Ixnay by Night

Ah, good. That means that "Royal Blood" adaptation with Vice-President Biden in place of Prince Charles is still possible!

And with Calibraxis shacking up inside the Zodiac Killer as well as Jack The Ripper

Ha ha ha, oh shit that's brilliant!

Ah, good. That means that "Royal Blood" adaptation with Vice-President Biden in place of Prince Charles is still possible!

If the show does indeed survive to a see a second season, I would hope that the creators would take some chances on a few non-FX driven stories. I can't imagine it would ever happen, since flashy demon magic is what a lot of people are watching for, but seeing stories along the lines of "Shoot" or "Counting to Ten" would be nice. Hell, I think "Freezes Over" and the Family Man arc would make for incredible episodes, but I know the producers would have to throw special effect magic in there somewhere.

That said, I am happy with what the show's produced so far.

I couldn't tell from the dialogue when they named the warehouse demon, was it supposed to be Calibraxis from "Royal Blood"? That certainly sounded like the name they rattled off a few times, but like I said, couldn't tell for sure (had my daughter in the recliner with me at the time, she didn't like my attention being on the TV instead of her).

There was a for-real news story early last year about an Eastern Kentucky snake-handler that was bit and died from the venom. His son then took up the pastor position at the church, complete with snake-handling, and he too was bit. He somehow survived, and from what I remember went right back to tossing around the slithering murder serpents. No word on angel feather involvement, though.

After the episode finished, I remarked to my wife (as non-spoilery as I could, since she could care less about the comics) that I was really surprised Anne Marie made it to the end of the episode. I fully expected the Invunche to reappear to take care of business.

So, Hardy's out and it's looking like Jake Gyllenhaal will be taking his place as Rick Flag. Sounds like a downgrading to me, Gyllenhaal sleepwalks through every single performance. Ostrander's Flag was always one tantrum away from a full-blown mental breakdown, flying wildly between emotions with lots and lots of yelling involved. I could see Hardy pulling that persona off, Donnie Darko not so much.

So, I noticed on the stigmata map that this episode takes place in my town, or at least the show's interpretation of it. That area of Kentucky looks nothing like that, no snake handlers that I'm aware of. Had they moved it to South-Eastern KY though, yeah, I would have totally bought that. Would've needed more people using crystal meth to really get that Kentucky charm, though.

I quite liked the newest issue, though I'm in agreement when it comes to the changes to the backstory: shiny, happy childhood John is not interesting nor necessary. Instead of the botched abortion, "Golden Boy", and complex antagonistic relationship with his father, we get "John loves his parents until they die in a fire the end". The bit with Doctor Fate was good, though, and it set up the events of the Future's End one-shot from a few months back (which I liked as well).

It's not Hellblazer, but at least Constantine is better than it was for the first year. Here's hoping for a really great creative team when the book comes back in June.

nobody noticed how stupid deadman looks? i mean it is perfectly in character, but that pose man, what kind of pose is that?

Or that Madame Xanadu is now a Conehead?

John looks like he's giving an epic duck face.

When the solicitations for March came out a few weeks ago, Constantine was NOT on the chopping block like a bunch of other titles (Swamp Thing, Klarion, Arkham Manor, almost all of the Green Lantern books, which all had "FINAL ISSUE" in the text). I think the series will be coming back in June with a different creative team, though, for sure.

And what the fuck happened to Bryan Hitch's art over the years? Looks more like Greg Land than Hitch...

Ha!

Had a shit week at work (I'm a social worker for mentally ill adults). Found a giant crack in my shower, probably have to replace the whole damn thing. Glad it's fucking Friday, gents.

This screenshot is a perfect photoshop material for Fighting Game in Vs Mode

 

Invunche VS John Constantine

 

That screenshot fucking kills.

I wonder how much of Jenkins' first two issues were informed by what Campbell had planned to come next? If Jenkins was brought in late to replace him, he might have used the previous plots as more than just a jumping off point.

Aw, thanks guys! ::sniff sniff:: It's like I never left!

