Category: Hellblazer

By Denise Mina & Leonardo Manco Green (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84576-568-0

Continuing the epic saga begun in Empathy is The Enemy (ISBN 1-84576-382-3) (see previous review) Denise Mina and Leonardo Manco complete the horrendous storm of events created when a Christian sect accidentally contact an entity that abides in a third spiritual space neither Heaven nor Hell.

A plague of Empathy has infected Glasgow, and ordinary mortals cannot survive other people’s pain. An epidemic of suicides results in the quarantining of the city, but the soldiers policing the cordon will soon be the first new victims as the effect of the mystical Empathy Engine begin to spread.

Degenerate and dissolute trickster magician John Constantine and his dwindling band of resistors are trapped in the city, desperately striving to fix the problem before it goes global, but their resources, and time itself is running out…

Mina and Manco crafted a moody and awesomely daunting premise and carried it to a brilliant conclusion. That they fittingly end it all with an ideal solution that manages to be the wickedly last word in the centuries old rivalry between the Scots and the English is an absolute comedy masterstroke. In a long and varied career, John Constantine has seldom been better.

© 2006, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Denise Mina & Leonardo Manco Green (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84576-382-3

If a bloke came up to you in a pub and started telling you he felt things too intensely, you’d be pretty suspicious – nervous too, I’ll bet – and for all the right reasons. If you’re John Constantine those reasons include nasty black magic and the imminent destruction of humanity – as usual.

This empathy is crushing, overpowering and contagious. When the spiritually calloused magician gets a sobering dose of debilitating fellow-feeling, he returns to Glasgow with the overly emotional victim on the trail of a decidedly new kind of menace, but one that could spell the end of humanity, unless Constantine is prepared to make a supreme and wholly uncharacteristic sacrifice.

Novelist Denise Mina’s take on Hellblazer is both captivating and surprisingly fresh, and all without iconoclastically breaking the toy she’s been lent. Juggling human horrors such as abuse and isolation with ancient Christian cults, cosmic horrors from the outer dark, angry ghosts, hungry goblins and evangelical do-gooders she has crafted a subversively gripping thriller with a memorable punch and delightful charm. As ever Leonardo Manco’s moody illustration impresses by its subtle understatement.

A wonderful debut (originally published in issues #216-222 of the monthly comic-book), but the impatient might want to ensure that they have the sequel readily to hand before they start this compelling thriller…

© 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Brian Azzarello, Marcelo Frusin, Guy Davis & Steve Dillon (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84023-531-4

Brian Azzarello continues his blending of Noir and urban horror in this collection of tales reprinted from issues #157-163 of the monthly comic from DC’s Vertigo imprint, and as usual in his world, the human heart is still the nastiest place of all.

Making his way across the American hinterlands after the unsettling events in the hillbilly hellhole of Doglick (Good Intentions – ISBN: 1-84023-433-4), Machiavellian magician Constantine walks into a bar and finds Agent Turro, the Fed who sprung him from prison (Hard Time ISBN: 1-84023-255-2). Their loaded conversation determines Constantine’s next destination. The Scouse of Mystery is headed for a showdown in Highwater (ISBN: 1-84023-861-5) but for the most part he fades into the background of this sharp shaggy dog story of dark suspense as three guilty bar-flies steal the show, waiting for an inexorable doom to find them. ‘…And Buried’ is by Azzarello and Steve Dillon, a powerful exercise in diversion and suggestion that acts as set-up and prologue for the tense main feature.

‘Freezes Over’ is a tale of claustrophobic bondage. A bunch of ordinary folks are trapped in a diner by heavy snows and just pass the time until the weather clears. The idle chatter softens as a young family staggers in, though, as nobody wants to upset their little girls. In this weather, nobody’s able to drive, so when the scary Englishmen walks in the nervous patrons are pretty spooked. But he’s the least of their problems…

There’s a car in the parking lot. In it is a corpse, with a four-foot long icicle driven through his chest. The panic that ensues is not that of a simple murder though. This wilderness country has a legendary heritage. ‘The Iceman’ is a mythical bogeyman who has legendarily killed and vanished over the years. Is he real after all, or is the problem just a common or garden psychopath?

The final nail in this cold coffin comes in the shape of three hard desperate men who have their own secret, which they’re prepared to protect with guns even as their boss is slowly bleeding to death…

Marcelo Frusin draws a moody, tense time-bomb of a tale, and similarities to Archie Mayo’s classic 1936 movie masterpiece The Petrified Forest aside, this cold concoction is an edgy delight even without the supernatural overtones that keep the reader guessing until the very end.

