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Justice League Dark (2018) (Collected Editions) #5
Justice League Dark: The Great Wickedness
Dark days lie ahead for the new Justice League Dark. Zatanna and John Constantine take a road trip, only to discover horror around the bend as a friend-and sometime foe-is reborn in fire! A legend is destroyed, and another takes a terrible turn, as Merlin reveals the beginning of a new, blood-drenched plot for all humankind. So begins writer Ram V’s new journey into the abyss with the Justice League Dark and artist Xermanico!
Justice League Dark is an incredible collection of tales from Justice League #59-71 and Justice League Dark 2021 Annual!
Justice League Dark is an incredible collection of tales from Justice League #59-71 and Justice League Dark 2021 Annual!
168 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 19, 2022
21 people are currently reading
136 people want to read
About the author
Ram V
484 books354 followersRam V (Ramnarayan Venkatesan) is an author and comic book writer from Mumbai, India. His comics career began in 2012 with the award-nominated Indian comic series, Aghori. A graduate of the City University of London’s Creative Writing MA, he has since created the critically acclaimed Black Mumba and the fantasy adventure series, Brigands.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
July 24, 2022
Glad Ram V got to continue his story, but it’s beyond annoying that DC relegated one of their best ongoings to backups for Bendis’ shitty Justice League Run. And then they had the nerve to not even let Ram V get to finish telling the full story he was building up to! Very dumb DC, very dumb.
Hope this gets continued at some point so Ram V can finish that said story he wanted to tell. It’s genuinely tragic a book as good as this got moved to the backups of one of the worst ongoings while some dogshit title like Titans Academy got two full-length volumes.
This is worth the buy if you are a DC fan though, and especially if you liked the Tynion/Ram V JLD era after Rebirth. The art by both Xermanico & Sumit Kumar is insanely gorgeous as well.
Hope this gets continued at some point so Ram V can finish that said story he wanted to tell. It’s genuinely tragic a book as good as this got moved to the backups of one of the worst ongoings while some dogshit title like Titans Academy got two full-length volumes.
This is worth the buy if you are a DC fan though, and especially if you liked the Tynion/Ram V JLD era after Rebirth. The art by both Xermanico & Sumit Kumar is insanely gorgeous as well.
July 19, 2022
Merlin has returned and it's not good for mankind. Time to bring in the Justice League Dark to put a stop to things. Along the way the team picks up some new members. These backup stories from Bendis's Justice League are better than the main story. Kudos to Ram V. for that.
Sumit Kumar and Xermanico draw all the backup stories and both of them do a great job of it. Christopher Mitten finishes up the run in the annual and I can't say I'm a fan. The story is left unresolved unfortunately. Hopefully Ram V. will be allowed to finish it up somewhere else.
Sumit Kumar and Xermanico draw all the backup stories and both of them do a great job of it. Christopher Mitten finishes up the run in the annual and I can't say I'm a fan. The story is left unresolved unfortunately. Hopefully Ram V. will be allowed to finish it up somewhere else.
April 16, 2025
I continue to read Justice League Dark despite the fact that it's inconsistent in quality. The last several volumes have improved somewhat under the writing of James Tynion IV and Ram V. "The Great Wickedness", written by Ram V, is okay but not great. Compared to past volumes, however, that's stellar praise.
The plot in this one is a bit confusing. Merlin, the great wizard, has returned, except now he is a bad guy. He's after something in the city of Atlantis, which turns out to be an ancient dude buried for millenia. Wonder Woman shows up. And some guy named Mister E (get it?). I'll be honest: I didn't know what the hell was going on for most of this volume.
I just kind of breezed through this without much excitement or interest. I got the feeling that everyone involved was phoning it in, too.
The plot in this one is a bit confusing. Merlin, the great wizard, has returned, except now he is a bad guy. He's after something in the city of Atlantis, which turns out to be an ancient dude buried for millenia. Wonder Woman shows up. And some guy named Mister E (get it?). I'll be honest: I didn't know what the hell was going on for most of this volume.
I just kind of breezed through this without much excitement or interest. I got the feeling that everyone involved was phoning it in, too.
