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Hellblazer #32
John Constantine, Hellblazer: Hooked (Hellblazer
John Constantine, chain-smoking occultist anti-hero, is back in a new volume from popular writer Peter Milligan.
After getting dumped by his girlfriend, John Constantine goes to extremes to get her back. But will he sink to a new low by using a love potion? Constantine's enemies, the shape-shifting demon Julian and the young alchemist Epiphany, will certainly have something to say about this turn of events as well.
After getting dumped by his girlfriend, John Constantine goes to extremes to get her back. But will he sink to a new low by using a love potion? Constantine's enemies, the shape-shifting demon Julian and the young alchemist Epiphany, will certainly have something to say about this turn of events as well.
128 pages, Paperback
First published June 22, 2010
3 people are currently reading
321 people want to read
About the author
Peter Milligan
1,297 books389 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.
He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.
His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.
Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).
Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.
He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.
His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.
Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).
Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
July 16, 2010
John Constantine is in love. Isn’t that sweet? Uh….no. Anyone familiar with the real Constantine and not the pathetic abomination that Kenau Reeves inflicted on us in the movie theaters would know that anytime the English magician gets close to someone, really bad things happen. Especially after Constantine gets dumped and decides that he needs to use a love potion on his now ex-girlfriend.
I had a problem with this one. Constantine has always been a cocky self-absorbed manipulator who has left a trail of human wreckage in his wake, but this is the first time that I remember him knowingly do something that’s just wrong and dangerous for a silly reason like getting jilted. And of course it ends in total disaster. Plus, there’s also a scene that indicates that John would just run out on his friend Chas and leave him to die as part of the same cause.
I’m OK with Constantine being a complete bastard, but he usually has a reason you can relate to. This time, I just found myself disgusted with him. There’s a bit of a cliffhanger and things are never what they seem in Constantine’s world so I’m hoping there’s some kind of explanation as to why a bad-ass English sorcerer would act like a teen-ager who didn’t get invited to the prom.
I had a problem with this one. Constantine has always been a cocky self-absorbed manipulator who has left a trail of human wreckage in his wake, but this is the first time that I remember him knowingly do something that’s just wrong and dangerous for a silly reason like getting jilted. And of course it ends in total disaster. Plus, there’s also a scene that indicates that John would just run out on his friend Chas and leave him to die as part of the same cause.
I’m OK with Constantine being a complete bastard, but he usually has a reason you can relate to. This time, I just found myself disgusted with him. There’s a bit of a cliffhanger and things are never what they seem in Constantine’s world so I’m hoping there’s some kind of explanation as to why a bad-ass English sorcerer would act like a teen-ager who didn’t get invited to the prom.
February 18, 2014
Standard Hellblazer plot in which Constantine, despite his best efforts at reaching towards some sense of normalcy, ends up damaging everyone around him with terminal effects. Peter Milligan's pretty much the fag-end of the British comics revolution, lacking the intertextual genius of Gaiman, the balls-to-the-wall nastiness of Delano or the sheer bugfuck insanity of Morrison, and here he manages to portray Constantine's entry level bastardry without any of the deeper puckishness or frantic roguishness that makes us love the character instead of wishing he'd just get his fucking act together. All the elements are present, without the-- pardon the pun-- magic that makes them all stick together.
This is one for the seasoned Hellblazer reader who can recognise it is a minor addition to the canon without being turned off the work in general. Not recommended for anyone trying to find out what all the fuss is about.
This is one for the seasoned Hellblazer reader who can recognise it is a minor addition to the canon without being turned off the work in general. Not recommended for anyone trying to find out what all the fuss is about.
April 30, 2018
Constantine gets hold of a love potion and uses it for what even he thinks are sketchy purposes. Things go horribly awry, of course! I totally feel for the guy, most of the time. But still, he really puts himself in the messes more than the messes put themselves on him.
