John Waterman

I don't know about "Sundays Are Different." That's not to say I don't like it...I just don't get it. It was highly entertaining up till about the three-quarters mark where it went into the backwards-speaking bizzaro universe. I'm guessing the point of it was to show that there was no escaping from grim reality, but I had to re-read it a couple of times to even draw that conclusion, and I'm not even sure if that was the even the point. I guess it would make sense for Constantine to seek out Merc and Marj afterwards, given his disilliusionment, but the story didn't convey that so well for me. Still, Delano gets points for trying something "Different," and the Yin-Yang man's line, "This game is dangerous if you are not" was pretty excellent.

The following stories, "The Bogeyman" and "Dead-Boy's Heart" are fucking amazing, though. No complaints from me about either one.

"The Fear Machine," I thought, was quite good until about issue 7 or 8, when they started getting heavily the theme that stated women were only good for nuturing and healing and all men were good for was reacting and destruction. I'm really not sure where Delano was coming from there, or what his point was. Did he feel the need to apologize for his gender by writing such patronizing garbage? I have no idea.

Also, we never found out what happened to several key players, like Inspector Talbot, or the Hangman. It just kinda...ended. And the symbolic joining of the Animus and the Anima was already done way back in Swamp Thing with Good and Evil. So...eh.

That said, Delano did follow that lackluster conclusion up with, in my opinion, the greatest single issue of the series, "Larger Than Life," and one of the top arcs in "The Family Man."

Also, I think its interesting that the quality of the fill-in issues of Delano's run were so high. The Grant Morrisson story was good fun, and had really creepy art work. "Hold Me" is very good as well. "New Tricks" wasn't a classic, but it was amusing, and far better than the likes of crap fill-in issues like "Ashes and Honey"

Oh, and thanks for posting that interview, Christian. Interesting stuff. I went to Delano's website awhile ago, and got a kick out of his biography. Man sure likes his hash oil.

I'm three books into Steven King's 7-book "Dark Tower" series. I've read about seven or eight of his other books beforehand, and up until Dark Tower, I though he was slightly above average as a horror writer. Liked his characters, but his plots always seemed to fizzle.

"Dark Tower" so far has been nothing short of fantastic. It's wonderfully bizarre and surreal, and has tons of great set pieces and memorable scenes. I really don't want to get to into describing it, because a) I could never do the series justice, and b) it would be a shame to ruin anything. My advice: start with "The Gunslinger" and don't look back.

I tried reading "Vineland" by Thomas Pynchon. Couldn't get into it. It was somewhat amusing, but I couldn't get a feel for the main character, and I really couldn't bring myself to care about angsty hippies unable to accept the fact that, yes, the 60s were finally indeed over.

"The Barbarous Coast" by Ross MacDonald is much more fun. It's LA detective noir, and reminds me a lot of early James Ellroy (who is tied with Cormac McCarthy as the best living American author, for my money).

....and I'm liking it a lot better this time around. I'm halfway through the "Fear Machine" storyline, and even though I was less than thrilled with it my first time through. The dialogue and art are a step down from previous issues, but it's full of interesting ideas and plot threads. The sequence when Merc shows Fulton his impending death, as well as the whole "Fellow Travellers" issue are wonderfully spooky and gruesome.

I know a lot of people didn't care for Constantine-as-Hippy, but I think it's a trip. In the context of the rest of the series, its highly amusing to see our favorite trenchcoated badass with shaggy hair and a beard for an issue or two.

Also, the preceeding 13 issues to "The Fear Machine" are superb. The first 12 issues are just great storytelling. The overarching story of Constantine vs. The Damnation Army/Ressurection Crusade is compelling enough, but it also allows for smaller stories within the arc, like "Going for it" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." That latter issue is one of my favorites. Its portrayal of Vietnam and its effects (the metaphorical turned into the literal) on America is very nicely done, especially when compared to the ham-handed "Damnation's Flame" (I love Ennis. Love his work on Hellblazer. Best thing he's ever written. And I Fucking hate that storyline with a passion).

The Newcastle incident was good fun as well. And the way they used John's line, "They should make me a bloody saint for this" as the title for the annual was pretty cool too.

So far, only one quibble: Richard Piers Raynor makes Steve Dillon look like Norman Rockwell. His work on the "Newcastle" issue was pretty good, but the rest...geez.

Anyway, I guess I'll post more comments as I continue reading through the run. Delano's HB work is easily the densest and most cerebral of all the authors who worked the title, and I'm looking forward to hearing what others have to say about it.

