Tony Black reviews The Hellblazer #1…
“The Poison Truth” part one! London may have recovered from Constantine’s return, but he hasn’t. Mercury hasn’t forgiven him, but she won’t leave him alone, and Swamp Thing is calling in a favor. And all the while, bigger things are brewing…
You know what? I’m glad I stuck with Hellblazer. The Rebirth issue left me relatively cold, as a newbie who had heard of John Constantine but didn’t have much experience of the character beyond that rubbish Keanu Reeves movie. Oddly enough it was reading about Alan Moore’s creative process of his bedfellow Swamp Thing in the recently-reviewed The British Invasion by Greg Carpenter which made me give Simon Oliver’s run on the comic another shot, curious as I was by Constantine and his story, and it was the right decision. The Rebirth issue made few concessions to newcomers as it attempted to place Constantine back in London with a swift, short tale that felt too swift and short for its own good, but here in ‘The Poison Truth pt 1’, Oliver can start layering in not just narrative but intriguing characterisation, fused with big ideas.
He starts, indeed, with one of the biggest events in human history – the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo 1914 which triggered World War One, and how two brothers–Adnan & Marid–appear to be out of time, battling over whether to stop the Serbian assassin who forever alters the 20th century. Though it’s bookends in an interesting way, right now it seems unconnected beyond thematically to Constantine, but you can expect that to change the deeper we get in; it’s a striking, exciting opening nonetheless. It gives way to a hungover Constantine, typically, reminded by Swamp Thing of a bargain they made when John was back in New York, and Constantine has a deal to pay off with his old friend which sets them off on a missing persons quest and visiting an old friend/adversary of Constantine’s.
Not all that much happens beyond that but oddly enough, that’s why Oliver’s writing here feels stronger; he has more time to blend dark British wit with strong character interaction (the dynamic between Constantine & Swamp Thing is great), which feels more organic alongside a story which will grow it seems out of Constantine’s haunted psychology; there’s a reason he wanted to get back to London, and it was to escape something that happened in New York – finding out what will undoubtedly form the backbone of this run and you’re left curious to discover what.
Alongside the good writing from Oliver, you have some excellent artwork from Moritat which paints in dulled greys and browns, dark greens, emphasising the washed out, stained world of John Constantine in impressive fashion. Hellblazer, much like the ‘rock star magician’ theatrics one character describes Constantine as imbuing, has a style and chic all of its own and though I’m lacking historical context, there was enough in this issue to make me want to discover more about these characters and this story. A definite improvement over the Rebirth issue – consider me in for the ride.
Rating: 7/10
Tony Black
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Originally published August 31, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
