I just…wow! While most Annuals are stand alones Lemire takes the opportunity to use the expanded format to conclude his “War for the Books of Magic” arc, and what a wild ride it is!Lemire is able to completely bring readers up to speed with out ever slowing the issues down. The dialogue and exposition fluidly moves that should have any reader enthralled in this final battle. The book handles the expansion of the JLD very well and all the characters fit naturally into the pages. As cliche as it sounds, Lemire’s writing will have you on the edge of your seat as our (anti)heroes reach the climax of the story.

Then there’s the art. As he has done for the series’s entirety Mikel Janín gives us beautiful pages in Justice League Dark. The splash pages with the entire team are stunning. With so many characters it could be easy for an artist to loose focus , but not Janin each charcter looks like they were given individual attention and look stunning.

To be honest if I kept going I would run out of adjectives to describe how great I think the art and story are. This issue is well worth the $4.99 price of admission. It’s a great end to Lemire’s first arc filled with cameos of other heroes of DC’s “Dark” family. With a story that is perfectly paced and art that is drawn beautifully.