The volume concludes with an exhilarating look into the punk-rock days of young Johnny Constantine, courtesy of Azzarello and Guy Davis. ‘Lapdogs and Englishmen’ is a frantic flashback to London at the end of the 1970s. John and his nearly-men band-mates from “Mucous Membrane” become involved with a crazy American millionaire who wants a clock that can predict the future. For the young, drunk and stupid kids, the caper seems like a doddle, but the sinister undercurrent that pervades the scene escapes all the participants, and the real key to the future is safe where no one wants to look… until it’s too late. This pacy, poignant two-parter is loaded with revelation and foreboding, making it by far the best thing in this book.

The horror and power in this volume is all derived from the various deadly effects of anticipation. Azzarello used his run on Hellblazer to dissect the working principles of the graphic horror narrative and thus moved it beyond the simple clichés of goblins and beasties. Hellblazer is one of the best graphic series in print. If you’re not a fan you should give it a try and thus become one.

© 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Brian Azzarello & Marcelo Frusin (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84023-433-4

In this volume Brian Azzarello continues to explore human monstrosity, dredging the darkest depths of life. Freed from prison (see Hellblazer: Hard Time -ISBN: 1-84023-255-2 for the grim details) the magical, morally ambivalent Trickster-Magician has headed deep into America’s rural Southlands. Constantine has a half-baked idea of explaining the true circumstances of his incarceration to the family of the man he’s supposed to have murdered. It doesn’t help that the bereaved wife is actually one of his old girlfriends, from the days when he was a punk rock singer, and a mere dabbler in the dark world of the supernatural.

Doglick, West Virginia is a sleazy, broken hole in the ground. Dirt-poor, with no jobs for anybody the dumb, redneck yokels that abide there are every hillbilly hick cliché you could imagine. Constantine and the Fermin boys go back a ways, and his old girl friend married Richard. They used to call him ‘Lucky’, but that was before he killed himself and framed Constantine for the murder.

Inured to the horrors of the Outer Dark and the vile lust for power that infects human and Unhuman alike, the Magician is totally unprepared for the different kind of horrors that infests the poverty-stricken hell-hole he finds himself trapped in.

Azzarello & Marcelo Frusin have challenged John Constantine with a truly different kind of horror. Cloying, oppressive and inexorable, this visceral and truly disturbing wilderness tale is a powerful testament to the versatility of the character. Constantine has been many things: Con-man, hero, villain, thief and even monster. Here he is also pitifully human…

Compelling storytelling – even if only for those who can handle it.

© 2000, 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Brian Azzarello & Richard Corben (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84023-255-2

John Constantine is many things: Magician, con-man, world-saver, hero, villain, thief. He’s a chain-smoker who’s tricked the doctors and the Devil, but can’t ever seem to keep a friend. Not as friends and usually not even alive. He’s walked through a world of death and horror, leaving a clear trail of bloody footprints.

So when he ends up in a grim high security jail in the USA, nobody’s surprised. But in a universe of deadly men and extreme factionalism nothing can cow him and nobody can divine his intentions.

The brutal cage-behaviour of deadly men with nothing to lose is as nothing to the subtle horror of John Constantine unleashed and teaching scum what intimidation and punishment really means…

Brian Azzarello and alternative comics legend Richard Corben plumb the darkest depths of humanity in this savage prison drama, blending mystery, thriller and horror genres and presenting a compelling example of just how nasty a comic-book can get.

Superb storytelling, but not for the faint-hearted, easily shocked or under-aged.

© 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Garth Ennis & William Simpson (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-56389-150-6

Probably the turning point and where this series caught fire, the initial saga from Garth Ennis set the tone for the next decade of the career of the anti-hero cynical, wide-boy magician John Constantine.

A seedy, troubled soul who danced on the edge of damnation every minute of his life, even unsure of his own motives, shrewdly manipulating events and standing back, he would coolly take a drag on his ever-present cigarette as Hell happened around him

And now he’s dying. Not Devils, not monsters or magic or even one of the mates or allies he continually betrayed. John Constantine is dying of lung cancer. So if science has given up on you and medicine can’t help what can you do? If you’ve spent your life ticking off both Heaven and Hell the one thing you can’t do is just die.

