PART SIX
"I'm John Constantine after all.
I'm stupid in style."
This was a great epilogue to Garth Ennis' Dangerous Habits story arc. It's calld Falling Into Hell which is not exactly a happy title, is it?
John has survived his battle with lung cancer by forcing the hand of three devils, by being clever and strategic, to cure his ailment. Quite an amazing accomplishment for Constantine indeed. Nevertheless, I'm glad that John has acknowledged in this issue that what he did to save himself was dishonourable in a sense that he was willing to use his soul as a catalyst for the unholy trinity of Hell to wage a war among each other in order to decide which one can claim him. One would think that duping the devil and getting a second chance at life would call for celebration--but this is John we're talking about so it was to be expected that he'll be depressed about all of this.
Two important things happened in this closing issue. First is the appearance of Kit, the long-time girlfriend of the late Brendan Finn, John's friend whom we met in A Drop of the Hard Stuff previously. She hasn't been a part of Brendan's life since he pushed her away once his liver condition worsened. Based from the conversation John and Brendan had about her in said issue, she was a beguiling Irish beauty who understood and accepted the kind of working relationship her boyfriend then had with someone like John. She seemed to be open to their alternative lifestyles of the mystic and the occult which is why John remembered her very fondly. When they encountered each other again after so many years, John was so pleased to see her and they started reminiscing of the old times. It was nice for me to see John in good terms with an old friend, considering his questionable and grim history with a lot of them.
In fact, this issue's thematic message was the significance of such friendships for a man like John Constantine. The second important thing that happened here has something to do with the elderly cancer patient Matt whom John bonded with over the course of the Dangerous Habits story arc. John's concern for Matt was touching albeit self-deprecating. Once again, John feels like he had a hand on Matt's demise which is...foolish but then he justifies it to himself by saying that his own second chance at life was only earned because he cheated whilst his own friend whom he barely new but deeply cared for had to meet such a cruel end because of a terminal disease--and John should have just accepted that kind of ending for his own miserable life, instead of playing games with the devil to prove to the world that he's a clever bastard. God, at this point I'm just damn exhausted of John bitching about his bullshit choices--but I never had the kind of tough life he had so I tried to be more sympathetic than I already am--John is really pushing me, though.
Luckily, Kit was there to pick up the pieces though John cautions her into welcoming some pathetic bloke like him into her life. Kit asserts that she can handle it and holds him under the rain for a while as he grieves the loss of yet another friend. I loved that final panel of just the two of them there. John badly needs stability and Kit struck me as a strong person with a lot of compassion. I'm very interested to get to know her some more. I believe that, somewhere down the road, there might be a romantic possibility between the two of them that could form--and I wouldn't mind as long as it's written with more impact unlike the last two ambiguous relationships John had with women (Zed and Marj).
I can tell that since they have known each other for almost a decade before through their connections with Brendan, then John and Kit's relationship could develop easily from there if Ennis does intend to make it romantic. I just want John to stop feeling sorry for himself and to be loved by a worthy woman. That's all.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
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