[A. Heathen]

All day Monday?
Monday 11am start I think.
Exact route tba, but possibly Earls Court around lunchtime?

[slinker]

Oddly, I was enjoying it until the reveal halfway through

Spoiler

that they were really in Hell.

Until then, it seemed sort of real and timely. Understand, I don't necessarily want a real world JC, but that just seemed to be the path the story had taken, and with the reveal, it sort of shot the wheels off. It didn't suck, it just didn't kick ass, either.

[Mr. Tom Willecome]

I gave it an eight. A tidy "done in one" and another reminder that Constantine works better less episodically. Bear in mind the page count was roughly akin to 10 monthly issues. If that'd been spread over the course of ten months it'd have been less than useful.

Not as good as Mina's run?

I'm a huge fan of Mina's work outside of Hellblazer but it was nowhere near as good as Dark Entries, it might actually be the worst run on the book.

It's very reminiscent of Delano's demon-yuppies in #3 (my first and still a favourite) and I like that.

[TestosteRohne]

Mr. Tom Willecome, on 23 August 2009 - 12:59 AM, said:

Not as good as Mina's run?

I'm a huge fan of Mina's work outside of Hellblazer but it was nowhere near as good as Dark Entries, it might actually be the worst run on the book.

It's very reminiscent of Delano's demon-yuppies in #3 (my first and still a favourite) and I like that.

Flawed as the latter half was (That single bordering issue remains stricken from my memory alltogether), there were far more interesting things going on in her run than in this book.

[TestosteRohne]

A. Heathen, on 22 August 2009 - 09:37 PM, said:

All day Monday?
Monday 11am start I think.
Exact route tba, but possibly Earls Court around lunchtime?

That's handy as I live in High Street Kensington.
Do we have subjective lunchtimes?

[Mr. Tom Willecome]

TestosteRohne, on 23 August 2009 - 02:28 AM, said:

Flawed as the latter half was (That single bordering issue remains stricken from my memory alltogether), there were far more interesting things going on in her run than in this book.

I, respectfully, disagree.

[A. Heathen]

Let us not talk of Denise Mina's run

(a) ever again
(b) in this thread

[delete as appropriate]

Good point about the ten issues, Tom, although I suspect the page/panel structure (which was beautifully simple rather than elegantly complex) would have been different in a monthly version - you can detect an issue break around page 22 but thereafter it gets less obvious..

[Mr. Tom Willecome]

I see your point about the panel layouts. Yet another reason the monthly comic is a bit of a fail. For a year's worth of pages we could get something a whole heap less self-referential/episodic.

I think a lot of the books story arcs would work better without monthly pacing, cliff-hanger endings and soap-opera subplotting.

[Qusoor]

dogpoet, on 17 August 2009 - 04:32 PM, said:

Let's hope it was worth the wait.

Wellllll...


I liked it. A good deal. I found the plot an interesting one, a good, careful peeling away of layers, and I got annoyed when I had the put the book down to go do other things (work... etc).

Characterization of John was fine. No real missteps.

[TestosteRohne]

Mr. Tom Willecome, on 23 August 2009 - 10:46 AM, said:

I see your point about the panel layouts. Yet another reason the monthly comic is a bit of a fail. For a year's worth of pages we could get something a whole heap less self-referential/episodic.

I think a lot of the books story arcs would work better without monthly pacing, cliff-hanger endings and soap-opera subplotting.

Agreed.

[Ixnay by Night]

I have to say, I quite liked it. Comparisons to Delano earlier in the thread were spot-on in my opinion. Hated the size of the book (and the price point, too) and why the hell this was put out as a "crime novel" boggles my mind.

Still and all, I enjoyed it. Nicely done.

[Balthazar]

Mr. Tom Willecome, on 22 August 2009 - 07:59 PM, said:

It's very reminiscent of Delano's demon-yuppies in #3 (my first and still a favourite) and I like that.

Hmm. That may be one of my favorite issues, almost enough for me to try the book out.

[Red]

I gave it an 8, which means I rather liked it. It gets points off for the format, which I think makes the art less effective, and the price.
I must say I liked the tone of Rankin's writing rather well. All the major characters, even the [ Spoiler : hellish ones ] felt quite good. And some of the scenes were funny, without making it all one laugh-fest.

Well worth the read, IMHO.

[Jessie]

I am halfway through. It is creepy. I admit to being easily creeped out, though. I'll report back once I've finished it (definitely in broad daylight).

[Lou K]

It was pretty good. The reveal was kinda hokey but as someone pointed out it's reminiscant of the old Delano issue with the yuppie demons and all that.

7/10

[Atticus]

I gave that a 9. Enjoyed it greatly.
Loved the artwork, liked the format and like most others here think it worked well not having the monthly cliff-hanger.

[Jessie]

Not too shit. I enjoyed the story very much, thought the black-and-white art was cool if not necessarily deserving of a hardback format, and definitely appreciated the superior pacing of a book as opposed to a monthly comic. I actually lent this to my friend who doesn't like to read, and he devoured it in one day and asked for more graphic novel recommendations.

Oh yeah, edited to add: 8/10.

[JasonT]

I liked it. It was done with style and confidence, and kept me turning the pages. Funnily enough, I thought it improved when it took its twist halfway through.

It probably works best if you don't think about it too hard.

Apart from that, not much occurred to me that hasn't been said before: it wouldn't have worked in monthly issues (it took 41 pages just to get us up to the same point as the solicitation text); f*cked if I can see how it counts as a "crime" story; and it's reminiscent of early Delano.

[Maritimus]

That was my first encounter with Rankin's writing and i'm quite impressed how comfortable he seemed walking in Constantine's shoes. There's something strange, dark and comical at the same time about the main idea, like Constantine meets South Park, and it kept me interested all the way to the end. Great to read the whole story in a single book, wish it was more frequent with Hellblazer. Thanks Vertigo. 9/10

[sethos]

TestosteRohne, on 23 August 2009 - 06:22 PM, said:

Mr. Tom Willecome, on 23 August 2009 - 10:46 AM, said:

I see your point about the panel layouts. Yet another reason the monthly comic is a bit of a fail. For a year's worth of pages we could get something a whole heap less self-referential/episodic.

I think a lot of the books story arcs would work better without monthly pacing, cliff-hanger endings and soap-opera subplotting.

Agreed.

God yes.

Well, now I might end up buying this eventually, seeing as nobody outright hated it here. I'm not a fan of the art in the previews, but it being a smaller size probably helps. That said, the pricing on this is incredible (like the Jamie Delano/Jock GN) I don't get this at all, when so many comic book companies can crank out b/w hardcovers (or even colour ones!) out for a lower price. DC (Vertigo specifically) has a weird pricing structure. If they'd release this a manga sized pocket, for 12 bucks, I could see myself spreading the love around. It's certainly what's been happening with Felix Castor, I can't see why that wouldn't happen with this (or indeed, tiny reprints of Hellblazer storylines in b&w).