16 replies to this topic

[JohnMcMahon]

HELLBLAZER #293
Written by PETER MILLIGAN
Art by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI and STEFANO LANDINI
Cover by SIMON BISLEY



NEW STORYLINE! John Constantine had no intention of tracking down his long-lost nephew, despite the promise John made to his dead mum. But jealous outbursts, strange visions and a ritual murder may force him into it after all. Dark magic, tainted blood and the occasional dead sheep – it’s all in part one of “The Curse of the Constantines.”

[londonsurrealist]

Just a bit worrying that this blurb has been written by somebody who has not read the comic. Dead mum?

[JohnMcMahon]

To his nephew's mum, no ?

Anyone, not a bad issue all told.

[londonsurrealist]

JohnMcMahon, on 19 July 2012 - 10:29 AM, said:

To his nephew's mum, no ?

Anyone, not a bad issue all told.

Probably, but it reads ambiguously at best. Glad to hear it is a bit better, probably won't get it until next week.

[Lou K]

What long lost nephew? Cheryl have a kid we didn't know about?

[Mark]

Yeah...she revealed it to him at the end of the "John goes to Hell again" arc a little while ago. He promised to seek out the kid for her, but had his fingers crossed behind his back for no discernible reason. 'Cos, you know, if there's one thing we've learned from the past 200-odd issues of Hellblazer it's that John would never go out of his way for a member of his family who desperately wanted/needed him to help them.

Hey, kids - characterisation!

[Lou K]

Oh yeah, I seem to recall something like that.

[Christian]

That...really wasn't half bad. I was actually a bit disappointed. heh
Adrian's pagan ritual worked!
There was some of John acting out-of-character in the pub scene...but that might be part of the wider plot.
It's only chapter one, but it's leagues ahead of what we've been seeing from Milligan.
It'll get a 7 from me.

[Christian]

Mark, on 19 July 2012 - 02:23 PM, said:

Yeah...she revealed it to him at the end of the "John goes to Hell again" arc a little while ago. He promised to seek out the kid for her, but had his fingers crossed behind his back for no discernible reason. 'Cos, you know, if there's one thing we've learned from the past 200-odd issues of Hellblazer it's that John would never go out of his way for a member of his family who desperately wanted/needed him to help them.

Hey, kids - characterisation!

It was one of the stupidest scenes in HB wnen it happened, but Milligan has actually explained exactly what was going through John's mind, and it's not a horrible excuse for John acting like an idiot.
Basically, he sees his bloodline as a curse, and was thinking that the kid would be better off not knowing that he was of Constantine lineage.

[Avaunt]

Christian, on 19 July 2012 - 08:23 PM, said:

It was one of the stupidest scenes in HB wnen it happened, but Milligan has actually explained exactly what was going through John's mind, and it's not a horrible excuse for John acting like an idiot.
Basically, he sees his bloodline as a curse, and was thinking that the kid would be better off not knowing that he was of Constantine lineage.

That is  almost rational!.

Maybe it was someone elses idea, and Milligan just said "Fuck, ok, it isn't as if i care about the character, I will do it that way".

[JohnMcMahon]

This issue lingers on that 'it sucks to be a Constantine' point so that's not really fair criticism.

[Maritimus]

That's more like it. A solid opening chapter of the storyline, which promised nothing but pain. For some reason though, all the pieces clicked here and the characters felt real, John seemed like himself, his exchanges with Epiphany realistic and interesting, art had a nice rough edge to it, fitting the grim, moody story. I really liked the scene where John is asking around the protest site, and people give their responses, they ring true, the activist guy, the old lady.. They only appear in one panel each but seem like people who could exist.

I'm not getting my hopes up for the rest of the arc, but this was a good issue. For some reason I got a "all his engines" vibe from it. a Constantine story done right. Gets an 8 from me

[slinker]

I read it in the store. I'm still not going to buy it until a new writer comes on board.

It was an improvement on what we've been forced to endure recently, but it reads like a bad imitation of one of Carey's stories (like the "3rd Worlds" arc, maybe?) And it's still tainted by its most recent issues--oh good, John's a werewolf now, too, in addition to a murderer. That's what crosses my mind every time I think about Hellblazer. I have no interest in this character anymore. This has become a minor existential dilemma for me.

But in a nutshell, there are 3 turds lying on a table. This one merely doesn't stink as badly as the last two. It's still a turd.

Edited by slinker, 25 July 2012 - 09:34 PM.

[JohnMcMahon]

He's not a werewolf!

[Christian]

^
http://www.blogcdn.c...2/capwolf01.jpg
http://img.photobuck...79F21A446-1.jpg

It's probably true that this won't be the most original of stories (although this is the first chapter, so who knows for sure), but yet that's been the state of HB since Azzarello left the book, really.
Waiting for something totally original in HB is probably not going to be solved with a new writer either.

[Cunning Man]

I don't want to nitpick but couldn't there have been a Thought Box or something with John telling us why he'd crossed his fingers when he made that promise to Cheryl?  Were we supposed to expect to be told, or even suppose that there was a reason for it?  Too many dead-end trains of narrative like that and Milligan can't rightly hold us responsible for just assuming he's a lazy or apathetic writer these days.  Keep in mind I'm not reading the new arc, so I don't know how well the lastest dose of "it sucks to be a Constantine" will help the series recover from the above-mentioned gaffe.  I think I'll read the trade, when a new writer is delivering regular monthly goodness, but for now, I must rely on seeing the book through threads like this.  Doing so is disorientating, so I'll keep my rant impulse in check.  On that note, it occurs to me that if someone who never saw (what I must now consider to be) John in his prime were to let this issue be their first exposure to the character, they would probably wonder just what the big deal about the infamous magician really is.  And if sayed hypothetical reader then went off into the past to explore some vintage John stories like Swamp Thing or Books of Magic, they would necessarily have to draw a contrast between the older, better tales, and these new, here 'uns.  All of this leads me to a point about the true nature of a comic title's appeal, but since I promised I wouldn't rant, I can't write what it is.

[Christian]

It certainly doesn't make up for any flawed stories during Milligan's tenure, no.
Like I said, it's still one of the stupidest scenes in the entirety of HB.
I mean, he crosses his fingers? Is he five?
It was still lazy writing, it's just that this issue has improved. Nothing will ever make up for the past ten months of stories (perhaps more, as I don't want to dig through my collection right now to check), which were the worst comics I was reading each and every month, and made me almost embarrassed to be a JC fan. And, most of the Millgian issues before that point weren't exactly gems either.

As far as your last point, I've said before that if I had first picked Hellblazer up after the Jenkins run, I don't see that I would've considered Hellblazer a must-buy comic book.
I started buying the book with Ennis and after hunting down the Delano back-issues I fell in love with the character, and that's kept me reading as my interest has seemed to wane with each new writer.
If I would've first picked up a John Constantine comic in 2011 or 2012, I know I would have ranked the book in the same esteem as books like Spawn or Witchblade. Sad, but true.