[Christian]

Hellblazer #232



(W) Andy Diggle
(A) Leonardo Manco
(Cover) Lee Bermejo

"Wheels of Chance, Systems of Control," Part 1 of 2. John Constantine is struggling to reclaim control over his life. But first he must gamble everything in a casino that holds a very special place in his personal history. And if he doesn't break the bank, the bank will break him!

-----

Wow! After just rereading the Hellblazer Annual in the Official Hellblazer Reading Club (shameless plug)!
This is really good stuff. John goes back to the past in order to bury the past and move into the future it looks like is what Diggle is playing at. I knew the surprise ending from the very beginning of the story though.
Also, it looks like Diggle is outlining where he stands when it comes to magic already. All the Hellblazer writers eventually get around to putting their own definition of "magic" into the title.
I give it a 9.

The store I went to, the owner said that Hellblazer sales have increased at his store since Andy Diggle came aboard the book.

[jaynova]

Awwwww yeaahhh! Johnny C a Playa!

This was a good start to what I hope will be a great story. Diggle won me over with those last 2 issues, so I'm sure this will be good.

9

[Shawn]

10 for me because this was the first issue in long while that was so good that I just had to brag about it to others.
I love the new/old look for Johnny boy. Nice and sharp, indeed.
Tantric sex magic, eh? "We just gave birth to ourselves, all squeaky clean and shiny new....not to mention it tightens up the old self-control like nothing else on Earth." Sounds fun.

[JohnMcMahon]

Might add some sober thoughts later, but Kate works nights on Thursdays/Fridays so here's the drunk stuff....

* Not enough plot
* quality nods to old-school Constantine
* gorgeous art

[jaynova]

Might add some sober thoughts later, but Kate works nights on Thursdays/Fridays so here's the drunk stuff....

* Not enough plot

Which is why it didn't get a 10 from me.

[Christian]

There's something to be said for such a straight-forward plot though. After the convoluted mess that didn't all gel together and left us confused to plot details (as we saw in Hellblazer before Diggle), I didn't really mind.

I wonder if this'll end up the same as Diggle's first Hellblazer story? We felt there wasn't much to the story after the first part, and then we were all shocked to see how much more there was to the story.

[Captain Obvious]

Is it a 2 parter? I know not...

Hellblazer #232
"Wheels of Chance, Systems of Control," Part 1 of 2. John Constantine is struggling to reclaim control over his life. But first he must gamble everything in a casino that holds a very special place in his personal history. And if he doesn't break the bank, the bank will break him!"

[TestosteRohne]

Will post more details later, but for now...

Constantyne? Check!
Arse tatoo? Check!
Gin & Tonic? Check!

In short, Cracking stuff Andy!
And you all know how much of a miserable pedant I am...

[A. Heathen]

Even the colourist seems to be having fun.

[Lou K]

Another ace issue. Good work Diggle. feels like old school Conjob.

[Dave]

I have to wonder, did editorial make them add the panties, or did that girl just get chilly in the night and had to put them on to keep off the cold?

[Christian]

No full-frontal nudity of females is Vertigo policy. There has to be shadowed shading or panties or something to hide the vagina.
I forget if the same policy applies to males or not.

[Bilirubin]

Questions:

JC: G&T or lager?

We going to see Johnny dress for success again?

May we please have the magick back? (Its a matter of WILL, not being tossed to and fro...)

All three questions will be answered in issue 232.

For the record: I have never met Andy Diggle before he visited our forum. I am not his shill in drumming up interest in this turn in John. Somebody else suggested reading the Annual so I cannot be blamed for priming some on the board for John's return to Ravenscar.

Its just synchronicity.

Excellent read! Nice set up in #232 for what I expect will be an exciting twist. Art is ace, and just as sharp as John in control. Manco's got the eyes RIGHT.The colouring, as mentioned above, is top shelf. I can only wonder what Pearly makes of this sudden turnaround in Constantine. I love it!

[A. Heathen]

The colouring, as mentioned above, is top shelf.

Woah woah woah !

Let's not be putting hyperbole into the mouths of the slightly less disgruntled.

[Bilirubin]

The colouring, as mentioned above, is top shelf.

Woah woah woah !

Let's not be putting hyperbole into the mouths of the slightly less disgruntled.

Would you accept, "The colouring, as mentioned above, is of note?"

What do you mean by "slightly less disgruntled" in this context? I'm exuberant I thought, not disgruntled-unless you take a longer view.

[Bilirubin]

I have to wonder, did editorial make them add the panties, or did that girl just get chilly in the night and had to put them on to keep off the cold?

One could make the argument that she was in the process of dressing in each of the following panels, and that she was without the pink pants in the first image showing her assets.

[Mark]

Very, very good art - perhaps not quite as brilliant as the last two issues (a few dashes of overly-heavy inking on background characters, again), but given how good those were, and how good this issue still looked, making any kind of big deal out of that would be churlish. Still the best the book's looked in ages, and if Manco keeps this up he'll actually become one of my favourite Hellblazer artists, something he's hitherto shown promise towards but never quite managed.

The characterisation of John was just about exactly what I've been wanting to see for even longer than I'd realised, and the set-up for next issue (when, presumably, the plot will be arriving) is good. More than a little thin in and of itself, though, and that last-page cliffhanger was...well, rubbish. Sure, I'm interested to see what Diggle has in mind for this story, and I'm interested to see John returning to this particular part of his history, but I'd suspect that anyone to whom the name 'Ravenscar' will actually mean anything had already figured that particular detail out in the first few pages of the book (if not from the solicitation text, as I believe several of us had), and anyone to whom it doesn't mean anything wouldn't be any the wiser for seeing that final page. Poor choice.

I still liked it a lot - 7/10, with the caveat that I expect next month's issue to retroactively raise that a notch or two, when viewed as a complete story.