DC has been trying to make "JL DARK" a thing for a decade+ now, and it still hasn't caught on. But why? Is it because the name is moronic? Because the characters are too schlocky and people would rather just read Hellblazer? DC always had a more fleshed out fantasy side due to Vertigo, but for some reason none of their explicitly supernatural characters has caught on. Neither as Shadowpact, nor as JL Dark. It doesn't help that both JLD runs were abysmal and mediocre respectively.
Meanwhile Marvel's turned the Midnight Sons/Suns into quite a viable property. People know Blade, Ghost Rider, now Dr. Strange and Moon Knight. Wanda can always show up. Even Morbius became a meme. And these guys haven't had a proper book as a team in decades. Yet even if DC tries, they just can't do it. I think it comes down to the characters. JonCon's cool and Zee can easily be pushed, but Deadman is too moronic/boring looking, Strange stole Fate's thunder, Detective Chimp isn't as cuddly as Rocket, and there's nobody cool like GR/Blade/etc. I just find it peculiar because in theory it should work, but it just can't.
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The name is moronic, simple as.
Why do WW and Zatanna both look like Anya Taylor-Joy on this cover
Looks like AI art.
All the Midnight Suns have is the game and a lot of the characters in that aren't even actual members of the team in the comics. They're barely used in the comics, especially now.
The idea of an All-Star Magic Roster has been something DC has wanted since the 90s.
Just a few pre-52 examples:
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Trenchcoat_Brigade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinels_of_Magic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowpact
It's just that that JLD has lasted the longest.
They've also tried sorting all street level vigilantes into the batfamily, with similarly inorganic and disappointing results.
For me making Wonder Woman the face of this never works. At the end of the day she's just another person who punches things hard when I'd rather see like wizard battles and shit.
Just have the team be called, The Hellblazers, with Constantine being the obvious leader.
DC its using AI art? How long until they start using AI to write comics?
As much as I loved Shadowpact, they were never going to catch on. Ragman is not the guy you hang a franchise on.
I'd relaunch Shadowpact with with Timothy Hunter, Detective Chimp, Misty Kilgore, Enchantress, and Blue Devil.
The name is kind of lame
Night Force is a much cooler name for a supernatural team
Night Master should have a cooler look
He’s a 70s hard rock /heavy metal guy in a swords and sorcery setting
He should have a better design
I'm thankful that Johns is leaving DC before his dream of Justice Society Dark came to fruition even if JSA has a lot of magic and magic adjacent characters that could use the spotlight..
>Justice League
>Justice League International
>Justice League Detroit
>Justice League Dark
>Young Justice
>Justice Society
>Justice Society Dark
>Young Justice Society
>Titans
>Teen Titans
Titans Dark when?
>Lilith
>Raven
>Traci 13
>Zachary Zatara
>Red Devil
>Djinn
>Kid Eternity
Well I'm not HATING that idea...
Titans Dark was apparently speculated as the direction for Damian coming out of Lazarus Planet
Damian
Monkey King
Traci 13
Klarion
>Damian
gross
glad that was just speculation
Because Marvel is a popular brand, DC Comics is not.
People hear about Midnight Suns and want to learn about the characters.
People hear about Justice League Dark and don’t care.
The truth is, having popular movies and shows help make comic teams more popular.
>popular movies and shows
>midnight suns
sure jan.
Midnight Sons looks cooler - and that's ALL they have going for them.
There are no iconic Midnight Sons comic storylines. the first one is just memorably 90s schlock like Maximum Carnage.
There are no Midnight Sons cartoons or merch. The video game barely has anything to do with them.