I go through about a pack and a half of Dunhills a week. Most of them get smoked when I'm drinking on the weekends. Never had Silk Cut, but I don't think you can get them in America. Love Dunhills though. They cost about $4.50 a pack in Mississippi, which kinda sucks though. I don't mind paying the difference.

I used to smoke American Spirits before I saw the error of my ways. Yeech. One of my friends from Russia to this day chainsmokes packs of King Edward cigars. How he hasn't keeled over from Emphysema by now is beyond me.

Absolutely no complaints about the 4th season so far. I was actually glad that the first episode was slower-paced. It did a great job of conveying how much had changed between seasons. Even the clubhouse has been converted to a video archive for the bugged rides, for God sake. I'm glad to see that the writers didn't forget about that plot thread, though.

I kinda like Glen Close as the new Captain. Her ambivalent stance on Mackey is a refreshing change. You can tell that she respects him, and probably even likes him, but doesn't trust him by a long shot, either.

The second episode was great too. It was good to see Gilroy again (sort of), and I thought the parallel between his life and Vic's was much more poignant and subtle this time around than their last encounter.

So the Barn is gonna take on the LA Russian Mob? Cool.

And was it just me, or were Dutch and Mackey's ex tres flirty in that hospital scene. I've gotta say, Dutch shtupping Corrine would be the ultimate way for him to get back at Vic. Heh heh heh. Or, you know, get himself whacked.

Liked Evil Shane as well. I really enjoyed his character in the first two seasons, and HATED him in the 3rd. Hated everything about him. He went from being an amusing loose cannon to whipped, whiny dickhead. Glad to see that's changed. And I hope we don't see any of Mara this time around. At all.

Acevada and the hooker....damn. That has got to be one of the more disturbing reversals I've seen on TV in awhile. He came across as so compassionate to the woman in person, and a few scenes later, when he was watching the tape.....

Damn.

One last thing: regarding the new policy the Captain is instituting that allows the cops to seize any assets paid for by drug money...does anyone know if this is done? America has RICO laws that allow the gov't to seize assets paid by racketeering (gotta love The Sopranos), but I haven't heard of anything like that on the street level, the way it looks like the Shield will present it.

Got the conclusion to "Mother Russia" this week. It was very good. The whole storyline was definetly the best Punisher arc in far too long.

It also contained perhaps the best description of Frank Castle I've ever heard:

Russian General(upon surveying all the carnage Frank caused): That was no American. It was a Russian who was born there by mistake.

The first one. Without a doubt.

 

I'd say the only significantly unanswered question which Azzarello left was the identity of the person who took the book at the end of 'Lapdogs and Englishmen'. Everything else was wrapped up as neatly as it ever needed to be, for me.

Call me crazy, but I always figured the unidentified guy at the end of that arc was "the mad arab" who Constantine played off as a con in order to rip off the young Manor.

It made as much sense as anything, I guess.

Senator Roark, his brother, is being played by Powers Boothe(the creepy smalltown sheriff in U-Turn) who appears in the That Yellow Bastard TPB.

And don't forget that he's on "Deadwood" now either, as the creepy and unhinged saloon owner.

April 1st cannot come fast enough. "Sin City" looks seven shades of awesome.

Michael Chabon used the Golem legend pretty effectively in "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay," too.

Still, it's interesting that there was a similar story in Detective Comics, what with all of the potshots Azz was taking at Bruce Wayne in "Ashes and Dust."

And that's another thing: I have no love for Batman, so I was by no means upset by the parallels drawn in that last story. But the whole (as someone on this forum put it a while ago) "Batman fucks the Joker" came across like Azzarello was...I don't know. Trying too hard, I guess. It's kind of interesting, so I wouldn't call it pretentious, but the whole JC/Manor tryst came across as "Look at this! It's edgy! And Provocative! No, really!"

I did like Azzarello's (actual) six-issue Batman run a lot, though.

Right.

I find that making fun of Azzarello's Hellblazer work is like picking a fight with a newborn baby, or perhaps a terminal cancer patient. It's easy, but ultimately cheap and unsatisfying.

But what the hell.

"Hard Time" was basically "Oz" the comic book. I had the same complaint about the second Loop Hughes story in 100 Bullets (which I dearly love, and have bought every issue). "Good Intentions" started off brilliantly but then spun into a bizzare...something. Jesus Christ, I don't know if he was lamenting the decline of small town America, or trying to channel the bizzare sexuality of films like "Deliverance" or "Straw Dogs." Either way, it fell pretty flat.

"Freezes Over" was pretty good. It belonged in "100 Bullets," but it was pretty good.

"Highwater" was the best of the bunch. Again, it belonged somewhere in "100 Bullets"--and I'll bet a neo-nazi storyline shows up in THAT comic before it's run is out--but it was engaging enough to read through. The final fate of the Neo-Nazi leader, and his daughter's reaction actually through me for a loop, and I got a mean-spirited chuckle out of the situation's poetic justice.

"Ashes and Dust" was crap. Crap story, crap premise, crap resolution, and most of all, crap villain. S.W. Manor has got to be the biggest twat of an antagonist to mince, pout, and bitch his way through any form of literature. Ever.

Also, Constantine's sexual ambivilance seemed totally out of left field. Yes, yes, I read #51. But still.

I like Azzarello. "100 Bullets," for my money, is the best comic on the market right now. I just wish he hadn't gotten the bad writing out of his system on my favorite character.

No, no, you're right!  Because the whole thing ends with Ellie making the VERY clear point she's out of John's debt, and indeed, he owes her now because of what she's just done.

So it does. I knew I'd forgotten something, but I also knew JC wasn't in on Ellie's plan - I was struggling to remember exactly how that was made clear. Thanks!

Actually, I'm pretty sure Ellie was John's half-assed backup plan. The reason Header died at the beginning was because they crashed the Caligula Club to get the tome that had the history of the three fallen. That way, she could trick The First into getting rid of the other two, then stabbing him in the back if all his other schemes went south. I'm pretty John hints at that plan that in an internal monologue in part 4 or 5 to that effect (If I can't get him from the front, I'll stab him in the back). And, in John and Ellie's last scene together, she acknowledges that she got the history of the fallen from him.

It wasn't so much Deus ex Machina at it was a half-assededly explained conclusion. I've noticed Ennis has a real problem with this in a lot of his work. Especially in "Preacher: Alamo."

Anyway, sorry to derail the lesbian discussion. By all means, continue.

Yeah, I could never fault the cover art, but it was kind of a letdown during the Marvel Knights run when the covers would be so badass and gritty...and you'd flip the book open and find a story about ghost mafiosi and a giant squid.

Actually, though, I liked a good bit of the Marvel Knights punisher. "Welcome Back, Frank" was entertaining, and "Do Not Fall in New York City" was chilling, which was a nice change from the usual silliness. "Brotherhood" and "Streets of Laredo" were also decent stories, and the scene where Frank asks Elektra out in another one-shot was amusing.

Oh, and "Born" was excellent. Probably the best Punisher story ever written, for my money. I think it's tied with "Unknown Soldier" for being the blackest, darkest, most unsentimental thing Ennis has written.

I guess that might make sense in Canada with the cold weather.... But in fairer climes, it needs to all come off!

That's the truth. One nice thing about the humid climes in South Mississippi is once Mid-March comes around, the shorts and skirts start getting as short as they come. It's even better at Ole Miss, where I used to go to school. Never was so little worn by so many who were so fucking hot.

Another thing: as long as we're talking about Ennis's HB run, there is one loose end that's been bugging me forever, and no one else seems to have mentioned it: who the hell is Terry Butcher?

I have all of Ennis' run, including the issues that were never traded. He never shows up. Many of the other characters talk about him. The kid who sold Gemma the Oijua (sp?) Board in end of the line knew him, Header said he killed him for banging his siamese twin daughters, and Brendan said he ended up in a pie.

Is he just some unseen character that Ennis never got around to writing? Did he come from another Vertigo title? Anyone know?

Sorry. Meant and *when* Chas asked if the lesbian's girlfriend joined it. Heh.

Yeah, "Son of Man" was man was fun. I had a great time reading it after the much more complex and downbeat conclusion to Jenkins' run. Nice to see Header, Rick and Brendan again too.

I think my favorite throwaway moments were when the boys accidently summoned Sid Vicious, and Chas asked John if the lesbian's girlfriend "joined in."

And if they mine the storyline for "Constantine 2," I would be very amused to see Haley Joel Osment play Little Ronnie.

Yeah, the issue with the CIA-backed sleeper cells is supposed to be set in the present day.

I'm kinda lukewarm on the current Punisher arc. I can't decide if it's Garth Ennis on autopilot, or if the character's limitations are holding him back.

The most annoying thing about the MAX series has been its "written for the trade" feel. Every issue so far has been a piece of a six-part story. As far as I know, the next arc is too. On top of that, each arc has started out with a bang, and fizzled towards the middle and end.

