Look, Zee, I'll admit it. I'm only doing this to get my hands on all the goodies in that room. I mean, we're talking about what could be the rarest collection of magical artifacts ever assembled under one roof. But I need your help. That lot in there knows better than to trust me. But they will trust you. If you come, they'll follow. 
- — John Constantine
Justice League Dark #9 is an issue of the series Justice League Dark (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 2012. It was published on May 23, 2012.
Synopsis for "The Black Room"
In the Amazon jungle, followers of the sorcerer Felix Faust drag John Constantine to their master. Faust is not happy to see the Englishman, who willingly confesses that he has, in fact, come to kill him. Faust mockingly warns John that he has amassed an army, and intends to overrun the planet. Faust gives the order to have John killed, at which point John gives the signal to his companions to reveal themselves.
A week earlier, John had been sleeping in his flat when a man's voice woke him. The man introduced himself as Steve Trevor of A.R.G.U.S. and offered John an opportunity. If John were to reassemble his so-called Justice League Dark - a stupid name, according to John - and recover an artifact from Felix Faust's clutches, John would be granted access to the Black Room. The Black Room is the place where the U.S. government secrets away the magical artifacts it has recovered over the years via the Blackhawk Program. As proof of the room's existence, Trevor produced Doctor Destiny's Dreamstone. John and his team would be required to defeat Faust, retrieve a missing operative called Doctor Mist, and recover the artifact. In order to ensure that John did not keep the artifact for himself, Trevor had assigned a shape-shifting operative called Black Orchid to babysit him.
Having fought their way through Faust's acolytes, John and his team rush up to the top of his Mayan temple, hoping to find him inside. Deadman senses something wrong with the whole scenario, and the others are equally worried. When they get inside the temple, they are greeted by Faust and the horrible monsters that he's created.
Earlier, John had gathered his companions at Zatanna's dressing room at the Town Square Theatre. Of all of those gathered, only Andrew Bennett agreed to join John, and then only because he had already promised a him favor. Grumpily, John stormed off into the rain, but Zatanna followed. She demanded to know what the real story behind the mission is. John reluctantly admitted his deal with Trevor to be allowed to enter the Black Room. Though Zatanna doubted the room's existence, John piqued her interest by mentioning that he had seen a photo of her father John Zatara's hat in the room. He promised to help her get it back if she agreed to help him convince the others to join the mission.
In the temple, the team finds that Faust is more powerful than they remember. John assumes that he must be siphoning power from the stolen artifact. Their abilities do little to slow Faust down, so John rushes him. Faust grabs him by the neck, and laughs that in this place of power, he is immune to all other magic. At this, Black Orchid reveals that she was disguised as John Constantine from the beginning, and knocks Faust unconscious with a decidedly un-magical hay-maker.
Deeper in the temple, the team finds Dr. Mist strung up in a giant spider's web, and they cut him down. Nearby is a stone chest which, presumably, holds the artifact they seek. Opening it, they discover something more than they could have imagined. It is the Eight-Dimension map - a map to the Books of Magic.
Appearing in "The Black Room"
Featured Characters:
- Justice League Dark (Real name revealed) (Flashback and main story)
- Andrew Bennett (Flashback and main story) (Joins team)
- Black Orchid (First appearance) (Flashback and main story) (Joins team)
- John Constantine (Flashback and main story)
- Deadman (Flashback and main story)
- Madame Xanadu (Flashback only)
- Zatanna (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
- A.R.G.U.S.
- Steve Trevor (Flashback only)
- Doctor Mist (Nommo Balewa) (Flashback and main story)
Antagonists:
- Felix Faust
- Cult of Faust (First appearance)
- Faust's spider-like pet creatures (First appearance; unnamed)
Other Characters:
- Giovanni Zatara (First appearance) (Deceased) (In a photograph only) (Cameo)
- Doctor Destiny (Mentioned only)
- Ghosts (Mentioned only)
- God (Mentioned only)
- Hill's Circus (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Mindwarp (Mentioned only)
- Shade the Changing Man (Mentioned only)
- United States Government (Mentioned only)
- United States Army (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Prime Earth
- Europe
- North America
- United States of America
- Florida
- Town Square Theater (Flashback only)
- Washington, D.C.
- A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters (Unnamed)
- The Black Room (Mentioned only)
- A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters (Unnamed)
- Florida
- United States of America
- South America
- Africa
- South Africa (Mentioned only)
Items:
- "The Books of Magic" (Mentioned only)
- Dreamstone (Flashback only)
- The Eight-Dimensional Map (First appearance) (Cameo)
- Silk Cut (Flashback and main story)
- Zatara's Hat
Events:
- Rise of the Vampires (Mentioned only)
Concepts:
- The Green (Unnamed) (Behind the scenes)
- Magic
- The Red (Unnamed) (Behind the scenes)
- Super-humans
Notes
- This issue marks the first appearance of the Dark Team as the Justice League Dark.
See Also