September 30, 2016
In this tragic tale we see Constantine sink lower than low. When a lady won't return his affection, he actually uses a love potion. Of course, those things never work out right, and the results are predictably terrible.
This is part of a larger storyline and leads into the next volume, so I'm not sure how everything will end up, but right now John is in quite the pickle, even for him.
Art is nice as always. For some reason the art in Hellblazer always appealed to me. I don't know if Vertigo did that good of a job matching up artists and writers, or if the story is just so strong I don't scrutinize the art as much as in, say, a super hero comic.
Overall another good volume, and I'm really curious to see where things go from here.
This is part of a larger storyline and leads into the next volume, so I'm not sure how everything will end up, but right now John is in quite the pickle, even for him.
Art is nice as always. For some reason the art in Hellblazer always appealed to me. I don't know if Vertigo did that good of a job matching up artists and writers, or if the story is just so strong I don't scrutinize the art as much as in, say, a super hero comic.
Overall another good volume, and I'm really curious to see where things go from here.
July 23, 2017
Constantine decides to use a love potion for the girl that got away. Surprise! it doesn't end well.
This is probably my favorite of Milligan's Hellblazer stories that I've read. It takes some unexpected twists and depicts Constantine as a real bastard. The art switches on us before the end of the volume -- at first depicting John with a more typical heroic appearance and then going for a grittier, noirish look in the later pages.
Not Hellblazer's finest hour, but entertaining and engrossing to the end.
This is probably my favorite of Milligan's Hellblazer stories that I've read. It takes some unexpected twists and depicts Constantine as a real bastard. The art switches on us before the end of the volume -- at first depicting John with a more typical heroic appearance and then going for a grittier, noirish look in the later pages.
Not Hellblazer's finest hour, but entertaining and engrossing to the end.
August 13, 2010
After reading Peter Milligan's first venture into the world of HELLBLAZER (unless you count his 1990's crossover with SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN), fans might not be quick to give the title further notice.
After "Scab," few John Constantine purists would be hooked, to say the least.
Luckily, some of the birthing pains that Milligan experienced with "Scab" dissolve and the writer manges to demonstrate that he does, in fact, have an idea of where the title and the character is headed. "Hooked" picks up immediately where "Scab" left off, as John makes good on his tongue-in-cheek threat to use a love potion to win the heart of his current steady, Phoebe. From there, the plot becomes a twisted, heart-wreching drama that ends, for those familiar enough with John Constantine and what the man appears to leave in his wake, as most intimate relationships with John Constantine.
Where Constantine will end up next, then, seems to have an apparent link with storylines going back to "Scab," so it would appear that Milligan is falling into step with developing a longer story arc than readers may have at first imagined. The world weary and forelorn Constantine that Milligan is scripting, though, might seem a little out of character. Milligan's Constantine is a man looking for love, or at least absolution. Retrace Constantine's path over the course of the past few years and you might accept that Constantine is finally reaching the end of his room, but the Constantine swagger that fans love is a little absent in "Hooked," despite the creativity of the story.
Meanwhile, Camuncoli assists as penciller and his work continues to be the first new fit for the series. Simon Bisley also gets a turn at illustrating Constantine, and while it's entertaining to see a new take on the morbid mage, it does little more than remind the reader that the two-part story (which concludes this particular volume) lacks some of the urgency that other HELLBLAZER stories have possessed, especially since was not a "one & done" story, but a story entrenched in the mythology of the character, meant to lay the foundation for what's coming up next...
...Which by all accounts appears to be a cameo by Shade, the Changing Man himself!
Here's hoping Shade's appearance doesn't portend that HELLBLAZER, under Milligan's guidance, will also be cancelled. With this volume, entertaining if not exemplary, the readers were just getting hooked...
After "Scab," few John Constantine purists would be hooked, to say the least.