"In The Beginning" had Frank chained to a chair for most of the arc. The concluding issue was sweet, but the story bogged down heavily after the first. In one scene, Castle refuses to help the CIA hunt Bin Laden. While I personally agree with his reasoning, it seems FAR out of character for Frank.

"Kitchen Irish," despite having some solid action sequences focused too heavy on uninteresting side characters. The British SAS vet was cool, but the rest blurred together after awhile. And it feels like Ennis crammed Cassidy and Arseface into a blender in order to come up with the main villain.

"Mother Russia" has been the best storyline so far, with it's Castle/Fury collaboration. I love the way Ennis writes Nick Fury as the burned out, hard-drinking, whoremongering veteran. The sideplot about American agents training private Middle-Eastern terrorist cells is fairly ballsy to run with in this day and age, so I have to give it props even though I don't think it has any basis in reality.

I've picked up every issue off the newsstand. It's entertaining, but it's a sub-par effort for Ennis. I think this is because his strongest points as a writer--bullshitting at the bar, friendship, and complex, well-rounded characters--are absent from this title due to the nature of Frank Castle. All that's really here is extreme violence and angst.

I still want to see how "Mother Russia" turns out, and the solicitations for the next arc "Up Is Down and Black is White" look promising, but if things don't pick up, I'll probably drop the title.

Agree? Disagree?

I saw Constantine on Saturday with my best friend in New Orleans. We both dig Hellblazer, and over a few rounds at O'Flaherty's afterwards, decided...it really wasn't that bad.

Keanu Reeves was, of course, the film's weakest link, but he did a surprisingly good job given the monumental cock-up that was the descision to cast him as John. He got a lot of the poses and posturing right, and it seemed that he'd done his research on the character.

With the exception of Midnite(Djimon Honosou), I didn't much care for John's set of friends, either. They had some pretty gruesome death scenes, but apart from that, they were just...odd. Definitely nowhere near Header or Rick caliber.

However, I did like the opening exorcism, and the CG trip to Hell wasn't too shabby either. The movie had a great look to it as well. I thought the crew really nailed the "grungy urban horror" feel. The overall plot, loosely lifted from Dangerous Habits wasn't too bad either.

Acting wise, Peter Stormare was fun as Lucifer. Rachel Weisz remains cute. Tilda Swinton as Gabriel was the most interesting casting choice in the film.

As comic book adaptations go, I liked it a lot better than "Daredevil," "Elektra" and "The Hulk." If I hadn't read the comic books, I would have probably given "Constantine" higher marks. As it stands: 6.5 out of 10. I hope its box office success gets more people reading the monthly title so we get more of the older issues in trade paperback.

On a side note, my buddy and I came up with our ideal Constantine cast after five or so rounds. Sorry if this has been done to death already:

Paul Bettany......Constantine

Vinne Jones......Chas

Kate Beckinsale.....Kit

John Cleese.....Rick the Vic

Robert Carlyle(Bigbie from Trainspotting)......Header

Liam Nesson.....Brendan

Killer rabbit from Monty Python.....Mange

Keanu Reeves......S.W. Manor

Oh yeah. Selkie, in your review of the film, you mentioned it gave you a James Ellroy vibe. I kinda felt that too. I've read most of his books, and am a big fan of his work. Any idea when the sequel to "Cold Six Thousand" is coming out?

James,

Yeah, I forgot about Zed. She was pretty cool in the initial 12-issue arc, but I guess I wrote her off because I found quite a bit of the muddled, new-agey stuff she was so big a part of in "The Fear Machine" and the latter part of his run so obnoxious.

I like a lot of Delano's work on the title, particularly the John vs. Nergal storyline, and the Family Man arc. The issue with Jerry O'Flynn was great too. I really disliked most of issues 30-40, though. They struck me as overly dense, at times pretentious, and packed with what I guess are Delano's personal beliefs about society, meat, the human psyche, etc.

That said, I've read some of the discussion on these issues, and it seems that a lot of people here saw more in them than I did. I plan on looking over Delano's run again after I get my CD with his issue scans back.

About the continuity in Ennis' run, I guess you've got me there. Still, the last complete run I've read was Azzarello's, and compared to THAT....

Anyway, I'm just about to get off work, which means I get to head down to the comic book shop and pick up the new "Sleeper" and the last part of "Reasons to be Cheerful." I can't wait to see how that one turns out.

Thanks for the help. That was a pretty good little story. I especially liked the parts with Gaz Lester and Rick. Hee hee.

Who's this Glyn Dillon who did the artwork? He (she's?) not bad. Any relation to Steve?

