heck was that? Each chapter got more and more offensive. It starts with lengthy relationship disputes and ends in excessive mobbing (and they even openly admit that). A twelve year old acts more grown up as they do. They are angry because Constantine acted like--well John Constantine. They wanted him to be a hero and now are mad because he never wanted to be one. Given that Zatanna spent years with him, she should've known better. Boston Brand even states that he never was a good guy himself but at the same time calls Constantine the worst of all and even abuses the body of a stranger to beat him. Who does that? Meanwhile Zatanna almost kills someone because she doesn't listen to Constantine and then everyone says it was his fault.
Basically it's roughly 120 pages of blaming John Constantine for things he didn't do (while he whines that Zatanna won't love him) wrapped in background stories about Nightmare Nurse and Deadman that don't interest anyone anyway. I want my money back!

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book series is really starting to remind me of the old Justice League International books, where at the end, it was filled with nothing but "C" list hero wannabes because the big hitters left, and you suddenly realize that the only reason that you bought the book is the title of the book.

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite DC Comics series! Justice League Dark is awesome.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know how a series this short has managed to retread its own ideas as many times as this one has, but that's just how it goes with Justice League Dark. This series was pretty much doomed from the start, seeing as it was built on the foundation that all the team members seemingly hate each other, have no vested interest in saving the world, and use lazy "magic" as their superpowers, which basically just means they can do anything they want without ever having to explain it. But this volume really drove it home for me: I hate this.

While it's already difficult enough reading a book where all the one-dimensional characters are given "personalities" by just having them snipe at each other and complain, I really couldn't believe some of the stories in this. This series is about 30 issues long at this point, and they are already recycling material. This volume has yet another story where Deadman is brought back to life and then immediately killed again to maintain the status quo. It has yet another story where it's revealed someone was not who they said they were. And it has not one, but two separate stories about the JLD getting caught in a mysterious dimension between worlds. It's basically all they do! I wish they'd stay there!

Any of this might be forgivable if the characters were decently attended to, but they aren't. In addition to the constant, unearned conflict, several of them also do that thing where, when faced with an emergency, rather than explain themselves so everyone on the team will chill out, they just yell "There's no time for explanations!" Asshole, yes there is! This is one of the laziest possible tricks for forcing your characters to keep fighting with each other, and they do it many times in this series (and even more than once in this volume).

In any case, what a shame to waste such a big, potentially out-there superhero team on bland storylines like these. There's one more volume of this, but there's just no way I can read it. I should've given up long ago.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really good volume. I've enjoyed this series a lot. Other than when it got stuck in forever evil (which was good but not great) with the rest of the new 52. I really enjoy nightmare nurse and liked learning more about her. Not sure why we needed a future's end issue though. The issue wasn't bad but future's end is BAD.

[Dev · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the up side, we're apparently not doing any annoying crossovers anymore and the plot of this book was actually linear and easy to follow. On the down side, I just literally don't care anymore and I'm basically only reading it because I'm almost done with it. JLD sounded like such a good idea at first but it's honestly just been a total let down. I thought it would be different than other 'superhero team-ups' because it had 'darker' characters and was more focused around magic, but really it's just the same old shit.

[M00plays · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't as keen on this one, although I love the Justice League Dark team, this comic had like 3 different stories rolled into one. It wasn't as engaging because it was one thing after another!

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was honestly most interested in the magic house.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this next to last volume of Justice League Dark, our intrepid crew of mystical people are subjected to the nightmare which is Nightmare Nurse and the return (say what?) of Deadman to Nanda Parbat, now obliterated by a mad god named Pantheon. Through it all, Zatanna and John Constantine, well, *everyone* and John Constantine, bicker and finally realize that JC is just a jerk.

I suppose there is a reason that this book under writer JM DeMatteis seems to go round robin through the cast, figuring out ways that each character can shine and be a focal point for the book and readers. Nevertheless, that approach is a bit too formulaic. It would be more interesting to see stories that are larger in scope, but without all the tie-ins with other books that we saw in the previous couple of volumes. The JLD seems to be more a reactive force, than a proactive one, that causes the stories to suffer a bit, IMO.

The art is all over the place. Mikel Janin is sorely missed. The art's not bad, but isn't terribly cohesive from issue to issue.

If I weren't such a fan of DC's mystical characters, this probably would have just been a two star book for me. But, darn it, they're my faves and can't help it.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the major events of the last couple of volumes, this collection seems really tame in comparison. The first couple of issues 'reveal' the history of Nightmare Nurse, although not on more than a cursory level, as the team tears itself apart AGAIN over what could have been resolved in a few minutes of talking. But that seems to be the modus of Justice League Dark; fight until you're at a standstill, then find out why you're fighting. It all gets resolved relatively amicably. The second section explores the history and future of Nanda Parbat, focusing on Deadman. It has its moments but really doesn't make much of an impression. Then there's a 5 years later story that is basically pointless, with dark moods and distrust and a throwaway villain. It's probably the weakest Justice League Dark story I've seen since the first volume.
The mood of this volume is really dark; Constantine is present throughout, but the hatred and enmity between him and the team is grating; understandable but obnoxious and not enjoyable to read.

