Justice League Dark #23.2: Eclipso Review

DC obviously has big plans for Eclipso in the New 52, with the way the villain has passed through books like Team 7, Catwoman, and Demon Knights over the past year or so. And maybe that's why Dan DiDio himself stepped in to pen Eclipso's Villains Month special. Unfortunately, the results aren't any stronger than those early issues of Phantom Stranger were. Eclipso is a gorgeous addition to the Villains Month lineup, but the story itself leaves a lot to be desired.

It's not a question of DiDio "ruining" Eclipso or introducing mammoth changes to the character. In a general sense, the villain is portrayed just fine here. The problems are more mundane than that. Like this week's Shadow Thief issue, Eclipso #1 is just plain overwritten and burdened with unnecessary exposition. Both Eclipso and his new human host, Gordon Jacobs, say exactly what they're feeling, and any sense of subtlety is thrown out the window. It's a very dry affair, and only one scene (Eclipso compelling Gordon to cut himself again and again) really plays to the evil, twisted nature of the character.

But there is Philip Tan's art to balance things out. Tan has bounced all over the New 52, including illustrating a number of issues of Phantom Stranger. Each project sees Tan take a slightly different approach, and this is far and away his strongest work. Together with inker Jason Paz and colorist Nathan Eyring, Tan is able to create two distinct styles that highlight the divide between the villain and his host. These pages are steeped in shadows and textures that convey Eclipso's wickedness and Jacobs' inner suffering in a way the writing generally fails to do. Tan opts for a surreal, haunting approach that almost recalls his Savage Hawkman work, except that the figures are given much more definition and detail. So even with the stilted scripting, this issue may be worth a look.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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