The Justice League and the Justice League Dark team-up to face an ancient threat in Justice League #72, by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artists Szynmon Kudranksi, Emanuela Lupacchino, and Wade Von Grawbadger, colors by Kudranski and HI-Fi, and letterer Josh Reed. Bendis puts the two groups together by bringing by a threat from his Superman days.

Zatanna has a vision of Black Adam attacking everyone, with the two Leagues his victims. She snaps out of it and talks to the JLD about it. Outside the Hall, the League is having a charity day, and Black Adam looks on at the whole thing before leaving. He goes home to Kahndaq and is confronted by Xanadoth, a lord of Chaos. From there, it’s all a search for him, as both Leagues use their resources while Xanadoth takes him over. She attacks Zatanna and Madame Xanadu and then transforms into Black Adam.

There are a lot of complaints about Bendis and his writing, and in a lot of ways, this issue of Justice League plays into those complaints. It’s a whole lot of long-winded set-up with little to no action. However, it’s also expertly done set-up. Bendis has a lot of drawbacks as a writer, and yet this comic doesn’t play into any of them. Everything develops the main plot, and it never feels boring. In fact, he does a great job of selling the portentousness of the whole thing.

Bendis writing the Justice League Dark is pretty interesting. He’s dealt with Khalid as Doctor Fate in the Xanadoth story in Superman and does a great job with the character. He fits in some good rhymes with Etrigan, as well. It’s also finally nice for Black Adam to be a focus of a story. Of course, it’s, unfortunately, a story where he gets possessed by an all-powerful big bad, so there’s that. All in all, this issue is a good kick-off for a story.

Kudranski draws the Justice League Dark parts of the books, and he was born for it. He takes the “Dark” part to heart with the colors, as every scene is colored with a lot of black. He’s a great artist, though, and seeing him work with the characters so well makes one wish he got to a full JLD story. Lupachinno’s art is pretty good most of the time, and Von Grawbadger is a great inker.

Justice League #72 works as an opening chapter. Bendis is able to capture just how big the events are in this story with Xanadoth. It remains to be seen how it will play out, though. The art fits pretty well, with Kudranski’s work standing out. All in all, a well-done comic.

Grade: B