Just thought I'd give my two cents on Ennis' Hellblazer work. He's my overall favorite writer on the title, and that's saying something, as I love the whole series.

Note: all of these comments have to do with Ennis’ original run on the title, not "Son of Man."

1) Say what you want about Ennis, the man has an ear for dialogue. While in other projects his sense of humor can be suspect, just about all of it rang true in Hellblazer. Constantine’s inner monologues and exchanges with both friends and villains were sharp and well-written. Two standout segments, to me at least, include the part in “Dangerous Habits” where John lurks outside the Houses of Parliament, and the closing pages of “Rake at the Gates of Hell” come to mind. Also, the first few pages of John’s final confrontation with The First of The Fallen always have me in stictches. John’s retching up blood while Satan critiques Nigel’s poetry. I think my favorite image in the series, in fact, is Nigel calling the devil “a dirty Tory bastard.” Brilliant.

There’s also a great scene in “Rake” where he confronts a friend of his in classic “out-of-the-shadows-light-a-cigarette-smart-ass-comment” mode, railing against himself internally all the while.

2)Ennis struck a great balance between the horrific aspects of Hellblazer, and the normal aspects of Constantine’s life. You had great suspense-horror stories like “Royal Blood,” and “This is the Diary of Danny Drake” and equally-compelling character-driven stories like “End of the Line” “Forty” and “Dear John.” (That last issue has my all-time favorite image--Constantine passed out drunk on a grave with the rain pouring down all around him).

The quieter issues mostly revolved around Constantine and his friends getting smashed and bullshitting at the pub. It could be personal bias, as this is one of my favorite hobbies as well, these scenes made Constantine’s friends seem a lot more human and realistic, and it was all the more devastating when they died. I was a lot sadder over people like Header and Ric checking out than the entire Newcastle crew simply because I felt I knew them.

3)Giving Constantine a steady girlfriend was a good idea. Giving him a steady girlfriend as cool as Kit was even better. The fact that she was more competent than Constantine in just about everything (fistfighting to drinking...she’s a pistol, that one) humanized John even more. I wish there had been more downtime before she dumped him, though. Her sudden change in attitude came as a bit sudden.

I also think that without Kit, we wouldn’t have had charachters like Jenkins’ Dani or Carey’s Angie. I’m not saying they’re ripoffs at all, but they definetly come from similar molds.

4)Ennis’ run is practically a complete, self-contained story. There are very few allusions to Delano’s run, and if you haven’t read it, your enjoyment won’t be ruined. He did a fairly good job of tying up all of his loose ends, rather than sticking another author with them. The conclusion of his last storyline is a classic Constantine Phyrric Victory, with him on top, but everyone he cares about lost to him.

There are a few things I didn’t care for. I found the whole “Damnation’s Flame” arc to be extremely tiresome and self-rightgeous, especially after Ennis went on the whole “governemnt is evil” tirade with “Royal Blood.” I thought his stint on the streets was resolved way too quickly. And apart from the John/Kit interaction, “The Pub Where I Was Born” was extremely tedious, especially following “Dangerous Habits.”

Still. Loved the humor. Loved the doomed romance. Loved the gruesome parts and the scenes just down the pub.

Oh, and Mange was the shit.

CONS’TINE! DID YOU SPIKE ME ‘EFFIN BROCCOLI?????

I've read a good deal of Hellblazer over the past few months. Between the trade paperbacks and scans, and eBay, I've read just about all of the core Hellblazer stories, annuals, etc. But I've never been able to track down the Garth Ennis Christmas story, "All Those Little Boys and Girls." I think it appeared in one of the "Winter's Edge" editions, but I could be wrong. I was wondering if anyone here could post scans of that story, if they had it. Thanks!

Great title on that story, too. "Rainy Night in Soho" is one of my favorite Pogues songs.

Hi Everyone,

My name's John Waterman. I'm 22 years old, and I live in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. It's on the Gulf Coast about 50 minutes east of New Orleans. I'm in my fourth out of (I hope) five years of college, and I also work full time as a staff reporter at the local newspaper.

I've been fairly interested in comics for a few years now. I've never been much of a collecter, and I picked up a copy of "Dangerous Habits" mostly because I really, really enjoy Garth Ennis and his whole "boy, do I sure love drinking, violence and demonizing big government" approach to writing. I've been hooked since, and since tracked down as much of the whole Swamp Thing/Hellblazer epic through both trade paperbacks and CD scans as I could. I've never read anything quite so intriguing in any medium, and I look forward to discussing it further with you all.