Luckily, some of the birthing pains that Milligan experienced with "Scab" dissolve and the writer manges to demonstrate that he does, in fact, have an idea of where the title and the character is headed. "Hooked" picks up immediately where "Scab" left off, as John makes good on his tongue-in-cheek threat to use a love potion to win the heart of his current steady, Phoebe. From there, the plot becomes a twisted, heart-wreching drama that ends, for those familiar enough with John Constantine and what the man appears to leave in his wake, as most intimate relationships with John Constantine.
Where Constantine will end up next, then, seems to have an apparent link with storylines going back to "Scab," so it would appear that Milligan is falling into step with developing a longer story arc than readers may have at first imagined. The world weary and forelorn Constantine that Milligan is scripting, though, might seem a little out of character. Milligan's Constantine is a man looking for love, or at least absolution. Retrace Constantine's path over the course of the past few years and you might accept that Constantine is finally reaching the end of his room, but the Constantine swagger that fans love is a little absent in "Hooked," despite the creativity of the story.
Meanwhile, Camuncoli assists as penciller and his work continues to be the first new fit for the series. Simon Bisley also gets a turn at illustrating Constantine, and while it's entertaining to see a new take on the morbid mage, it does little more than remind the reader that the two-part story (which concludes this particular volume) lacks some of the urgency that other HELLBLAZER stories have possessed, especially since was not a "one & done" story, but a story entrenched in the mythology of the character, meant to lay the foundation for what's coming up next...
...Which by all accounts appears to be a cameo by Shade, the Changing Man himself!
Here's hoping Shade's appearance doesn't portend that HELLBLAZER, under Milligan's guidance, will also be cancelled. With this volume, entertaining if not exemplary, the readers were just getting hooked...
September 16, 2014
El tomo anterior me parecio una muy buena introducción, y este un muy buen nudo, que a su vez incluye varios introducción-nudo-desenlaces de por sí. Y acá sí que Constantine está más turro y turbio, y se suman un par de personajes que lo enturran y enturbian más.
Ah, y los dibujos siguen siendo muy buenos, quizás incluso hasta un poquito mejores, así que este tomo termina promediado para arriba.
Ah, y los dibujos siguen siendo muy buenos, quizás incluso hasta un poquito mejores, así que este tomo termina promediado para arriba.
March 7, 2023
My first Hellblazer, and John Constantine, read ever. Even as a first time reader, the story pulls you in quite quickly, which quite surprised me. However, the further it goes, the further it falls apart to the point that I felt that perhaps this is not a one-off after all. And yes, the overarching plot is most likely explored in the issues before and after this, but it is the story here, the immediate events that drag us through hell and back, that are the problem.
The way the story leaps from one event to another makes you leaf through the pages in search of a missing page, but there is none. It's all immediate and there is nothing left to say about it.
The first three of the five issues are drawn in a really simple style that while sometimes feels appropriately gritty, fail to elevate the story. In fact, it drags it down with such simple art style that it feels like a Saturday morning cartoon in places. Reading these, I wondered if this was all that there was to Constantine? But then, at the final stretch of the collection, the art style changes and it all just works. The last two chapters are gritty and filthy, they are full of deliciously disgusting details of horror and shock and suddenly, you get the attraction of this world and this character. Yeah, they had been telling us from the get-go that he is a miserable bastard, but now that you can really see it, smoke and all, you understand it. And it's beautiful. I'd love to read an entire saga of this fuck-up stumble from one tragedy to the next, and while the pacing problems get even worse than before, there are simply stupid jumps here and there, it doesn't matter because this is what Constantine could be.
The way the story leaps from one event to another makes you leaf through the pages in search of a missing page, but there is none. It's all immediate and there is nothing left to say about it.
The first three of the five issues are drawn in a really simple style that while sometimes feels appropriately gritty, fail to elevate the story. In fact, it drags it down with such simple art style that it feels like a Saturday morning cartoon in places. Reading these, I wondered if this was all that there was to Constantine? But then, at the final stretch of the collection, the art style changes and it all just works. The last two chapters are gritty and filthy, they are full of deliciously disgusting details of horror and shock and suddenly, you get the attraction of this world and this character. Yeah, they had been telling us from the get-go that he is a miserable bastard, but now that you can really see it, smoke and all, you understand it. And it's beautiful. I'd love to read an entire saga of this fuck-up stumble from one tragedy to the next, and while the pacing problems get even worse than before, there are simply stupid jumps here and there, it doesn't matter because this is what Constantine could be.
