Warning! Spoilers to Justice League #63!
Justice League Dark's John Constantine just beat Marvel's Deadpool at comic book awareness with his latest spell. Although Wade Wilson is famous for his fourth wall breaks, knowledge, and even conversations with his readers, he has yet to do what the iconic chain-smoking trench coat magician does in the Library of Babel. Counteracting off their opponent, the malevolent and well-prepared Merlin's spell, John hijacks reality and allows himself and his teammates to walk across writer Ram V's script for the comic itself!
Justice League Dark is an offshoot of the famous DC superteam focusing on investigating and if necessary, battling, magical and supernatural threats. Formerly lead by Constantine and later Wonder Woman, long-time member Zatanna acts as the leader against their current enemy, Merlin. While they learn of his plan to eliminate all of the magic in the world except his own, their trail for answers takes them to the ever-expanding legendary Library of Babel, a powerful and often dangerous hall of knowledge maintained by strict and multi-armed Man of Books.
After stopping an attack from creatures dedicating to destroying and disrupting the priceless collection, Constantine does what he does best, bargaining with powerful otherworldly entities in order to get what he wants. In the story by Ram V with art from Xermanico, he negotiates with the Man of Books to get information about Merlin's plans in exchange for returning the library to its former silent normalcy. Understanding the complexity of Merlin's spell, John decides to do him one better with a pen from his famous trench coat. He counteracts that magic and suddenly John and the Justice League Dark aren't at the Library but walking across the surface of John's spell which happens to be a transcribed version of the very comic script that they're unknowingly following word from word.
Marvel has experimented with its storytelling methods in the past, one issue of New Mutants being a choose your own adventure story, but Deadpool's unique perspective has allowed creators to tell stories they could not tell anywhere else. Wade's bombarded his readers with pop culture references, interrupted other storylines or characters for his own agenda, and even killed his own writers or editors depending on his mood. This signature characteristic of Deadpool is usually overlooked or ignored by other Marvel characters who see him as annoying or absolutely insane. Despite his long and diverse history, Deadpool has yet to accomplish what Constantine did here. John used magic to not only rewrite his situation but bring his teammates with him with little to no trouble. Walking across their own comic script is no small feat but John's colleagues interpret this act as magic instead of shattering their concept of everything with fourth wall awareness. Spells are about power and power is about knowledge and John Constantine knows just enough to prove his infamous reputation is well-deserved even if he too can be incorrigible.
As easily as he brought them there, John Constantine produces a key and gets the others to help him turn the page on their ongoing story. Focusing on their mission to stop Merlin as he heads toward the legendary Atlantis, the Justice League Dark tries to put their experience at the Library of Babel behind them although some secrets are hard to forget. Considering that some of his writers over time have claimed to have met John Constantine in real life, it would appear that Deadpool's popularity is masking some shortcomings as the true king of comic book awareness may wear a red tie instead of red spandex.