You Must Protect Yourself
Well I said, "Lily. Oh, Lily, I don't feel safe. I feel that life has blown a great big hole through me." And she said, "Child. You must protect yourself. You can protect yourself. I'll show you how with fire." - Kate Bush, "Lily"
Story/Writing
This issue mostly follows Zatanna, Deadman, and Constantine while Madame Xanadu narrates. Peter Milligan continues to examine how the characters are "damaged goods" primarily by focusing on how they inevitably destroy all that is innocent, including their love lives, in the Deadman portion of the story. There's been a lot of back-lash against Deadman for acting like an insensitive jerk, but upon a closer reading of the issue, I can see that it has a purpose and is meant to show one example of how their love-lives aren't easy. As Dove says, when quoting Joan Armatrading, "I'm not in love...but I'm open to persuasion." But Deadman can't do the persuading, as much as Dove desires his Love and Affection. We see more of how their love-lives are troubling in the previous issue when Rac Shade's subconscious momentarily re-creates Kathy, his dead love. And in the next issue, we'll see more of Zatanna and Constantine's relationship. It's a very good issue and I particularly liked the scenes with Zatanna in the beginning and end of the book. I just find it very beautiful, how she shields herself in a halo of energy to protect herself from the darkness.
Art
The panel lay-outs in this issue are masterfully done with a lot of attention given to negative space and Ulises Arreola's colours are used to great effect and create a wonderful sense of atmosphere. I particularly love the scenes in which Zatanna shields herself in a halo of protective energy amidst the wave of Enchantress's dark influence and when Dove flies out into the eerie dark.