March 17, 2024
The Justice League Dark team have to face the wizard Merlin as he pursues a dark scheme. The chemistry between the Just League Dark members is good and the conflicts feel epic in scale. Plus, it's always fun to see Detective Chimp on the team. Overall, it's a fun read.
October 15, 2025
Merlin out of control!
July 15, 2022
The best part of Brian Bendis' Justice League run was the Justice League Dark back-ups by Ram V, all of which are collected here, including the annual that ends the story. Yes, that's both a massive slight on Bendis and high praise for V. Things can be two things.
These back-ups pit the Justice League Dark against the returned Merlin as he attempts to rewrite the rules of magic. V uses all of your favourite JLD characters, as well as some unexpected new faces including Ragman and Randu Singh, Etrigan's old friend. V's story builds and builds, and each 10 page story feels complete on its own even as everything reaches boiling point in the annual.
I think my main, and only, complaint here is that there's no solid conclusion. V's back-ups came to an end when Bendis' tenure was announced as ending (hence the annual), but there's not really enough space for an overly satisfying ending. The story does conclude, but more in a 'there's more to come to this later' kind of way than anything more solid, which is a shame. I have a feeling V will revisit this in one of his other books at DC though, it's just a matter of when and where.
On art for the most part is Xermanico, whose details are impeccable, and I especially loved Romulo Fajardo Jr.'s colours. Everything looks so grand and imposing, even when it's the simple things like a room full of bookcases. The annual is handled by Christopher Mitten, who pops over from Oni Press for a guest spot. It's a shame Xermanico couldn't finish what he started, but he went on to bigger things as part of Infinite Frontier and Justice League Incarnate, so you can't exactly blame him.
An excellent build-up, but a bit of a blue-balled ending mar this otherwise perfect collection.
These back-ups pit the Justice League Dark against the returned Merlin as he attempts to rewrite the rules of magic. V uses all of your favourite JLD characters, as well as some unexpected new faces including Ragman and Randu Singh, Etrigan's old friend. V's story builds and builds, and each 10 page story feels complete on its own even as everything reaches boiling point in the annual.
I think my main, and only, complaint here is that there's no solid conclusion. V's back-ups came to an end when Bendis' tenure was announced as ending (hence the annual), but there's not really enough space for an overly satisfying ending. The story does conclude, but more in a 'there's more to come to this later' kind of way than anything more solid, which is a shame. I have a feeling V will revisit this in one of his other books at DC though, it's just a matter of when and where.
On art for the most part is Xermanico, whose details are impeccable, and I especially loved Romulo Fajardo Jr.'s colours. Everything looks so grand and imposing, even when it's the simple things like a room full of bookcases. The annual is handled by Christopher Mitten, who pops over from Oni Press for a guest spot. It's a shame Xermanico couldn't finish what he started, but he went on to bigger things as part of Infinite Frontier and Justice League Incarnate, so you can't exactly blame him.
An excellent build-up, but a bit of a blue-balled ending mar this otherwise perfect collection.
September 9, 2022
This title certainly sets itself up as most of the magical elements of the DC Universe. As this is in post-Death Metal DC Omniverse, Wonder Woman is gone, and her spot is claimed by Ragman (thought Ragman was in Marvel's Inhumans, so there was so slight confusion there). But there is another snag.... Justice League Dark doesn't have their own title anymore, so this collection is the add-on stories that were during the events of "Justice League: Prisms", and they definitely feel like it. The team is chasing Merlin, who is gathering the magics of the world to eventually take over (standard megalomaniac plot)... but this ends up (at least for me) feeling like a bad version of the outstanding comic by BOOM Studios called "Once and Future". The artists keep changing and the plot isn't really straightforward, instead feeling like they are trying to wrap up a lot of threads.
I really hope what comes next from this team feels much more thought out and is epic in scale.
Recommend, but only if you really love the characters. Might be worth the wait for whatever the sequel to this is.
I really hope what comes next from this team feels much more thought out and is epic in scale.
Recommend, but only if you really love the characters. Might be worth the wait for whatever the sequel to this is.
June 19, 2023
Justice League Dark Vol. 5 The Great Wickedness collects the backup stories from Justice League issues 59-71 and Annual 1 written by Ram V with art by Dan Watters, Sumit Kumar, Xermánico, and Christopher Mitten.
The powerful wizard Merlin has returned to steal the magic from Atlantis in order to taker over the world.
This volume is a rather simple story of a villain trying to take over the world. Unfortunately DC Comics made the decision to demote the JLD to a back-up in the ongoing Justice League series and then it was ultimately cancelled before the overall story could be finished. My favorite part of the book was the addition of Ragman to the team. I really enjoyed Ragman's character back in the days of Infinite Crisis and the Shadowpact team so it was great to see him be featured again. Zatanna is the leader of the JLD but is extra moody in this volume. I haven't been a big fan of how emo she has been in this entire series. Also, just make Constantine of member of the JLD, he is probably the most used character in the whole volume and isn't even a member of the team.
The powerful wizard Merlin has returned to steal the magic from Atlantis in order to taker over the world.
This volume is a rather simple story of a villain trying to take over the world. Unfortunately DC Comics made the decision to demote the JLD to a back-up in the ongoing Justice League series and then it was ultimately cancelled before the overall story could be finished. My favorite part of the book was the addition of Ragman to the team. I really enjoyed Ragman's character back in the days of Infinite Crisis and the Shadowpact team so it was great to see him be featured again. Zatanna is the leader of the JLD but is extra moody in this volume. I haven't been a big fan of how emo she has been in this entire series. Also, just make Constantine of member of the JLD, he is probably the most used character in the whole volume and isn't even a member of the team.
July 31, 2023
I didn't know there was another volume of this until I randomly found it at the bookstore which was good because I am at heart a completist and bad because I really didn't remember enough to dive back into this. But glad enough to have spent some more time with these characters.
October 20, 2022
Merlin's return isn't exactly a good thing as The Great Wickedness reveals the wizard to be a villain who desires the universe's magic. Which is basically the same deal as every villain that the Justice League Dark faces, but that's beside the point. The point: The Great Wickedness is really good and a lot of fun.
It's a chase, essentially, as the team tracks Merlin from artifact to artifact, always a step behind. Each character gets a fun role to play, including special guest Batman. Special call-out to the adventure inside an infinite library - that was a fun one to read. I was a tad surprised at the inconclusive ending, but certainly intrigued by the Annual, which suggests that Merlin's escapades are just the beginning. Kudos to Ram V for bringing the Source Wall back into a DC title without raising my hackles.
Excited to see where the series goes from here! If it keeps going...
It's a chase, essentially, as the team tracks Merlin from artifact to artifact, always a step behind. Each character gets a fun role to play, including special guest Batman. Special call-out to the adventure inside an infinite library - that was a fun one to read. I was a tad surprised at the inconclusive ending, but certainly intrigued by the Annual, which suggests that Merlin's escapades are just the beginning. Kudos to Ram V for bringing the Source Wall back into a DC title without raising my hackles.
Excited to see where the series goes from here! If it keeps going...
November 15, 2023
"Justice League Dark: The Great Wickedness" is a fast paced paranormal adventure that showcases writer Ram V's strong story telling abilities. This book focuses on Zatanna's emergence as a strong leader while dealing with a resurgent threat from the past and a new potentially world shattering menace from the most powerful sorcerer of all time. Also featured are strong performances from JLD dark favorites such as Detective Chimp, Jason Blood and John Constantine along with a few other less common characters. Recommended for anyone who likes paranormal superhero scenarios and apocalyptic themes.
November 28, 2025
Ahhh man they never get to finish the story? How disappointing! The weirder side of DC is one of its strong suits, I’d imagine the cultural knowledge of Superman or Aquaman is much more prevalent but comic readers aren’t (usually) clamoring for them, they usually feel weak and played out in my opinion. The twisted side of magic, evil Merlin, eating apples backwards this is what I read comics for. Ram V should be required to write a weird superhero book for the rest of his career- he is a legend in the making.
This is a great continuation, Zattana continues as a leader though at times it feels like the JLA is a bit shoehorned in. I really like how kind Constantine can be with her, he isn’t all gruff!
This is a great continuation, Zattana continues as a leader though at times it feels like the JLA is a bit shoehorned in. I really like how kind Constantine can be with her, he isn’t all gruff!
November 19, 2022
A lot of this story is a muddy mess, which I think is a combination of "Ram V." not being that impressive and this story being poorly collected. But I don't understand why this story is broken into little bite-sized bits, I don't know why Aquaman suddenly appears, and I don't understand the whole Diana is dead oh no she's not bit (nor how she suddenly shows up just where she's needed)
As for the actual plot of fighting Merlin. Interesting premise that gets dull over time. And then it doesn't have a proper ending. I like some of the new characters such as the Eternal Knight, and there's just a lot more that doesn't make sense.
I suspect this is a comic that would read better on a second time. Maybe if there's someday another JLD aomnibus.
As for the actual plot of fighting Merlin. Interesting premise that gets dull over time. And then it doesn't have a proper ending. I like some of the new characters such as the Eternal Knight, and there's just a lot more that doesn't make sense.
I suspect this is a comic that would read better on a second time. Maybe if there's someday another JLD aomnibus.
November 17, 2022
Merlin as the great bad guy, John Constantine doing his trench coat thing, and decent supporting cast,
but just don't buy Zatanna as the Super Magician to bring it all home, upside down man or not.
but just don't buy Zatanna as the Super Magician to bring it all home, upside down man or not.
October 30, 2022
Solid story with a not-so-great annual issue in the back. Man, Justice League Dark has been a solid series since Dark Nights: Metal. I am just such a fan of the DC comics magical universe. DC and magic go together like peanut butter and jelly. I enjoyed James Tynion's run so much. If fact his run on this book is tied with his run on Detective comics. They are just some of the best superhero team books I had read in recent years. I was sad to see this series go to being a backup story in the Justice League's current comic book series. What Ram V is doing in this book is leaps better than Bendis in the mainstay JLA book. I was a bit nervous about Ram V being on this series since his run on Swamp Thing started out strong but ended up being a slow burn for me. Ram V just takes a while to build up a story and this series is no exception. However, there is sizeable action and set pieces to keep you entertained. The artwork is also really good in this book as well. Colorists also did an amazing job in this book. The magic and creatures look great in this story. All the characters sounded like themselves and the plot was really interesting. I think Merlin was definitely a great obstacle for a team like this to overcome. It's great that Ram V included the threads from Death Metal going as Zatanna now has to lead this rag-tag team of misfit magic users without a powerhouse like Wonder Woman. This story was epic as hell. I mean we go to Atlantis, Gotham and even into the pages of a freaking book all in one story. Ram V was definitely having fun telling this story. My only gripe was the annual issue which acts more of a setup for DC comics' current crossover event, "Dark Crisis". Which I am just not excited about. I mean we just came off a gigantic crisis-level event which was, Death Metal, and we are already stuck in another multiverse-shattering event. I hope DC comics get its universe together. Fans of JL Dark will still enjoy this book. It would have been a near-perfect collection except for the information dump that was the Justice League Dark Annual. But in all fairness, Ram V was not on the writer's duty for that issue. Dan Watters messes up a near-perfect collection. I still hope we get more JL Dark from Ram V soon.
August 10, 2022
I've said it before: Justice League Dark kicks the regular JLA's butt. We don't need a live action movie of them, but maybe some more animated ones.
February 19, 2025
Oh man, my love/hate relationship with the new Justice League Dark series continues. I first want to commend the artists for beautiful illustrations and inventive panel design and layout as it continues to be above par in the storytelling department as well. A couple standout panels I want to highlight are the one that has a two page spread that shows fight scenes broken out from Merlin’s brain (totally wild), and another I was impressed with was another two page spread where the League walk across a page of script notes for the actual comic. It was very meta. The only illustrations I couldn’t get behind were the ones in the annual issue at the end of the collection. It was too jarring compared to the rest of the book’s art.
Again, one thing I mainly struggled with in this collection (as with other comics from this series) was the relationships and team bonding that have been built (or rather not built). In this collection they try to really push the Zatanna/Constantine forbidden love angle, but it was never clearly established to begin with (only if you’re a longtime fan of Justice League Dark). I also feel that characters were extremely underused in this volume, such as Swamp Thing and Man-Bat. We also get random new characters who have no point like Elnara and Ragman (who yes isn’t new to the Dark realm, but randomly appears in this collection and is not utilized). I would say the sisterhood between Zatanna and Diana was nice, but Wonder Woman is barely in this collection for that to appear.