Branding and pin-up art and the continued potential of a movie team-up (you're gullible if you think Disney would ever do it well) is all Midnight Sons has going for it
The Marvel characters are just cooler. That’s their whole MO. DC has a few outliers but by and large they’re your grandad’s superheroes. Marvel characters are edgier, cooler, have more stories to tell, even in their Disneyfied versions. In general cape terms people like DC’s approach as well, but when you’re trying to make a team of supernatural badasses, cool factor plays a big role. It doesn’t help that while DC’s Vertigo imprint had JonCon and Sandman, the mainline universe never did build up a big enough corner for them. The Midnight Sons can go against Mephisto, Dormammu, Dormammu’s hot sister Umar, Shuma-Gorath and so on. In one way or another, even normalgays are familiar with those characters due to games and other media. And that’s without the fact that they get semi-regular exposure in the comics themselves leading to more invested stories. What does DC have? Some Dr Fate villain that hasn’t been seen in 30 years? In the 2nd Volume they fought a Creepypasta OC and Circe, again. It’d be like Marvel dusting off Morgana Le Fay every time Scarlet Witch or Doom or Strange got a story. There’s just not much there.
And finally the name’s too stupid. Midnight Sons/Suns is catchy. It’s both edgy and “super heroic”. Nightstalkers was fun too. He’ll, even if you how for brand recognition, even Dark Avengers works. But “Justice League Dark” just sounds nonsensical. Justice League is a corny name of goody-do-gooders, and tacking on the Dark there makes it feel like a parody. It’ll never catch on and they should just do Hellblazer stuff where JonCon teams up with Zee and Swamp Thing and Dr. Fate and whatnot. Or at least just shove Batman in there…
There is nothing "dark" in that comic line. Pretty boring if you ask me.
Wonder Woman, Fate, Zatanna and Swamp Thing? Who do they fight that does not fold like a lawn chair?
The Upside-Down Man seems to be their most used villain.
unironically the name is the best thing about it
>Man-BRAP
Is there some kind of rights deal with Bill Willingham and the name "Shadowpact"?
Seems strange that they never tried again with that name but clearly think the concept has lots of potential
The concept of Shadowpact was that they were disparate losers, not the all-stars brought together.
Just seems strange that there's been like ZERO attempts to do a second volume, a mini, a guest spot, anything since 2006
Because it didn't sell at all. And they already had Justice League Dark by 2011.
Because it was a flop for its time.
It was selling cancellation numbers by #10 and it didn't have the cult following to get a continuation like Manhunter did. It was cancelled mid 2008 and JLD launched 3 years later.
The concept didn't belong to Willingham. He was writing off an outline by Judd Winnick for Days of Vengeance. In other words, it was entirely work for hire.
>Dark Justice
Would probably work better (and was also the name of the canceled Guillermo Del Toro movie?)
"Justice League Dark" is just too clunky for a name. There's no in-universe justification of that name.
Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, Swamp Thing and Detective Chimp is a powerhouse team. There's potential to add Etrigan too
Also I know people hate Bat-wank but I do think it helps to have one of the big "normal" superheroes with them. Batman is used too much and I appreciated what they tried with Wonder Woman, but it wasn't the right fit.
What about adding BatWoman to the team?
Batwoman would be perfect if they embrace making her the mystic step child of the bat family.
because team books are gay and characters like swamp thing and constantine don't work as well in team books as they do solo comics.
The only DC character normies care about is batman. The only other characters normies care about that is not batman is joker and harley quinn. DC's suicide squad push from the recent decade is because harley quinn is on that team, and they want harley quinn to have her own justice league.
A couple reasons
>No one gives a shit about any of these characters. Constantine and Zatanna can only carry the team so much, this is evidenced by them desperately trying to add Batman and Wonder Woman to the lineup to get more mainstream audience attention
>The premise of a dark and gritty superhero team that openly works with and under the Justice League will never work
>Their villains aren't interesting
JL Dark feels like an Elseworlds idea that they're trying to force into the mainline.
>JL Dark feels like an Elseworlds idea that they're trying to force into the mainline.
That would have been a better idea. Whether it was Morrison's Earth 13 or some new gimmick.
Wizards don't attack cities like giant monsters and aliens invasions do.