Jenkins gives us another story arc that will span for five issues, and just as I predicted, the weird shit that took place from the previous two was only a set-up for this newest major event in Hellblazer a hundred issues since Jamie Delano developed the character created by Alan Moore.
Though the case is supernatural in nature, this story is not going to be about either angels or demons; at least in the strictest sense of the terminology, because there are still a few allusions to God (Judeo-Christian version). That's still for the next issue which I'll soon touch upon.
In the meantime, let's talk about the rising action that occurred for this first installment. It's an update of what John has done after finding out that business with the werewolves by the Yorkshire countryside--which was diddly squat. He just got drunk and visited this American reporter from that same issue and presumably slept with her.
The pages opened with him in bed with her, but then it was immediately revealed months had already passed. He's dating Dani now. All of his current friends know about her and approve of their relationship, and for the first time since Kit, John is once more enjoying domestic comforts. I knew it was only inevitable, and it's not as if he didn't earn this.
John Constantine had grown up so much over the course of a hundred issues. We've seen him at his worst, rooted for him during his best moments, and witnessed genuine changes in his jaded perspectives about the world, his place in it and most importantly how he should treat those who care about him. Ergo, not push them away, or talk down to them just because they don't understand the darkness he's constantly battling, and--the most groundbreaking of all--never actively or indirectly get them killed or sacrificed just so he can outgun, outrun, or outwit his enemies.
Y'all, it's the dawn of a new era for Johnny, and all he had to do was to cleave his soul into half so that the one that carried his heavy baggage from those last hundred issues was damned instead to Hell while he gets a clean break (even if he's sort of watered down without the trauma). For the longest time, I remained at odds as to whether or not such a plot twist diminished his character growth. But what if...what if the only way John can move on and actually be happy and settled was to literally severe his trauma from his soul? Who of us would not even take that kind of deal if it's ever on the table?
As an abuse and rape survivor myself, I often wonder how much of my trauma has held me back from making meaningful connections with people in the last thirty years. I'm learning day by day to come to terms that I do need to feel loved and secured by other people and not just rely on myself to solve my crises due to mistrust and this juvenile vendetta I had against a world which I felt has duped and used me that I dare not give it the satisfaction of seeing me beg; not for love or companionship or just genuine understanding.
That's why I felt such an automatic affinity with John Constantine when I read the comics. We both prized solitude above everything else because it was easier than vulnerability. We also frequently tricked people in the past into caring about us by putting on the charm while trimming down and editing parts of ourselves until we became whatever we think was socially appealing or addictive to those we want to impress. John and I shared this nasty habit of assigning ourselves to solve people's problems so we can be seen as strong and wise but also far too proud to permit these same people to help us. And then we get angry when they leave or try to unmask us as well as blame the idea that there's is just something inherently broken and unlovable about us so our answer? Well, we must be better off alone.
An so maybe, just maybe, losing all that darkness from his previous self--was a gift. Five years ago before I took a hiatus from this blog (and even just in my last post for issues #108-109), I claimed that it's a bad move to separate the light and dark of John Constantine. I also claimed that the bad shit was what made him so compelling of a character to begin with anyway and that he's 'lost his edge' after all that sordid history was removed. But that would mean I must have believed his trauma defined who he was; that his damage was that too important to his person that he should always cling to it. BUT IT FUCKING ISN'T. That perpetuates the idea of self-annihilation.
Taliesin Jaffe, this voice actor I started considering a role model fairly recently after coming out trans, said that there's absolutely no growth in damage. We should never romanticize it, even in fictional characters we relate to. He also stated that instead of defining ourselves through the lenses of what broke us, we should focus on recovery. That's where growth is. In a way, John Constantine has been recovering in Jenkins' run after all the damage he's been put through by previous writers. Those were some of my favorite eras of Hellblazer, but those might as well have happened a hundred years ago--they're nothing but antiquated ruins recorded for the sake of posterity, as well as only meant to be studied much like what we do with history. It's so that we are not doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
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"There's no growth in damage, only recovery." - Taliesin Jaffe |
And so John is in recovery. Bit by bit, starting with staying in touch regularly with the new friends he's made, living with a woman whom he's allowed himself to get emotionally close to and dependent on (in ways his ex Kit would have been proud of him for), and recognizing that to heed his calling as an occultist doesn't mean he has to selfishly go through the motions while lying to the people he's close to.
My review of this issue may seem too personal and ultimately had nothing to do with the story, but a great bulk of my reviews for Hellblazer always delved on sensitive topics like this in relation to my personal experiences. After all, most of the time I don't just read this Vertigo title for the supernatural drama enclosed in each issue, written by a roster of insightful authors in the past hundred issues. I read this primarily because I saw myself represented in a character so viscerally, way before I had come to terms that I was a man born in the wrong body. Since 2014, when I began to this blog, I've religiously tuned in every issue and dissected what stood out to me in every review I posted. They gave voice to my inner demons that John Constantine reflected back to me tenfold. That's not going to change anytime soon.
However, the reason why I talked about my realizations this much in the context of John's character growth during Jenkins' run was because this issue didn't have enough meat as far as the overall arc of the five-part instalment goes, so I didn't feel like discussing them much. It's a serviceable premise, however. Basically, we're getting an Arthurian legend-driven plot. And as someone who likes that myth, particularly T.H White's The Once and Future King, I'm very interested to see how Jenkins plans to flesh out the narrative while employing both the popular and obscure details concerning King Arthur, his Knights' Table and the Holy Grail.
I will say that the scenes and gradual unveiling of key elements were well-paced and intriguing in this issue. John was written more as a bystander at first but with that cliffhanger, he's about to be thrust into some freaky shit in no time. Hopefully my reviews for the next four issues would put the story's development as the central piece just to make up for my self-indulgent talk here.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
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