Shut your eyes. Imagine you're floating.
Story/Writing
Unlike previous issues, this one focuses more on building up to the final confrontation with Enchantress rather than on the characters themselves, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are a few character-driven moments, such as June Moon bonding with Deadman, even saying that he's "way cooler than Superman", and Madame Xanadu struggling to cope with JL:D's impending doom, and the guilt of having a hand in it. There are a couple of other fun moments, such as a scene with Dove and Constantine that echoes a scene from Watchmen between Nite Owl and Rorschach. And the scene with Shade and Mindwarp goes strangely unresolved.
I rather like how Zatanna has been depicted in these last few issues. She seems fully aware that Enchantress is far more powerful than she is and facing her can mean her death. And yet, she's so quietly resigned to her fate. It has interesting implications for how she handles her relationships, because if she allows Batman and Constantine to remain in her life, they'll probably do the heroic thing and die with her. However, as she will no doubt learn in the coming issues, she needs help in this battle and that's when Justice League Dark will finally be formed.
Art
The artwork in this issue is much better than the last one. I'm not much of a fan of how the M-Vest and Mindwarp's energy sparks are depicted, they just look flat and unbelievable against the rest of the environment. But they're not as present here as they were in the last issue. Mikel Janin and Ulises Arreola seems to consistently do an amazing job on Madame Xanadu, in particular. Her inking and colour is always just right in each panel. And the crowd scenes with the June Moon/Enchantress simulcra are always as stunning as they are gruesome and terrible. And I can't end this review without mentioning just how much I love Ryan Sook's cover. It's by the far the best one he's done and definitely one of the best covers of the relaunch. It almost feels like a Pre-Raphaelite painting of a knight rescuing a fare maiden or something taken out of one of Grimm's fairy tales, but with a modern, Vertigo twist.
