JohnMcMahon

John Constantine, Hellblazer : Dead In America #4

Written by SIMON SPURRIER
Art and cover by AARON CAMPBELL

John Constantine…faith healer? Disguised as a Catholic priest in a small town near the Texas-Mexico border, John searches for the connection between how a dust-ridden county turned out a massive harvest and Dream’s missing sand. But this good-natured, all-American town has an ugly secret…one that brings John, Nat, and Noah face-to face with monsters of a very human kind.

Hellwitch Hellborne wins title of the week at a canter, really!

Nothing new for me, seeing that 100 Bullets reprint kind of makes me want to go back and reread the series.

Kind of left me cold again, not really feeling this series at the mo.

It's been a month already ?!? 

JC for me and coming up on the end of Chip's DD run, definitely running out of steam as the finish comes into sight.

John Constantine, Hellblazer : Dead in America #3

Written by SIMON SPURRIER
Art and cover by AARON CAMPBELL
Variant cover by TYLER CROOK

 John and crew find themselves traveling west and contending with some of the tall tales that permeate the American frontier. It’s here that John probes an ailing Clarice about her past run-ins with Dream’s power. The sands have caused quite a stir, but just how far have they lodged themselves in the heart of the American dream?

Nothing new for me, working through Chip's DD, pretty good stuff.

All aboard the nowt train!

Finally picked up the last couple of trades for Chip Zdarsky's Daredevil run so looking forward to reading the rest of that.

Wasn't a huge fan of this one, partly cause of Ade's last line there - wasn't a whole lot of Hellblazer to it, a better Swamp Thing story really!

I really want to grab some of the horror stuff that he's done at smaller publishers but I'm a cheap bastard and, unsurprisingly, they very seldom/never go on sale.

John Constantine, Hellblazer : Dead in America #2

Written by SI SPURRIER
Art and cover by AARON CAMPBELL

With the specter of mortality breathing down his neck, John heads to the Big Easy, where he enlists the skills of old friend Clarice Sackville to heal the fractured mind of Alec Holland, the Swamp Thing, and use that elemental power to kickstart his own dead heart. Perhaps she can do that–but it will require a drug-induced journey into distant realms that’ll shake John to his rotten core. And meanwhile, Nat and Noah learn the magical lengths Clarice is willing to go to in order to extend her own terrifyingly long life…

Decided to reread the initial 12 issue run before jumping into this and glad I did, that's some good Hellblazer right there - really like that shot of John by Aaron Campbell on the final page of the last issue.  Bergara's Willowtree is most ace too, he's the perfect artist for everyone's favourite man-bunned magus.

I prefer my John Constantine drinking pints down the pub so could do without all the Dream and Swamp Thing stuff but that last page of this issue was still pretty funny for just how silly it was.  Otherwise, yeah, more of the good stuff, John Constantine off on his summer holidays, what could possibly go wrong ?    

 JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER: DEAD IN AMERICA #1 

Written by SI SPURRIER
Art and cover by AARON CAMPBELL
Variant cover by JOCK
Variant cover by SEAN PHILLIPS

1:25 variant cover by MATIAS BERGARA

$4.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 8 | (all covers are card stock)

ON SALE 1/16/24

At last, as you demanded: The celebrated creative team of Si Spurrier and Aaron Campbell have returned to Hellblazer! John Constantine has cheated death once again—but his heart’s not beating, his body is decaying, and he, his friend Nat, and his son Noah are on the run in America, wanted for murder. Naturally, it’s all John’s fault—it always is.

But as it turns out, Dream himself needs John’s help. Something terrible has taken root in America, and it’s using the sand from Dream’s pouch to impose its will. If John can put a stop to it, he might be able to parlay that favor into a chance to save all their lives—but he’s going to need help from someone he hasn’t spoken to in years. Someone he wasn’t always…all that kind to. Someone…or some…Thing?

Spurrier and Campbell’s first run on Hellblazer was the best-reviewed comic of 2020, reintroducing the character to a new generation, and their second act, told in extra-length 28-page issues, is ambitious and unmissable!

Nothing new for me, rereading some of Mike Carey's Hellblazer at the moment - getting back in the groove before the new mini-series starts...next week ?  The week after ?

...and Happy Outliving 2023, while we're at it.

Was a good one for me, personally, if not the overall state of the world but can't have it all, right ?
 

I do enjoy a good religion-was-aliens story/song.

Happy Christmas all!

Even if you don't celebrate it, you can still stuff your face and maybe even, possibly, drink just a little too much ?

Hope everyone has a most ace 2024.
 

Picked this up digitally on the cheap, pretty good and while I prefer my Constantine drinking alone down the pub after getting all his mates killed I do also quite like the Red/Green/Rot stuff that's more a hallmark of the DC horror stuff.  So, yeah, pretty good if as Jason says nothing particularly memorable.

Gareth Hanrahan, who's as Irish as his name suggests!

I've been listening to some David Gemmell audio books over the last couple of months, a nice walk down memory lane.  Real simple boys own fantasy but tinged with hints of what we know now as GrimDark.

That's an ace cover, big fan of the cigarette lighting the darkness in the corner.

Back half of this year has been real busy for me so haven't gotten to read as much as I would've liked since the summer but I'm currently mid-way through the second book in The Black Iron Legacy, The Shadow Saint.  It's good, broadly the series is about the denizens of a neutral city in a world ravaged by a war between various Gods and their followers.  Some great concepts in there - like the city feeds its dead to ghouls so their souls can't be consumed by the local Gods - in effect keeping them neutered.   

Haven't heard back from them on my pitch, anyway

I do love me some Jock.

Sean Phillips will probably always be my favourite Hellblazer artist though, really need to check out those OGNs he's doing with Ed Brubaker.  Was in the same pub as him once during one of the handful of British comic cons I went to, was too shy to approach him though, stupid younger me.

15 hours ago, JasonT said:

Coincidence?

 

Nope, that's one of the variant covers.

DC Comics has revealed Si Spurrier and Aaron Campbell aren’t done with John Constantine, as the second act of their epic take on the character is coming back in January 2024. Reuniting with them is color artist Jordie Bellaire, who sees the occult detective headed across the pond to the United States for more supernatural misadventures with gods and monsters from the DC and Sandman Universes, including Dream of the Endless and Alec Holland, the Swamp Thing.

https://aiptcomics.com/2023/10/14/nycc-2023-john-constantine-hellblazer-dead-in-america/

Thoughts are with you, lads.