The only characters I truly think shine in this collection are Detective Chimp and Zatanna. They both really bare their entire heart and soul for the team, even if that looks very different for both of them. I’ve been surprisingly impressed with Zatanna’s arch throughout this run and I think DC is setting her up for great things and it excites me. The villain of Merlin was fun, but random. I also liked Etrigan’s (Jason Blood) appearance, as he’s always a spitfire. It was also nice getting an Aquaman spotlight, but again this could’ve been a cameo from any Justice League member and it would’ve felt the same in my opinion.
Overall it was a fun read, but the team dynamic and at times convoluted storytelling kept me from committing 100%. I would definitely reread, maybe I’m being too harsh. Sorry JLD!
Again, one thing I mainly struggled with in this collection (as with other comics from this series) was the relationships and team bonding that have been built (or rather not built). In this collection they try to really push the Zatanna/Constantine forbidden love angle, but it was never clearly established to begin with (only if you’re a longtime fan of Justice League Dark). I also feel that characters were extremely underused in this volume, such as Swamp Thing and Man-Bat. We also get random new characters who have no point like Elnara and Ragman (who yes isn’t new to the Dark realm, but randomly appears in this collection and is not utilized). I would say the sisterhood between Zatanna and Diana was nice, but Wonder Woman is barely in this collection for that to appear.
The only characters I truly think shine in this collection are Detective Chimp and Zatanna. They both really bare their entire heart and soul for the team, even if that looks very different for both of them. I’ve been surprisingly impressed with Zatanna’s arch throughout this run and I think DC is setting her up for great things and it excites me. The villain of Merlin was fun, but random. I also liked Etrigan’s (Jason Blood) appearance, as he’s always a spitfire. It was also nice getting an Aquaman spotlight, but again this could’ve been a cameo from any Justice League member and it would’ve felt the same in my opinion.
Overall it was a fun read, but the team dynamic and at times convoluted storytelling kept me from committing 100%. I would definitely reread, maybe I’m being too harsh. Sorry JLD!
April 7, 2023
Finally got around to finishing this. The reason it took me so long is because I was trying to see if there were any tie-ins to this story.
I despise the fact that Justice League Dark was shunted to back issues. It's story and writing are superior to Bendis's Justice League. So the fact that its storytelling was shortened to a back issue us disappointing.
All in all its a good story. It only begins to suffer from its back issue format when you get to "Drowned Secrets". Then things start happening at Atlantis and stuff happens with characters off scene that had me wondering if there were othe back issues for characters like Aquaman and Dr. Fate.
Also for some reason they put the Annual story at the end of this book when it clearly goes before the last back issue story. Dr. Fate's narration with his teammates really makes no sense unless you read the Annual first.
And finally, what the heck happened to Man-Bat! DC completely did him dirty. He has such a good character arc in Tynion's JLD, then all of a sudden he's a zombie in Task Force Z?! I mean you see him helping Khalid in the beginning of this story and then he's just gone. Do any of his former friends care!
I despise the fact that Justice League Dark was shunted to back issues. It's story and writing are superior to Bendis's Justice League. So the fact that its storytelling was shortened to a back issue us disappointing.
All in all its a good story. It only begins to suffer from its back issue format when you get to "Drowned Secrets". Then things start happening at Atlantis and stuff happens with characters off scene that had me wondering if there were othe back issues for characters like Aquaman and Dr. Fate.
Also for some reason they put the Annual story at the end of this book when it clearly goes before the last back issue story. Dr. Fate's narration with his teammates really makes no sense unless you read the Annual first.
And finally, what the heck happened to Man-Bat! DC completely did him dirty. He has such a good character arc in Tynion's JLD, then all of a sudden he's a zombie in Task Force Z?! I mean you see him helping Khalid in the beginning of this story and then he's just gone. Do any of his former friends care!
September 4, 2023
This Justice League Dark volume collects the JLDARK backups from Justice League #59+71 and the JLDARK 2021 Annual #1.
Good story, and often extremely creative use of panels, especially in the Annual.