April 28, 2024
This isn’t the worst HELLBLAZER story ever (SON OF MAN still exists), but it kept me wondering if it might be.
As many in the reviews have pointed out, Constantine makes a morally condemnable decision that feels off even in the established “Constantine is a bastard”-vein. In fact, it’s the kind of behavior that usually leads to John taking you down, and he arrives there in about a page, so the characterization might be called very wonky.
Even worse in my opinion, though, he’s a suddenly complete and utter idiot here (a 5 year old can spot how his plan can and will backfire spectacularly in less than a minute).
As many in the reviews have pointed out, Constantine makes a morally condemnable decision that feels off even in the established “Constantine is a bastard”-vein. In fact, it’s the kind of behavior that usually leads to John taking you down, and he arrives there in about a page, so the characterization might be called very wonky.
Even worse in my opinion, though, he’s a suddenly complete and utter idiot here (a 5 year old can spot how his plan can and will backfire spectacularly in less than a minute).
February 21, 2021
So the premise for this story is that John Constantine decides to be a date rapist. That could be interesting if it was presented with some sort of moral ambiguity, but the only rationale we get from Peter Milligan is "it's not for sex it's for love, so it's fine" and "John Constantine is a bastard" etc.
Thing is, JC has always had some kind of moral core, and he's never had any truck with rapists. The whole book just seems disgustingly out of character. The artwork is shite as well.
Thing is, JC has always had some kind of moral core, and he's never had any truck with rapists. The whole book just seems disgustingly out of character. The artwork is shite as well.
October 26, 2018
So, not sure I like this turn of events. The love potion thing seems a little clunky. Maybe I am getting back into graphic novel burnout. Milligan ends up going to the end of this series and I have enjoyed a lot of his stuff, so we will have to see if this little hiccough will end up bothering me for longer than a few issues.
August 29, 2024
Essa lance da poção do amor eu achei uma grande bobagem, mas até que a hq se desenvolveu bem pra resolver isso. O que eu mais gostei nessa edição foi a arte do Simon Bisley, acho ela bem diferente e se destaca do resto dos artistas que já passaram pela série.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2021
This started out as a 3 but got good. I think there's been a drop-off in the title under Milligan, but it's still solid.
February 11, 2022
One of the less successful arcs in the whole series. Not a great start for Milligan’s run. It feels a bit like he’s throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.
April 11, 2025
Solid Constantine.
March 17, 2017
6.5/10
February 22, 2013
john falls in love. john uses magic. it all goes pear shaped.
enjoyable stuff that has some naughty words and action in it - but work just as well without.
i read hellblazer every now and then and each time i can't help but think constantine would be better off getting a real job as most of the time magic seems to get him into more trouble than it is worth.
failing that he should learn to buy a slightly more varied wardrobe - at least that would make him harder to find.
the last two episodes in the volume are drawn by an artist who must not be familiar with the constantine character because all of a sudden it looks like john has been working out with lobo. odd.
good read. worth tracking down.
enjoyable stuff that has some naughty words and action in it - but work just as well without.
i read hellblazer every now and then and each time i can't help but think constantine would be better off getting a real job as most of the time magic seems to get him into more trouble than it is worth.
failing that he should learn to buy a slightly more varied wardrobe - at least that would make him harder to find.
the last two episodes in the volume are drawn by an artist who must not be familiar with the constantine character because all of a sudden it looks like john has been working out with lobo. odd.
good read. worth tracking down.
