The reason why I've delayed writing reviews for these specific issues was because I have no idea where to even begin due to my dwindling interest. Even writing this now is dreadful when I know that in the end my enthusiasm for doing it would just fizzle out somehow. I need to say it: the last three had been a dullard. Sure, I could see a few good stuff in the scenes for each but there's nothing very special about them either. I'd say issue #18 was the best from the three but only because the bar is set so low for Paul Jenkins's era of Hellblazer at the moment.
With the exception of the very first arc that was Critical Mass, the subsequent stories went downhill from there because there's just not enough compelling conflict nor intrigue in either the standalones or major arcs. The biggest, most important criticism I have too is that the character development regarding John Constantine himself has reached a stagnancy that borders on grating. As awful as it seems, I'd rather have the old John back because what he used to be--as well as the choices he made--gave this series a lot of engaging and suspenseful macabre pieces. Hellblazer had weight, even if that was leveled with grief and angst. The series packed punches.
And for a Vertigo titles like this one that's supposed to be a horror fest whether that's in a paranormal, psychological, or visceral level, these storylines Jenkins have come up with fell short and hollow since Last Man Standing. Yes, reading the bulk of what I had during this supposedly spooky month had been so underwhelming. I'm not surprised if people back then just stopped reading this era of Hellblazer and turned to other titles in the similar vein thematically. I'm almost tempted myself to skip over the next issues that bear Paul Jenkins's authorship altogether if I'm not so much of a completist who likes to stick with chronology.
I have to wonder, however, if Jenkins put himself in this position on accident after he deliberately altered John's character after the events in Critical Mass, or if this was the intended effect after all. Regardless of my lukewarm reception to his concepts, I won't insult his intelligence as an author and just go with the latter. These events in his issues have to be premeditated because that's just how writing works. Whether it's good writing, however, is a matter of opinion and I personally would say they cease to be my cup of tea.
Anyway, the two-parter short arc (116-117) entitled Widdershins honestly could have been one issue. The plot was simple enough in which ghosts from a certain cemetery became restless and started possessing people. One of them was a guy visiting John's mates to help out with refurbishing the house. He almost killed a child, Chas intervened. I barely recall other details of the narrative because it's all just one big filler that stretched for two issues. The so-called big reveal was that the wife of a jogger who was going around the cemetery didn't follow an old Irish superstition which sounded a lot like the Filipino one called 'pagpag'. And that's why...the ghosts...attached themselves...to random characters who got their own page time when we never meet them again later? I don't fucking know. It's just shite. John resolved the issue easily enough too by changing signs in the cemetery so that the ghosts don't lose their way again. It's so dumb it's not worth discussing further.
Now the next issue was actually a substantial one compared to the last two that was disastrously bland. In this slice-of-life story, Rich's wife Michelle is finally going on labor. John is beside himself, much to Dani's amusement. Chas makes a dash for the hospital, being an experienced cab driver and all when it comes to stressful situations, but Michelle's labor was taking the longst time, much to John's agonizing chagrin because he's apparently bollocks with stuff like that. Meanwhile, Straff--another one of John's mates who lives with them (I forgot to mention that they have a flatmates situation, Rich/Michelle, John/Dani. It's been a thing)--is bemoaning his essentially catatonic mum whom he wished he could pull the plug from, or at least figuratively since she wasn't hooked to machines but she is close to expiring.
I enjoyed this issue if I imagine for a moment that John is just another bloke, and from what I've seen so far in Jenkins's run, that's exactly who he has become nowadays. Occult cases are no longer at the center of his preoccupations. And you know what, good for him; I'm glad he's in a stable relationship, surrounded by friends who accept his quirks and do not expect too much from him anymore. But, at the same time with no other chaotic driving force outside such domestic arrangement to keep the narrative afloat and rife with interesting conflicts, all these quaint scenes in John's life come off emotionally hollow to me. And I don't like that because I for one want John to be happy, but is the price of such contentment means we get boring shitty issues like this in a storytelling perspective? Maybe so.
The pay-off for this issues come when Michelle gives birth to her daughter Ivy at the same time Straff's mum croaks. A few days later while they're at church to mourn said old woman's passing, there was a very blatant hint that her soul was now transferred to the baby. That's the point of this story, something I've already predicted five pages into the issue.
Will this subplot be a crucial one for the next issues? It could be. Do I really care? Definitely fucking not.
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