VertIgor

I'm so disappointed by Denise Mina. I hate to dismiss things in a general way, but it's clear to me that Mina...okay...well...she has no idea how to write for comics. Not really. I've got no idea what's going on. There's some deal with empathy being manipulated...but for wha? We keep flashing back, rehashing what's gone on before, etc. NOthing is happening. Who's the dead girl? Where was the body? Whose flat was that? Where'd the athame come from? Was that magic? John's sworn that off...but...oh yeah, he magically helped the poor sod forget. So...he does magic when it's convenient to the story, but doesn't when it's not. Uh huh. The flashbacks to the monks...I don't get it. Are there Cliff Notes?

In prose, I guess it would make sense...but Mina apparently is unable to give Manco the visual storytelling aspect that gives the reader a sense of time, place and person. This Scot that John's helping...looks far too much like Chaz. He's a walking piece of moaning and groaning 3-D wallpaper. What's the connection between the Monks and whatgoeson? Who's the Lady-with-Goathead? Why should I care?

John's dialogue, external and internal is good. Mina knows dialogue. Manco's art, it's great. He's getting more confident, which is allowing him to be looser while keeping it real at the same time.

But this whole idea that there is a Third Place besides Heaven and Hell...uh...yeah, there's a third place and a fourth place and a fifth and a forty-ninth and so on. The multiplicity of Underworlds in the Hellblazer universe is a given. And what does Goya's "Saturn Devours his Children" have to do with it? Is this some reference to the Greek Underworld, Tartarus, which place is where we get the name Tartar Sauce from?

John: Give us some fish 'n' chips, luv.

Waitress: Right. Want tartar sauce with it, then?

John: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

Sigh...how long is this arc? Seven issues? Wake me when it's over, cause this story has got me snoozing. And I'm sorry...if I'm buying individual issues...they MUST stand on their own. Again, this isn't chapters in a book, it's issues of a comic book which all go together to tell a larger story. Denise Mina is yet another example of a prose writer hired to write comics that's setting us back in the storytelling department.

Cheers.

Uh, I haven't read #212 yet, but I look forward to this ill-thought-out storyline coming to a close. There has yet to be an explanation why John Constantine was the target for all this mayhem and slaughter. The amnesia angle didn't deliver, neither of the three Constant-mutants had anything approaching a personality. The butler first is loyal to Rosa, then goes back to Nergal? Well all of them should have realized that Nergal was always going to be mostly dead...although this whole Nergal Returns thing ignores continuity. Ennis had Nergal returned to his earthly form, minus his arms. And while the First definitely said he'd return to Demon status one day, I don't think within two decades was that timeframe. And of course, Carey re-writes all that.

Okay, I'm gonna say it. Carey is one of a host of writers today who have a better reputation than their actual output. We've got TV people basically writing the same way for comics, we've got panel after panel of "cute/witty" dialogue, we've got "HOT" creators coming into established characters and basically ignoring continuity while butchering that character, either literally or thematically, then they move on to something else. And because those comics sell, the publishers keep them at it. Then you have to have two years worth of Crisis or something to re-sort it out again.

While Carey kept this thing dragging and dragging and dragging we were all ready for it to end, not necessarily looking for the big finish. And while the surprise ending seems to be (1) FotF out of character and (2) ignores his statement that he would not interfere in the "soap opera" in last ish and (3) a traditional Delano-esque ending...I don't know if I'll be surprised or not. I think invoking Delano really speaks to the eruption of applause from my local Red Rover when Carey leaves this title alone.

Constantine has suffered loss after loss after hardship in this whole thing and I don't really see a point to it. For the next writer...go back from his first appearance in Swamp Thing and then reread it all, every last bit of it. Some of John's friends do get whacked through association, but John is the one who lays a bunch of guilt on himself for bad things happening to people who were either on board with John or let themselves get taken by the enemy. John didn't cause Judith to kill Ben Cox and his mother and Frank. John didn't kill Anne-Marie. Judith was suckered by the Brujeria. And he didn't push Emma out that window. But he lets himself get haunted by those ghosts and says he's sorry. How it got started that John throws his friends to the lions so he can crawl out of the den is beyond me. And Gary Lester? Who else could have been the bait? It was Lester's fault, anyway. He was responsible for many deaths in New York during The Hunger, and we're supposed to feel sorry for him and blame John for what he had to do? Did he pour gas over Ritchie Simpson and set him on fire or did Rich say, "Sure, John, let me hook myself up to this machine and...ZZZZZ." Hmm? Did John have a choice to let Nergal feed on the nursery at the hospital or sign on with him against the Resurrection Crusade?

