John Constantine Hellblazer #1
DC Black Label 2019
Written by Simon Spurrier
Illustrated by Aaron Campbell
Coloured by Jordie Bellaire
Lettered by Aditya Bidikar
John Constantine is back in London, back to his old tricks-and just in time, as things have become very dark indeed in his old stomping grounds. A small-time gang lord has found himself dealing with a big-time outbreak of supernatural weirdness...and without any allies to call on and nothing left to call his own, John doesn’t have much choice about taking a pay-cheque from one of London’s worst, or accepting the help of one of the gang lord’s would-be foot soldiers. But what should be an open-and-shut exorcism turns out to be nothing but...and the author of this madness may just be getting started on their terrible masterpiece!
Alright so I like what Si is doing here with this as the original John Constantine is back and in a much younger body. John is in unfamiliar territory here he's out of time and has no mates and he's definitely not prepared for the way folks talk, act or the prices of a pack of fags either. I love this so damn much it's not funny. I mean there is this entire underlying humour going on throughout the book and it's amazingly well done to balance the awkwardness and the dark side of what he does. Si is the perfect guy to be writing this and if this first issue is setting the tone for the series, or his run, then hell yeah I am here for as long as it lasts.
The way this is being told is pretty brilliant. The way we see the sequence of event unfold and how the reader learns information are extremely well done. I love how we see the introductions of the characters, some of whom will hopefully be regulars. The character development is on point as we see not only John in every stage here but Nat is a dream character come true and K-Mag well he's a giant enigma that will remain this way for a bit. The pacing is superb and with it we see how the twists and turns affect the ebb & flow of the book and how that captivates readers.
I really taken by surprise at just how well this was written and how much slang even John didn't recognise. All of this transpired to really elevate the story to a whole new level for me. The way we traverse the pages here takes us on this wonderfully dark and bizarre journey through London that you'll never see in a guide book.
I love Aaron's work and honestly I think he's outdone himself with this. He and Jordie, wow, ever single page is one wow moment after another. The scene at the tree, the first we see John and then inside K-Mags they take us on as much of a visual journey as the writing takes us on imagination fuelled journey. The linework here is exquisite and the varying weights utilised to bring abut this level of attention to detail is like looking at a master class of excellence. The to see Jordie lay down the colours on top of that so the buildings lit up in the distance or the way those angels shine is a gift from god. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a masters eye for storytelling. When we see the backgrounds here and the composition inside the panels show depth perception, scale, bring a sense of size and scope to the book as they enhance the moments. The colour gradation and how we see the hues and tones being utilised is beyond what I have come to expect from Jordie.
The craziness that is John's life really comes to life here. This is how you start off a new series as this is exciting, fresh and completely on point with who we all have known John Constantine to be.
DC Black Label 2019
Written by Simon Spurrier
Illustrated by Aaron Campbell
Coloured by Jordie Bellaire
Lettered by Aditya Bidikar
John Constantine is back in London, back to his old tricks-and just in time, as things have become very dark indeed in his old stomping grounds. A small-time gang lord has found himself dealing with a big-time outbreak of supernatural weirdness...and without any allies to call on and nothing left to call his own, John doesn’t have much choice about taking a pay-cheque from one of London’s worst, or accepting the help of one of the gang lord’s would-be foot soldiers. But what should be an open-and-shut exorcism turns out to be nothing but...and the author of this madness may just be getting started on their terrible masterpiece!
Alright so I like what Si is doing here with this as the original John Constantine is back and in a much younger body. John is in unfamiliar territory here he's out of time and has no mates and he's definitely not prepared for the way folks talk, act or the prices of a pack of fags either. I love this so damn much it's not funny. I mean there is this entire underlying humour going on throughout the book and it's amazingly well done to balance the awkwardness and the dark side of what he does. Si is the perfect guy to be writing this and if this first issue is setting the tone for the series, or his run, then hell yeah I am here for as long as it lasts.
The way this is being told is pretty brilliant. The way we see the sequence of event unfold and how the reader learns information are extremely well done. I love how we see the introductions of the characters, some of whom will hopefully be regulars. The character development is on point as we see not only John in every stage here but Nat is a dream character come true and K-Mag well he's a giant enigma that will remain this way for a bit. The pacing is superb and with it we see how the twists and turns affect the ebb & flow of the book and how that captivates readers.
I really taken by surprise at just how well this was written and how much slang even John didn't recognise. All of this transpired to really elevate the story to a whole new level for me. The way we traverse the pages here takes us on this wonderfully dark and bizarre journey through London that you'll never see in a guide book.
I love Aaron's work and honestly I think he's outdone himself with this. He and Jordie, wow, ever single page is one wow moment after another. The scene at the tree, the first we see John and then inside K-Mags they take us on as much of a visual journey as the writing takes us on imagination fuelled journey. The linework here is exquisite and the varying weights utilised to bring abut this level of attention to detail is like looking at a master class of excellence. The to see Jordie lay down the colours on top of that so the buildings lit up in the distance or the way those angels shine is a gift from god. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a masters eye for storytelling. When we see the backgrounds here and the composition inside the panels show depth perception, scale, bring a sense of size and scope to the book as they enhance the moments. The colour gradation and how we see the hues and tones being utilised is beyond what I have come to expect from Jordie.
The craziness that is John's life really comes to life here. This is how you start off a new series as this is exciting, fresh and completely on point with who we all have known John Constantine to be.
RSS Feed