August 15, 2011
Welcome back John, we missed you. In "Hooked" Milligan really digs into what makes Hellblazer such a fun comic to read: putting John Constantine in a deep, shit filled hole and watching as he tries to claw his way back out. And of course, classically for Constantine, it's a hole he both dug and shit in. While still not up to the dragging-your-face-through-broken-glass black humor and blacker drama of the Delano or Ennis run on the title, this is getting back to what I enjoy about Hellblazer. Fingers crossed that India will be even better.
March 31, 2015
Oh dear Constantine; everyone knows that raising the dead is never a good idea. They may have been perfectly preserved physically, but going to the other side changes things mentally. His poor gf Phoebe is no different since sheended up in Hell, so Constantine in his infinite stubbornness is insisting on bringing her back by whatever nefarious means are necessary. You would think that he would take a hint and stay out of it, because even Phoebe had the brains to leave him before things got too complicated...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2011
Woefully disappointed. Just as the series seemed to be heading in a new direction, the same old shit disguised as something out of character happens again and drags it all all back to hell again. This plot turn was poorly done. It was too easy to kill off the character of Phoebe. It would have been much harder to keep her alive and have her be a foil to Constantine's bullshit, and apparently the authors weren't up to the challenge.
March 15, 2016
'Blazeri lõpusirge Peter Milligani ja Giovanni Camunculo silme läbi. Sisse tuuakse iidne babüloonia deemon kergelt jaapanliku koolitüdruku näol ja Constantine'i järjekordne suurim armastus, kes aga tollesama deemoni käe läbi meie hulgast lahkub mistõttu Constantine pühendub tagajärgede likvideerimisele. Järgmine osa viib Indiasse. Tugev keskmine aga lõppvaatus olemise tõttu ei ole mõtet muidu lugeda kui Hellblazeri universum suht tuttav on.
January 12, 2013
Andy Diggle, set Constantine back on track and let the character grow, and I was fearing that this was just going to go down the path of bogging the character down with with a tiresome addiction. The relationship's resolution felt a bit too predictable considering John's history of friendships. Who knows maybe something worthwhile might come of it, but this is a bit of a lag from the first book.
August 22, 2012
This one... meanders. All the necessary elements were there, but somehow it just didn't come together the way it should - maybe the chameleon motivations somehow switchbacked me off somewhere along the line, but I started to lose the plot, as well as any sympathy towards JC. More torture porn than the genuine supernatural deal - can give this one a miss. There are a few good moments, though.
July 27, 2013
Never having read Hellblazer, I was surprised. Much better than I expected. I enjoy the fact that this guy is mostly a shmuck, but you still want to root for him anyway. The art style is refreshing too. With most of this supernatural dark stuff, the tendency seems to be to overdraw and use to many heavy, dark lines. The artist here is very clean and economical.
July 2, 2015
I hadn't really read enough Hellblazer to fully understand what a complete arsehole Constantine is. But this one really hit his arseholedom out of the park. To such an extent that I think it kind of put off reading any more of these, because... addicts are arseholes. I don't want to spend any time reading about one.
July 8, 2016
Oh John, you selfish bastard. How dare you! Using love potions to win the women and to fool the women into giving you what you want. At first, I thought you were a dick. But, as I read and the dick like behavior continued...I thought, "Whoa, this dude is so crazy insecure." I mean really. I just shake my head at you, sir.
June 23, 2012
I like Hellblazer, despite the "magiciness".
The issues in this collection cover the attraction to and death of John Constantine's love, Phoebe.
Stories that make the reader feel good while not pandering to the typical "happy ending".
The issues in this collection cover the attraction to and death of John Constantine's love, Phoebe.
Stories that make the reader feel good while not pandering to the typical "happy ending".
July 3, 2012
Dig artwerke more than earlier graphick novels. Combines visceral with mad flight ov unknown realms which suppose base theory ov magick. Alchemical grime shit to lofty gold. Arrangement ov cigarettes into portal to make it back home. Vodun rum rituals. Urban street phantasmagoria.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews