By Mike Carey, Marcelo Frusin & Leonardo Manco (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84576-329-7
After the apocalyptic conclusion of the previous collected volume (Staring at the Wall – ISBN 1-84576-233-9) the unbeatable trickster magician Constantine is reduced to a drooling amnesiac. Helpless, he is a target for all the various evil monstrosities that he’s outwitted and pissed off in a truly startling career, but by this volumes close he’ll have undergone a transformation into something he’s never been before…
Even though helpless, without knowledge or power, one talent never leaves the dissolute anti-hero: His ability to attract the wrong sort of attention. ‘Out of Season’ (originally printed in issues #194-196 of the monthly comic-book) finds the magician as the target of a psychic serial killer, and his next adventure (from issues #197-199) takes him to a diabolical Homeless shelter run by an old, forgotten foe.
This is the set-up for the big anniversary epic (issue #200) as the magician succumbs to demonic temptation and finds himself the father of three hellish children in parallel world “might have been†tales that will have actual repercussions in days to come.
With art by past luminaries Leonardo Manco, Chris Brunner, Steve Dillon and Marcelo Frusin this pitilessly British horror thriller, is packed with dark tension, brutal, bloody confrontations and the chilling certainty that no good deed will ever go unpunished. This is superb mature entertainment and a self-evident confirmation of why Hellblazer has lasted so long, and won so many fans.
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