World Enough and Time

I just read an item on Comics Alliance that the comic Hellblazer is being rebooted, moved from Vertigo into the DC Universe continuity, and moved to a PG rating.



This can only be a good thing.

I fell in love with John Constantine back when Alan Moore invented him in Swamp Thing - and what a wonderful comic that was. I loved him when used by Neil Gaiman in Books of Magic.

Then he got his own comic at Vertigo, and I pretty much hated it all the way. I have problems with Vertigo: maybe it was the adult rating - which in theory I'd like, right? - but it seemed to lead to comics that were dark, depressing, violent and male-directed.

The result being, as so often happens, a character I loved in the setting of other comics, failed to entertain me in his own title. Jamie Delano's Constantine was such a loser I lost interest. I still read the comic from time to time, if writers I liked - emphatically not Delano - did a run. Warren Ellis, for example. I still loved John Contantine (tough, rough, chainsmoking bisexual smart-ass that he was) but the comic has been consistently high on the two things I like least about comics - gross and violent - and low on the things I do like, like heroism and interpersonal dynamics.

So... that's comics for you. It's a wide field with something for everyone, and if I longed for the John Constantine of my dreams - a guy who looks like Sting, acts like Felix Castor, and appears in stories with plots I like - it wasn't with much hope. Constantine was what the writers and editors wanted him to be. Just another DC/Vertigo comic I didn't need to buy....

And now? Written by Jeff Lemire. Part of the regular DC run. I might just like this one.

Or is that too optimistic?

Read the Mike Carey graphic novel John Constnatine Hellblazer: All His Engines. The layouts and art by Leonardo Manco were sometimes brilliant, sometimes groanworthy: there's a style to Hellblazer demons that I find unimpressive. I like it better when they look like Supernatural's Alastair than when they're made out of sand and wrinkly leather. Isn't the Cthulhu look passé yet?

The story: the granddaughter of Constantine's friend Chaz is taken by an imperialistic demon and hidden in his heart, while her body stays in a coma - along with many others. Constantine and Chaz go to Los Angeles to fight, outwit, cheat and outsmart the demon (and others) with the help of the death god Mictlantecuhtli, which must have been fun for the letterer. The art is a mix of dramatic and clichéd, but I liked the way Manco draws Constantine, and the splash pages were terrific.

The title is from Milton. Where would demonic myth be without Milton?

Good lines:

• Chas to Constnatine: "It's a game for one player, isn't it, Constantine? Your life, I mean."
  
• Constantine to himself after being beaten up in a bar brawl: "Nothing broken. They must've liked my accent."
  
• Constantine doing dark magic to contact demons with cockroaches: "Periplanteta, they're they're called. Wherever we build. Wherever we eat or sleep. In the carcks in the concrete, in the secret places of the earth. I spread the word. Let's see who RSVPs."
  
• Constantine to himself: "Can't decide if I've been given a second chance, or I'm just wading in deeper. Making worse deals with bigger bastards. Twelve noon. A hundred and twelve degrees, and I swear to God I'm shivering."

And there's a nice description of Constantine on the flyleaf:

John Constantine is a man of many talents - a golden-tongued con man, a blue-collar mage, a sneering punk and an absolute bastard.... A guy who's on a first-name-basis with all the demons of Hell.

There's a list of the John Constantine graphic novels which I'll copy ( for my own reference )