Etc etc etc. No, I think this aspect of writing Constantine makes it hard to connect with the character. It's a theme that seems to have been accepted as the norm, but has gotten really old and hard to justify in this last over-aching arc. It just seems negative and mean-spirited for that sake alone.

So why isn't Chas six-feet under a-mouldering in the grave? I'd have to say Chas is one of the most amoral, violent, stupid and entirely dispensible characters this title has ever had. But somehow it's hands off him, while the rest of John's friends who are mystics and direct relatives are for the chop. Is it because Chas is so inconsequential that his death wouldn't have ramifications? Do we really think John couldn't find somebody else to drive him where-ever and nick stuff for him? But Carey makes him a key figure in All His Engines, which was like Constantine-Lite. Every panel that Chas is in feels like it has the life sucked out from it. He's so bloody common.

So yeah, the new writer seems to understand that Hellblazer has always worked best when you realize it's basically a detective story title grounded in the occult. And that Constantine is self-centered, a bastard, rides the adrenaline that magic does for him...but seriously is intent on bringing about the greater good, as he understands it. To Constantine, the greater good is allowing folks to not be harrassed and buggered by those in POWER and to maintain the status quo, at least. He's not a malicious individual who sacrifices others will I nill I and is not directly responsible for or able to prevent any of the deaths to his associates/family in this story arc. But he's supposed to feel guilt? Constantine, to me, is a person who came out of Ravenscar sicker than he went in and all his arrogance and bluster, his swagger and his banter is a mask and hiding behind it is one seriously messed human being who is addicted to much more than Silk Cuts who hasn't seriously looked himself in the mirror and been truthful with himself, except where it was convenient to do so. He tricks the triumvirate to cure his lung cancer by basically condemning the earth to subjugation by Heaven, which is supposed to happen anyway down the road, THEN he feels guilt and goes on a bender. THEN he gets out of his flat THEN he remembers Matt in the hospital THEN he feels bad about everything...because he's allowing himself to now that he's beat the Devil, but when his neck was in the noose, it was all about him. Bollocks. That's Constantine. But simply killing all those around him through contrived and hard to explain reasons and saying that's John's fault somehow. I don't see it.

So yes, let Carey go away and pollute someone else's pool with his long arcs that don't resolve anywhere along the way then have to come to a sudden inexplicable end simply because they're bringing in another writer. I know. I read Lucifer. The entire run has been one long arc. Bring on the storytelling again! Is Neil Gaiman busy?

Yeh. I agree that there's not much happening in this here issue, but this is Mike Carey's modus operandi, in that each issue isn't particularly savory, but the story arc/continuous narrative is. I've been with Lucifer the monthly since inception and Carey is about the larger picture and the whole story, while he'll often have you wondering when something is actually going to be resolved.

And I'm having troubles myself seeing where this is going. I'm not seeing John as being in any sort of control here. I don't see him setting up any dominoes or digging any hidden pitfalls.

I don't buy "Nergal has Wolverine's healing factor" excuse for him even being around anymore, either. I understand that a Demon's flesh obeys different rules, but it seems there needed to be a catalyst for his regeneration besides unconscious will. It took the guy to scrape the back of his hand on that nail and then bleed on the attic floor for Frank Cotton to grow back his sinews in Hellraiser, but somehow Nergal just grows back at his own volition. It doesn't speak well for Rosi's cunning if she doesn't realize this.

If that's the case, how does John ever defeat Nergal? Some sort of imprisonment? And what about Chantinelle? I doubt this was an encounter that is independent of future events, but she doesn't seem to be written right here. Maybe she's never gotten her fingernails dirty enough to be able to confront Nergal with any dignity or cunning.

So, yeh. This issue adds a few more "Huhs" to my collection.

So while speculation reigns, let me postulate: John is able to save Cheryl in this storyline. This redemptive action by John is a turning point for him and he...starts to reform, somewhat. He finally succeeds without anybody else he has befriended snuffing it and is inspired to clean up his act and he start shaving regular and combs his hair with a ritualistic rententiveness. He moves to Los Angeles, CA, dies his hair black, develops an accent like a surfer who has hit his head one too many times on a coral reef, wears elevator shoes and goes around town "putting out fires" with his holy hand grenades fulla holy water.

Second thought...I got no idear.