I figured I should probably re-introduce myself, considering I haven't posted regularly on here in about 10 (holy fucking shit) years, though I've been lurking about on and off in the meantime. Name's Chris, I'm a social worker and since the last time I was a regular around these parts I've gotten married (and in a few months I'm going to be a father, which is more frightening than anything Constantine ever faced). I've been a Hellblazer reader since the Ennis/Dillon days, and I stuck it out through the end of the series. I even contributed a couple of write-ups of some Jenkins issues (my favorite era of the book) for STH waaaaaay back in the day.

On a strictly personal "emotional journey of feelings and such" type level, I've always thought "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" by Flogging Molly to be a dead-perfect song for John.

Lyric-wise, "Alias" by In Flames is pretty great with its chorus of "don't believe the mask, it adapts to any lie...don't tell me, tell my ghost, I blame him for all I don't want to know".

So, one of my Christmas gifts from the wife was the Art of Sean Phillips hardcover from Dynamite, and within is a pretty decent recap/account of his time working for Vertigo (I adore Phillips' work, easily my favorite Hellblazer artist). I recommend picking it up if you have the extra cash, because it had some really interesting behind-the-scenes info from his time working on Hellblazer, including interviews with Delano, Jenkins, Axel Alonso, Karen Berger, and Eddie Campbell. I had no idea, for example, that Campbell was meant to be the for-real ongoing writer of the series following Ennis, but was essentially forced off after one arc by editorial (Alonso admits in the book that he didn't like Campbell's ideas for the book, particularly what he'd turned in for "Warped Notions"). Anyway, yeah, awesome book!

I picked up that Zatanna mini-series a year or so ago from a discount bin, and it's really not very good. John is seen in a 1-page flashback/hallucination sequence, but he does get mentioned a few times. The mini was totally spun out of Gaiman's use of Zatanna in Books of Magic, Tannarak is the villain and the first issue follows up on the visit to his nightclub in BoM # 2.

I agree with Qusoor, the "Injustice" version of John actually seems like John. I'm quite enjoying the series, and Constantine's role in it so far. His speech to Superman in the latest chapter was spot-on, I thought, and this is more along the lines of what I always thought his involvement with superheroes would entail: getting punched into unconsciousness by Batman after leading most of their allies to their deaths.

I think I'm a bit softer on Milligan's run than most, liked it more than Mina's and Azzarello's stints, and parts of it were certainly better than Diggle's. That's my biggest problem with Milligan's run, though: he had loads of great ideas and moments, but they were drowned out by the stupid shit surrounding it. I didn't mind Epiphany that much, I thought she was another solid Girl Friday/Fuckbuddy, but then in comes Angie, Kit, and Gemma to get ground into the mud.

So, yeah, Milligan had lots of crap, but there was some good-to-great stuff in there, too. And "The Cottage" is still fucking bad-ass, says I.

The Jenkins run, particularly "Critical Mass", has always been my high-standard for Constantine stories. But wow, a lot of fans were *really* down on Jenkins when the issues were being released, what with him following behind Ennis and the fans wanting Hellblazer to "Preacher" that shit back up. Still, "Critical Mass" is just about a perfect story-arc, and Sean Phillips draws John like nobody else. Great, great stuff.

No worries, "respect" is just something given when one doesn't want to get their faces smashed in. Snark is our friend, in all its wonderful forms.

 

Seriously, though, you didn't disrespect me in the slightest. I couldn't have had a more common name if it was "John Smith", so it was a legitimate question to ask, lol.

 

This is belated, but: whereabouts in Kentucky are you from?

 

I live about 20 minutes north of Lexington, one of the state's larger cities (about an hour east of Louisville), in Georgetown. The town's only claim to fame is the large Toyota Manufacturing plant. It's nice and small and dull, lol.

 

I'm from Madisonville in Western Kentucky. I go to school in Michigan now, though. I don't think I've ever heard of Georgetown, actually, though I've certainly been to Lexington.

You're certainly not missing anything when it comes to Georgetown, lol. I lived in Lexington until a few months back, nice mid-sized city. How far away from Lexington is Madisonville? I'm originally from Eastern KY, and haven't made many journeys to the western side of the state.