While the pace sometimes feels a bit "chopped", due to it being consisted of mostly 10 page backups, Ram V's writing is more than solid enougth to work around that considerable limitation for a story of significant stakes.
Its a very good read for fans of the team and the Magic side of DC.
Sadly, the end of rhe regular Justice League title also meant the end of these backups, so the story is rendered quite incomplete, which is extremely frustrating. Hopefully to be picked up somewhere.
Still, I'm really glad these backups were collected in a single volume. Now let's hope for a conclusion to it.
Artwork is mostly by Xermanico and Sumit Kumar, and they deliver excelent work, Xermanico in particular.
7/10
Good story, and often extremely creative use of panels, especially in the Annual.
While the pace sometimes feels a bit "chopped", due to it being consisted of mostly 10 page backups, Ram V's writing is more than solid enougth to work around that considerable limitation for a story of significant stakes.
Its a very good read for fans of the team and the Magic side of DC.
Sadly, the end of rhe regular Justice League title also meant the end of these backups, so the story is rendered quite incomplete, which is extremely frustrating. Hopefully to be picked up somewhere.
Still, I'm really glad these backups were collected in a single volume. Now let's hope for a conclusion to it.
Artwork is mostly by Xermanico and Sumit Kumar, and they deliver excelent work, Xermanico in particular.
7/10
October 10, 2023
This is a tough book to review. The story collected here is a soft reboot of the ongoing series, with Ram V taking over after having co written the end of the Tynion run. It’s a lot of set up with some nice call backs and some new and interesting additions to the team. The art is fantastic. There are big teases for what feels like another big run on this title. And then it ends. And it hasn’t been back in going on two years. Ram V has sense moved on to Detective Comics. From what I can tell, none of these characters (aside from Wonder Woman) are being used elsewhere. It’s a major bummer, and it makes it hard to recommend this trade. At the very least, go in knowing it has no ending.
September 6, 2023
The fact that DC never let Ram V conclude this story is a crime. Love the return of old DC concepts like Merlin's twisted family tree and the Dark World of Atlantis (which was totally where the Upside-Down Man was supposed to be from before Snyder's Dark Multiverse became a thing). Hopefully we get a sequel in some form or fashion.
November 25, 2023
Still enjoyable (Merlin is back and he's not as nice as we thought!), but felt a little disjointed. I think it suffered from having to exist in the back of Bendis's Justice League books. When I say disjointed I mean I'm not sure it actually concluded and maybe it even told us how it was going to end in one panel of an issue and then the Annual issue had a lot of information dumped on us.
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August 15, 2024“Damn that sorcerer! He’s raised the soldiers of the old kingdom from the dead!”
“Bird of the underworld. Keeper of souls. Aid me now and lessen your debt eternal.”
“Blood for blood, Merlin the betrayer.”
If sentences like these make you go “sick,” then you understand the appeal of this book. It’s nothing more, nothing less.
“Bird of the underworld. Keeper of souls. Aid me now and lessen your debt eternal.”
“Blood for blood, Merlin the betrayer.”
If sentences like these make you go “sick,” then you understand the appeal of this book. It’s nothing more, nothing less.
April 5, 2025
Enjoyable art overall, the annual art didn't mesh very well with the other two artists though. I enjoy the magical characters, the story looked like it was heading towards a dramatic conclusion, but it just seemed to end on a cliffhanger.
January 18, 2023
Seemed like a stand alone story, but there is no ending.
February 14, 2023
3.25.
The end is printed out of order.
And it’s long for a price that doesn’t really conclude.
The end is printed out of order.
And it’s long for a price that doesn’t really conclude.
February 13, 2024
Feels bloated and choppy, probably because these are actually back up stories.
January 25, 2025
An interesting story, but I don't think it lives up to the rest of the series. (I would even argue that this was separate enough that it should be separate from the Upside Down Man saga.)
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July 8, 2025Fun read.
June 15, 2023
Something something magic, something something Merlin, something something Atlantis ... This didn't make much sense, a weak ending to a series I had enjoyed. It didn't help that the TPB was arranged with the Annual at the end, despite the events in it happening before the last two issues. So there were references to JLD Annual #1, which of course I hadn't read, then the series ends and the Annual comes up. Poor.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews