Review by Ian Keogh

What a mess of a collection Rebirth of Evil is, consisting almost entirely of chapters from crossovers with other titles and so making little sense when presented without the accompanying material.

Justice League Dark has been a rare misfire from the usually very good Jeff Lemire, and it’s perhaps summed up by his final contribution included here. It’s two non-successive chapters from a Justice League crossover not making a great deal of sense in isolation, although it does give Lemire a chance to play with the regular Justice League. It might actually be very good, but in order to make an informed judgement you’d need to pick up Justice League: Trinity War, which supplies the entire story.

After that J.M. DeMatteis takes over to see out the run and begins with an epilogue. John Constantine wakes up in the House of Mystery, but the remainder of the team are gone and cynic though he is, there seems to be something up with his worldview.

We then switch to the Forever Evil crossover for the remaining half, and DeMatteis initially keeps his section to one side enabling it to be understood independently. The task he sets Constantine and new allies is to expunge the beast lurking within the collective unconscious of the human race, no less. If that sounds nebulous, it is. Mikel Janín is an excellent artist, but even he can’t come up with a better visual representation than a smoky presence with glowing eyes.

Once that’s established we’re directed to another crossover in Forever Evil: Blight, and the two chapters here again make little sense without the remainder. At least the final chapter to the whole affair is supplied, and there are a couple of good character moments, but anyone who’s enjoyed the cast as was won’t find much to enjoy.

Trying to dredge some positives from the whole sorry mess, there’s no faulting Janín’s art, and when Dan Jurgens (layouts) and Vicente Cifuentes (finishes) draw one chapter it also looks good. DeMatteis writes Constantine’s abrasive and manipulative personality well, and the Nightmare Nurse is a character with potential. Apart from that there’s not much point to Rebirth of Evil. You might as well buy the complete stories in their respective graphic novels and skip to Paradise Lost, while everything also appears in the Justice League Dark Omnibus, but accompanied by most necessary crossover chapters.