I think it's rather endearing that the issue I come back to after being absent from this blog for so long would be an issue entitled, "Days of Wine and Roses," featuring John Constantine pulling a con at a glamorous 'buggery party'. That was his fancy term. In layman's terms, we just call it a good old-fashioned orgy. It's on brand for a man with quirky habits like ol' Johnny boy.
But I'm getting ahead of this issue. What readers get introduced to first was a small-town anorexic girl with an abusive stage father who wants to get her into the Olympics. The story is divided between John's hijinks during the orgy and the all-too-real horror of a teenage girl experiencing an eating disorder as she tries to please her overbearing father. Given the scope that Hellblazer treads in its 100-issue run I've reviewed so far, this plot point was comparably mild.
Not to take away from the inherently vile nature of the side character's miserable circumstances, but this remained a very serviceable issue in general. There's nothing to get too invested on deeply, but the amusing scenes with John trying to con the partygoers with his so-called 'nonorthogenital fertility ritual' at least provided levity. That was until he 'accidentally' summons 'sinister beings' known as a Mendw. It's bound to happen.
I could be mistaken, especially since it's been ages since I picked up this title, but I think John encountered a character from this race before? Or was I misremembering? Anyway, they seem like rip-offs of the Swamp Thing and are hell-bent on...world cleansing/domination? Something to that effect. I was far too distracted chuckling at John performing a non-existent ritual by muttering gibberish. Only that it wasn't? Because the Mendw are here? That being said, I still feel like they were bullshitting after they declared that it was John summoned them, because that would have been such a rookie mistake for the master of the dark arts. He's not some petty dabbler.
In any case, the two stories in this issue are connected flimsily by a character named Laura, an ex-Olympic gymnast who happens to be the anorexic girl's mentor and a regular at the buggering party. It's also in the same town, apparently, because a Mendw-possessed Laura tracked down the abusive Dad to have a harsh word with him, only to take over the daughter and have her killed the lecherous old man. It's poetic justice. But nothing really gets fixed because the girl still has body dysmorphia and now a dead father. She's most likely going into the system as a juvenile offender, unless she fesses up to the attempted rape. It's just been a quick grim issue, which is on-brand for Hellblazer.
Now, I've been rereading my reviews here since yesterday which led me to pick up this title again on a whim, actually. Much like in my recent disclaimer on my Batman and X-Men blogs, I make no promises my reviews will be regular and consistent like back in the old days of 2014-16. However, it's a spooky season, and I wanted to do something special for my Johnny boy, so I hope I can read at least ten more issues and review them before the month ends. It's a promising start so far; that is to say these two issues weren't anything as meaty but serviceable enough for me to discuss easily. I'm still on Paul Jenkins's run, and I've been impressed on some of his earlier issues, based on the content I reread here on my blog. Here's to hoping he pulls off more gems in the next stories.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
Much like the previous issue, this one seems like another simple standalone story that I have a suspicion is somewhat related to the bizarre events from #108. The Mendw appeared during a supposedly fake ritual John performed as a party trick for some orgy. This time, somewhere in Yorkshire, sheep was getting attacked, and a concerned Chas Chandler shared those incidents happening in his uncle's farm. John was dismissive at first, because such animal attacks occur frequently on the countryside. That was until he comes with his mate to investigate said attacks and he cheerily announces, "Congratulations, it's a werewolf."
I forget that this Johnny is not the same John Constantine ever since he relinquished the darkness in his soul in issue #96, otherwise known as one of his rejection schemes to the ongoing fucked-up courtship with First of the Fallen (or Fifs, as I'm going to start calling his gay ass from now on; it certainly beats 'Theo', which was his name as a Greek sailor).
The subsequent issues that followed meant our trench-coat-wearing chain-smoking badass had lost his edge, maybe even his nerve, because to give up his darkness meant that he had also gotten rid of what makes him so good at his job as an occultist, meaning how quick he was to pull the trigger (figuratively speaking) or make impossible choices at the drop of the hat when the worse comes to worst. The last few issues had John going on a spiritual quest to earn back his reputation.
Along the way, he met a mystic or two who gave sound advice and led him to some serial-killer poser who took credit for murders he did not commit just to be a douchebag so that John can recognize that evil can take even the most mundane forms, so he better get back his edge lest he stops being a force of good; as flawed as he may be as one. So this John we saw going back three issues before this one is NOT the same guy who survived Newcastle, outwitted the rulers of Hell during Dangerous Habits, and hell, not even the same dude who loved and lost the incomparable Kit Ryan.
He's just some bloke who is still Constantine but none of the heavier baggage that made him such a complex, multi-layered antihero to begin with. And it's not as if I don't like this Johnny; for the most part, he was more accessible and no longer the type to abandon or even sacrifice friends for the sake of survival. But the cases that he had been taking on post-spiritual quest so far aren't nearly as enticing or worth investing on. Case in point the main plot of this issue. Werewolves, much like the Mendw, are somewhat being summoned into the modern world, lost, confused, and maybe a little vengeful (as was the case with the latter). And apparently he is the man to fix it, mainly on default. I don't know, guys, I guess so long as it gives our titular anti-hero something to do instead of meandering like the half of a whole person he's become.
I checked the next issue, however, and it looks like I'm getting another major story arc by Jenkins again with multiple issues. I will curb my expectations for now, but I'm happy to be reading and reviewing Hellblazer again!
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment