Hellblazer by Jamie Delano issue #8

This issue of Hellblazer entitled Intensive Care continues the morbidity trend as the Resurrection Crusaders get more page time as they try to perform and accomplish a once-in-a-lifetime miracle on Zed (who was actually named Mary), and John Constantine continues to spiral downwards after he literally jumped off a train to avoid the ghosts of his past (as seen from the last issue). 

Things keep getting a shade darker every issue, it may seem. The thing about this issue is I felt like I was just going through the motions myself, most probably because the Resurrection Crusaders are a nameless entity of religious nuts I'm not being given a chance to care about. As for Zed, I still like her character so far but I'm beginning to feel disconnected with her because her characterization hasn't been growing lately. I'm also annoyed with her role in the story as a whole which feels a bit forced. There really is hardly anything else to say about that storyline because the most interesting aspect of Intensive Care has to be John's conversation with the demon Nergal who is the self-appointed leader of the Damnation Army (as explored in issue #6). So let's focus on that delightful exchange instead.

John once again re-defines my understanding of 'hot mess' and 'reluctant hero'. It was almost laughable (if it wasn't also downright sad) that he jumped off a train just to escape the haunting of his dead friends. We then get to experience his nightmare ourselves where he is electrocuted both as a form of punishment and treatment. Seriously, this man's life is a waking sort of hell already, and it would seem that he couldn't even find peace in his dreams. But at this point, given the events in Newcastle (which will be revealed in issue #11), I don't think he deserves serenity just yet. This unhappy circumstances reminded me of what was said in the second issue about guilt and that it's a human luxury. John is certainly burdened by the heaviest kind there is. Bloody and broken in more sense than one, he wakes up in a hospital to a timely visit from the demon Nergal who convinces John that joining the Damnation Army is going to be his wisest decision yet.

They sparred witty remarks for a while until Nergal gets serious and threatens to--and I kid you not--start eating babies if Constantine doesn't do whatever it takes to stop the Resurrection Crusaders from coming up with yet another immaculate conception via Zed's uterus. It's actually comically symbolic when you think about it. Nergal doesn't want another son of God to be born in earthly plane so he recruits John to put a stop to it under the threat of infant massacre. I shouldn't be chuckling about that dialogue exchange but I am. There is something inherently devious about Hellblazer's gallows humor that makes even the gravest situations slightly humorous if you distance enough yourself from it.

So the issue ends with Constantine agreeing to the settlement offered by said demon (because, fuck it, there are no other viable options in the present), but John also requires his own set of terms that Nergal must fulfill. Nergal then jumpstarts John from his broken physique (due to train-jumping earlier) by giving him some demon's blood which freakishly made John energetic enough to start running again. Despite being physically revitalized, John is still mentally and emotionally fatigued and it's going to take more than a cigarette to get his morals up--but hey, it's as good as a start as any.

RECOMMENDED: 7/10