[Michael Church · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book has just lost its steam. There are a bunch of original members who have disappeared for no real reason. Then they are adding new characters with just as little motivation. Swamp Thing has no reason to be in this book, let alone eating plants, right? Does he really do that? Seems kind of counter productive.

The stories are cliched and not executed very well. Someone is not who they seem, the team is betrayed, the odds are against them! I just couldn't really find myself caring what happened through the whole book. Then there is a random story thrown in at the end that is set in the future. Not sure what the context for it was, but it was just more of the same lackluster storytelling.

The art is decent, but nothing great. I really just don't have anything more to say on it. The book was that underwhelming. I don't have a strong enough opinion to even dislike it that much. I have just decided to give up on it.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

From crossover to crossover, from the Blight to Futures End. Unfortunately, it often feels like DeMatteis is just moving the characters through their plotted actions. There's little here that feels like it has much importance or relevance to the DC Universe, past or present.

Further, DeMatteis' solo writing always rides along the edge of being too slow and too philosophical. And that's the case here, particularly in the initial issue (30), which features yet another JLD team breaking up and coming back together. The two Night Nurse issues (31-32) that come next are the height of the volume, as they're a fun spotlight. The two Deadman issues that follow (33-34) are too slow, but they offer a nice feature on Nanda Parbat ... which of course links back to the Blight. Finally, the Futures End (1) story that ends thing is entirely OK, and a comic I wouldn't mind reading long-term ... but it's of course totally irrelevant to the current story.

[Anchorpete · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took me a long time to get through this trade. I feel like this is the epitome of laziness when it comes to Big Two superhero books. This is actually a step up from the previous trade, which bordered on incoherent due to the cutting back and forth between all of the DC event books that were taking place at this time. In this trade, there is a single story that has a genuine beginning, middle and end. Unfortunately, that story is told in a very lame way.
Magic isn't interesting when it is both limitless and can be used for any purpose whatsoever. When regular human characters can teleport anywhere they want, without paying a price. When anyone can go toe to toe with gigantic mystical creatures, and not even bat an eye, there is no consequence, and without consequences, a story is not interesting. I went through this book, because I make it a purpose to finish a trade when I start it. There are times when it is just to tough to get through. This book almost had that fate.

[Jacob · Rating 1 out of 5]

Public library copy.

I've no idea how this title remained an ongoing thing for so long. Its only appeal to me used to be the beautiful artwork by Jannin. Had this been a Vertigo book and far, far away from DC mainstream, it might have made more sense because the cast of misfits did little to interest me. It was by the numbers team quibbles and sour relationships against boring antagonists. The writer and artist did serviceable work, but nothing noteworthy, fresh, or better than the initial talent from the former book volumes.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gee, Deadman is brought back to life more often than Ra's Al Ghul. And I'm pretty sure no one was clamoring for Nightmare Nurse backstory. Why did I read this again?

[Laurel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, this book has really lost all direction. The characters don't make sense, the plots were rehash of themes we'd seen before, art wasn't anything special - just not interested in any of it.

[Ming · Rating 2 out of 5]

No more "save the world" gigantic stakes and no more crossovers = a much more readable volume.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Po masakrze zaprezentowanej nam w tomie czwartym, piąty album wygląda jak istne dzieło sztuki, tylko ze względu na to, że jest tutaj spójność fabularna. Liga powraca, aczkolwiek początkowe zagrożenie nie znajduje się na zewnątrz, a w szeregach samej formacji.

Constantine ostatnio przesadził na tyle poważnie, że praktycznie każdy członek ma do niego większą lub mniejszą niechęć, zwłaszcza Zatanna, która mimo, że drania kocha, to nie może puścić mu płazem niedawnej zdrady. Gdy Deadman obija Johnowi gębę w barze, reszta zażywa relaksu w Domu Tajemnic. Jednak nic nie trwa wiecznie. Constantine zapragnie pogodzić się z przyjaciółmi i zacznie się małe zamieszanie, kiedy w domu pojawi się Swap Thing, a sprawy z Nightmare Nurse przybiorą zły obrót, kiedy pojawi się prawdziwa Alice.

Okazuje się bowiem, że Nurse opętała czyjeś ciało, a sama jest mało przyjemnie wyglądającym demono- eteryczno- spirytystycznym czymś, co zamierza ponownie dostać się do ciała nosiciela. Jak to jednak bywa cała historia ma drugie dno i sprawy przyjmą niespodziewany obrót. Nie zdradzę więcej, bo jest tu kilka fajnych wątków. To był pierwszy wątek, który ustępuje miejsca historii skupionej na przyszłości i osobie Bostona Branda, co stanowi rozwinięcie relacji przedstawionej w DC Universe Presents vol. 1. Pojawia się niejaki Brahma Dass, który powiedzie bohatera do mistycznego Nanda Parbat, gdzie znajduje się... Raj.