How this street trickster deals with his inevitable fate, and the power of the relationships he forges in his dying days are poignant and moving. The sheer brilliance of his solution and the manner in which he cheats the Reaper is a bravura bit of brilliance that perfectly describes everything you need to know about the character.

Simply one of the best adult comic stories ever. I’m sure you already own it. If not, why not?

© 1991 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Andy Diggle & Goran Sudžuka (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84576-263-0

Andy Diggle’s premier outing for DC Comics was somewhat lost in the shuffle when originally released as a four issue miniseries, which is a shame rectified by this compilation. This sly, witty and engrossing horror tale features the ancestor of Vertigo’s resident magician in an expansive historical romp.

1875. The temporarily disadvantaged Joanna Constantine and her little sister are failing to make ends meet on the cruel streets of London when commissioned by the King’s Secret Service to retrieve a magical box from the depths of the Ocean and the clutches of England’s enemies, natural and otherwise. In return she will be rewarded by the return of her title and a huge pension for the rest of her life.

Seduced by the lure of a safe life she undertakes a hellish voyage to the frozen North, aided by an intriguing coterie of rogues and monsters, only to find herself battling to save the world with tragic consequences for all involved.

This excellent and all too brief look into the history of one of adult comics’ most fascinating characters and concepts is a heady and impressive blend of terror and derring-do, well able to stand alone, but full of revelatory insights and asides for fans of the parent series. If you are a lover of Hammer Films and traditional thriller fare this might be the ideal first comic book for you.

© 2003, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Jamie Delano & various (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84576-490-0

This book begins by concluding an epic tale begun in Hellblazer: Original Sins (ISBN 1-84576-465-X) as the Resurrection Crusade attempt to re-enact the birth of Christ and the Damnation Army try to stop them, using Constantine as their weapon. Both sides learn that such a trickster is never to be trusted. ‘Sex and Death’ is by Jamie Delano with art from Richard Piers Rayner and Mark Buckingham.

The same team is responsible for ‘Newcastle’, ‘The Devil You Know’ and ‘On the Beach’. The first two (from issues #11 and 12 of the monthly comic) form an origin of sorts for the character as we flashback to 1978 and the punk rock singer John Constantine takes a motley assortment of mystic wannabees into a possessed nightclub for what they think will be a simple exorcism with catastrophic results. The second part features the wizards return and revenge on the hellbeast that shaped his life.

The next issue, ‘On the Beach’, sees him chilling after all the horror, but still sucked into an ecological nightmare. What follows is an epic tale of two Constantines as his ghastly heritage is revealed. Taken from the first Hellblazer Annual in 1989, ‘The Bloody Saints’ plays the modern Mage’s squalid existence against the history of Kon-Sten-Tyn, Merlin’s apprentice and putative successor to King Arthur.

A glamorous rogue and unprincipled cheat, he stole Merlin’s magic, made pacts with devils, pretended to convert to Christianity, assumed sainthood and generally did whatever he wanted. This dark, outlandish comedy terror is beautifully illustrated by Bryan Talbot. Also from that issue is an illustrated version of ‘Venus of the Hard-Sell’ originally recorded by Constantine’s punk band Mucous Membrane. Whatever you think it is, you’re wrong. Just get the book and revel in it and the wonderful creativity of Dean Motter.

The two part miniseries ‘The Horrorist’ fills the remainder of the book. Written by Delano and stunningly painted by David Lloyd, this bleak, cold fable has an emotionally paralysed Constantine hunting for the destructive force wreaking havoc throughout America by unleashing guilt fear and terror that can alter reality. All the trauma and blood of an uncaring world is the tool of a third world survivor and only more suffering seems to satisfy her.

Constantine is probably the most successful horror comic character ever, with mood and tension easily overwhelming mere blood and splatter time after time. Ambivalent and ever-changing the series never fails to deliver shock after shock. Every Fraidy-Cat and chicken should have them.

© 1988, 1989, 1995, 1996, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Jamie Delano, John Ridgeway & various (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84576-465-X

You’ve either heard of John Constantine by now or you haven’t, so I’ll be as brief as I can. Originally created by Alan Moore during his groundbreaking run on Swamp Thing, he is a mercurial modern wizard, a chancer who plays with magic on his own terms for his own ends. He is not a hero. He is not a nice person. Sometimes though, he’s all there is between us and the void.

Given his own series by popular demand, he premiered at the height of Thatcherite Barbarism in England and the dying days of Reaganite Atrocity in the US. In 1987 Creative Arts and Liberal Arts were dirty words in many quarters and the readership of Vertigo was pretty easy to profile. Jamie Delano began the series with a relatively safe horror comic plot about an escaped hunger demon, introducing us to Constantine’s unpleasant nature and odd acquaintances such as Papa Midnite (see also Papa Midnite ISBN 1-84576-265-7) in a tale of possession and voodoo, but even then discriminating fans were aware of a welcome anti-establishment political line and metaphorical underpinnings. ‘Hunger’ and ‘A Feast of Friends’ also established another vital fact. Anyone who got too close to John Constantine tended to end very badly, very soon.

‘Going For It’ successfully equated the Conservative Britain with Hell, as demons traded souls on their own stock market and Yuppies got ahead in the rat race by selling short. Set on Election Day 1987, this potent pastiche never loses sight of its goal to entertain, whilst making its telling points.

Constantine’s cousin Gemma and slivers of his childhood in Liverpool are revealed in ‘Waiting for the Man’, a tale of abduction and ghosts that introduces fundamentalist Christians, the Resurrection Crusade, and the mysterious woman known only as Zed.

America is once again the focus of terror in ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’ as the Viet Nam war breaks out again in rural Iowa, then its back to Blighty for ‘Extreme Predjudice’. Skinheads, racism demons and more abound as Delano joins up lots of previously unconnected dots to reveal a giant storyline in the making. The Damnation Army are up to something, nobody knows who they are, everything’s going bad and somehow Zed and the Resurrection Crusade are involved.

Brett Ewins and Jim McCarthy replace regular artist John Ridgway for the first three pages of ‘Ghost in the Machine’, and then the beautifully restrained and poignantly humanistic style returns as Constantine further unravels the plot by catching up with the cutting edge of mysticism – Cyber-shamanism. In Delano’s world the edges between science and magic aren’t blurred – they simply don’t exist.

‘Intensive Care’ follows the drama at full gallop when the plans of Crusade and Army are revealed, as is the value and purpose of Zed, forcing Constantine into the first of many bad bargains with Hell. The volume concludes messily, with a diversion, due to the nature of periodical publishing.

The storyline in Hellblazer #1-8 ran contiguously, and converged, with Swamp Thing, in which the wizard lends his physical body to the plant elemental to impregnate its human girl friend. So for the ninth issue, there’s a kind of dissolute holding pattern in play to allow all the pieces to be suitably arranged. It makes for a decidedly odd ending, and I’d advise that you have the next volume (Hellblazer: The Devil You Know – ISBN 1-84576-490-0) to hand before you start.

These are superb examples of modern horror fiction, inextricably linking politics, religion human nature and sheer bloody-mindedness as the root cause of all ills. They make a truly repulsive character seem an admirable force for our survival and are beautifully crafted tales as well. The art is clear, subversive and, when not glossed up by Alfredo Alcala whose lush inking graces the last two stories, manages to jangle at the subconscious with its scratchy edginess. A real treat for fear fans.

© 1987, 1988, 1992 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Various
ISBN 1-84023-974-3

A solid representative selection of the life of John Constantine can be found in Rare Cuts, a collection of one-off stories that have managed to escape being reprinted thus far. Contained within these pages you can find “Newcastle: A Taste of Things to Come” (Hellblazer #11) by Delano, Richard Piers Rayner and Mark Buckingham, which is something of an origin story for the character and sets the thematic scene for all the issues to follow.

Next up is the excellent two-parter “Early Warning” and “How I Learned to Love the Bomb” (#25-26) by Grant Morrison and David Lloyd, a truly eerie tale of political subversion and occult possession. Delano and Sean Phillips produced “The Dead Boy’s Heart” (#35), wherein little Johnny Constantine has his first traumatic glimpse into how the world really works, and issue 56 by Ennis and Lloyd provides “This is the Diary of Danny Drake”, a moody, chilling tale of the terrors of parenting.

The last story is from Hellblazer #84 (“In Another Part of Hell”), wherein our ‘hero’ and his good mate Chas experience a truly macabre event featuring an old house, an old bag and a monkey in a wig. With a timeline and map of Constantine’s London to round out the package this is a wonderful way to introduce yourself to Vertigo’s most successful publication.

© 2005 DC Comics. All rights reserved.