By Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, William Simpson & Peter Snejbjerg (Vertigo)
ISBN13: 978-1-84023-096-3
This collection of modern horror-thrillers follows the episodic Tainted Love collection (ISBN: 978-1-5638-9456-5) which deals with John Constantine’s descent into drunken dissolution and recovery following his break-up with love of his life Kit Ryan (see also Hellblazer: Bloodlines – ISBN: 978-1-84576-650-4). Now back on track, if not fully up to snuff, the modern Magus decides to visit New York City for a break but is too busy kicking back to remember just how many enemies he’s made over the years.
Caught napping, he is ensorcelled by Voodoo Overlord Papa Midnite (see Original Sins ISBN 1-84576-465-X and Papa Midnite ISBN 1-84576-265-7), his consciousness sent on an allegorical trip through a hellish metaphorical America accompanied by the corpse of John F. Kennedy, whilst his physical body is left to the tender mercies of the NYC Social Services system.
This sharp, satirical shocker is by Ennis and Steve Dillon, originally seeing print in issues #72-75, which also produced the gently elegiac short flashback tale ‘Act of Union’, illustrated by William Simpson, which describes the first meeting of Kit and Constantine, back when she was the girlfriend of the charming dipsomaniac Brendan Finn.
Steve Dillon returned for ‘Confessions of an Irish Rebel’, another soft tale (but with a few sharp edges concealed within) which sees a reminiscing Constantine on one last pub-crawl in Dublin with the ghost of Finn, before the book ends with ‘And the Crowd Goes Wild’, drawn by Peter Snejbjerg, (Hellblazer #77) a tense and funny portmanteau yarn that clears the deck for the final confrontation with the demonic First of the Fallen, who’s been lurking menacingly since his defeat and humiliation at the end of Dangerous Habits (ISBN: 1-56389-150-6).
Garth Ennis had a long, impressive and humanising run on Vertigo’s nastiest hero. This captivating, irreverent, chilling compendium perfectly shows why it is so fondly remembered.
© 1993, 1994 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.
This was the first Hellblazer I ever read!
After watching the movie I got interested in finding out about the comics it was based on. I went to (one of) the local comic shops that sell English TPBs here in Stockholm and was recommended to start with this one and its follow-up (Rake At The Gates Of Hell). Today I would probably have liked to read them in chronological order and started with Original Sins, but nevermind that.
This was actually what spiked my interest in becoming a collector of comics and TPBs again (so all of you that claims nothing good have come of the Constantine movie, at least it started me collecting again… 😉 ).
Collecting the Hellblazer TPBs is somewhat of a problem for an Obsessive Compulsive nut such as myself as I NEED to fill out the gaps with the actual issues that is not yet collected (= expensive). Fortunately DC has put out a couple of TPBs that collect the odd numbers not yet collected and I hope they keep this up!
Hi Brian,
Thanks for confirming a heartfelt belief I’ve cherished for years.
No matter how good or not a comic-based movie might be, it MUST be a trigger for some people to check out the source material.
That’s why it’s a necessity if not duty for a publisher to make sure there are tie-in collections – not just adaptations (Catwoman? Steel? Any takers?) – so potential new fans can get caught up without spending a fortune.
Take heart though. I’m pretty sure Vertigo intend to collect the oddments like the Paul Jenkins and Eddie Cambell runs soon – and isn’t it odd that we all consider Hellblazer a “Writer’s book”?
Sorry for having a rant on your dime. Keep reading.