Wszystko okazuje się jednak ukartowaną akcją i na miejsce przybywa istota zwana Panteonem. Mroczna Liga będzie musiała ratować miejsce i dusze tam zgromadzone. Nie była to zła historia, ale mocno schematyczna. Deadman (o ironio) będzie musiał tu ponownie wiele poświęcić. Reszta była cienka. No może poza pomysłem z tymi łańcuchami, ale od czego ma się w zanadrzu Potwora z Bagien. Ostatnia przedstawiana nam historia pochodzi z zakresu Futures End i... jest. Mamy w niej demona Etrigana, który jest raczej jedynym pozytywem tego co nam prezentują, bo reszta była bardzo słaba. Nowy wygląd Mrocznej Ligi jeszcze jest niezły, ale problem z jakim się mierzą...

Wielka, rogata głowa. Pewien długowieczny, tajemniczy jegomość i tona nudnych dialogów. Pal licho jeszcze ten fajny filtr, gdzie autor odnosi się do wydarzeń z przeszłości. Kreska wygląda nieźle, aczkolwiek nie porwała mnie w żadnym stopniu. Utracony Raj to przeciętniak, który nie uratuje serii od łatki tego najgorszego cyklu z jakąś Ligą.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth installment, Paradise Lost, of Justice League Dark improves from the previous volume with a much more cohesive storyline. Here, we are treated to two different mini-arcs that takes a look into the backstory of Nightmare Nurse and Deadman, both receiving a spotlight in the moment as well. With John Constantine quitting the team, Zatanna is now the new leader of JLD, as she's still learning how to manage the team with Black Orchid and Frankenstein leaving to go solo. Nightmare Nurse suddenly becomes inactive, having her spirit separate from the physical form. In an attempt to merge both forms back, Zatanna got a look into the Nurse's past, realizing she may not be who she claims. Later, with Deadman's story, a previous exploit the team went on is endangered once again, and Deadman may be the only key to stopping paradise from falling into darkness.

Overall, a bigger improvement from the Rebirth of Evil, with a much more sturdier story arc. The added is plus is a backstory and plot focus on team members who are not Zatanna or Constantine, as Deadman's and Nightmare Nurse's origins were never truly covered in previous volumes. So a spotlight on them gives us a better glimpse into their characters and why we should care about them. There is also some development in the dysfunctional relationship between Zee & John, as it appears they're moving on from their broken hearts, but only for a short bit, before they retread back into the same love-hate bond again. But this volume shows that no matter how dysfunctional the JLD is, compared to other teams, they do their best when working together and for the greater good. My one complaint is of what happened to Madame Xandau, as she's not present in this book at all, despite being the one who formed the team. Unless her disappearance is in another spin-off of DC, hopefully that question will be answered in the next collection. So while still slow-paced, and characters kept relatively the same, Paradise Lost is relatively enjoyable in refocusing the JLD on a new path.

[Hugo Emanuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

At Vol. 5, the Justice League Dark concept is starting to feel like its run its course.

While still an enjoyable read, the stories collected in this volume seem to be going through the motions.

To make matters worse, it starting to veer more and more away from its horror elements, and becoming overly philosofical and metaphysical, in a faux-deep kind of way. Its a frequent problem with alot of J.M. de Matteis' writing, and its becoming an issue in this title.

Its still enjoyable, mind, and there are heartfel moments ocasionally, but its starting to look like the writer doesn't know where to go next, and the characters are becoming predictable, one note and lacking development.

If i am completly honest, if it wasn't for the fact that I love these characters so much, I probably would have stopped reading JLDark by now.

The artwork has also been taken quite a few notches down. Gone is Mikel Janin's interiors, whose artwork was fantastic, and is only providing the covers to the series at this point. The new illustrator, Andres Guinaldo, is merely adequate, and the colouring has also changed form its eery ambience to something more basic and far less moody, which is a shame, considering its subject matter.

There is only one volume left for this title to end, and its a shame that it seems it will go on a lower note, as I am fairly certain the next few issues will have much the same problems as this one, considering Matteis is still writing it, and Janin is still off the book. But I will be along to finish the ride, as none of its volumes has been anything close to bad or unreadable.

[Andy Dainty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for good things with this volume after the frustrations and potential seen in the last volume. What you get is a focus in turn on Nightmare Nurse and Deadman before a 5 years later story.
I know nothing about Nightmare Nurse so found this story midly interesting and enjoyable, adding a bit of depth to the character.
On the other hand, when it came to the Deadman story; I have read and thoroughly enjoyed the original Neal Adams Deadman series having first encountered him in Brave and the Bold. As a result the Deadman story presented here seems woefully sub-par and I would rather just forget it.
The final 5 year's later story is darker and more cynical, which I enjoyed, but due to the 5 years later concept, doesn't fit anywhere. There is vague reference to how the JLD got where they are now, but that is obviously not as important to the writer as the story being presented; which for me echoes back to the previous volume, where you know little of what happens in between issues.
The JLD is now nearly an all female team with one exception Etrigan, another character I have read and loved and looked forward to his potential appearance, but here he is reduced to a rhyming romantic partner for Zatanna. An unforgivable waste of this character.