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Hellblazer (Single Issues)
Hellblazer #8
"Intensive Care," dark secrets from the past torture an injured and helpless John Constantine. If you thought you knew the urban mage before this issue, think again!
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Jamie Delano
464 books353 followersJamie Delano aka A. William James began writing comics professionally in the early 1980s. Latterly he has been writing prose fiction with "BOOK THIRTEEN" published by his own LEPUS BOOKS imprint (http://www.lepusbooks.co.uk) in 2012, "Leepus | DIZZY" in April 2014, and "Leepus | THE RIVER" in 2017.
Jamie lives in semi-rural Northamptonshire with his partner, Sue. They have three adult children and a considerable distraction of grandchildren.
Jamie lives in semi-rural Northamptonshire with his partner, Sue. They have three adult children and a considerable distraction of grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 27, 2024
Constantine spent this issue broken in a hospital bed, and talking with a demon.
He agreed to help the demon in the end, to take care of some cult.
The demon healed him and now there is demon blood coursing through his veins, which might be a future arc.
What I don't get is, why didn't he ask for something else, he couldn't finish the job while confined to a hospital bed anyway, so the healing should have been a free service, that was a lost opportunity right there.
He agreed to help the demon in the end, to take care of some cult.
The demon healed him and now there is demon blood coursing through his veins, which might be a future arc.
What I don't get is, why didn't he ask for something else, he couldn't finish the job while confined to a hospital bed anyway, so the healing should have been a free service, that was a lost opportunity right there.
August 11, 2014
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 yet again gets a shade darker.
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
DO READ MORE OF MY HELLBLAZER REVIEWS
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
DO READ MORE OF MY HELLBLAZER REVIEWS
May 9, 2025
This was such a necessary a quick to the point setup issue for what’s to come, and I can’t help but feel like everything is about to come crashing down. As we left off last issue, Constantine jumped out of a moving train after the guilt from seeing his dead friends once again caused him to lose his cool, and we saw as Zed, aka Mary, was taken back by the resurrection crusaders for their own purposes. Specifically because she was no longer a virgin, they planned on brainwashing her into the proper headspace. We start this issue with our eyes on Zed in Glastonbury as it seems the conditioning has worked and she is now ready for them. All her memories away from the crusade seem like a dream and like I guessed she is now being used as a tool to convene with the lord and call him to them through surgery on someone who believes they are a virgin.
But then we quickly shift gears as we see Constantine wake up in an insane asylum. This isn’t just any asylum though, this has to be Arkham as Constantine’s old “pal” Piggy is there to deliver his “therapy.” Specifically they claim he is there because of Newcastle, and this is really where we first start to get real details about what went down…and the little girl who was desecrated because of it. Turns out that his team was there attempting to exorcise the girl of demons that possessed her…but none of it went to plan and if John held on for any longer than he did…then he would have been taken as well.
But as a final electric shock is delivered to John…he then wakes up again to find himself in a proper hospital. He knows this is real because the pain creeps up on him, those images before was John torturing himself in his own mind. As the pain comes back so do the memories of him jumping out of the train. And it seems that he broke quite a lot of himself in the process. His head is secured and his arms and legs are in casts. He sees a cop sleeping off to the side and as a doctor walks in he decides to fein sleep so he doesn’t have to talk to anyone. But as the doctor stands over him John begins to feel something like a damp towel go around his face. But the stench is unbearable and as it begins to pry open his mouth he is shocked awake only to see the demon Nergal and his long tongue perusing John’s face! Geez, they will hire anyone nowadays huh? Nergal presents himself as the voice in the other end of the phone the other night, and claims that John should have taken his offer before. But now John really won’t have much of a choice now, as Nergal needs him. Nergal proceeds to explain that the crusaders killed Ray and plan to use Mary to birth a new healer into this world. Apparently the events of the Brujeiria, during the swamp thing run, really stirred things up in Hell…leaving heaven an open chance to slip in and disrupt the balance to their side in a big way. This is obviously bad for Mary and hearing about Ray is cause enough, but John is Adam’s ent that he does not fight for heaven or hell exclusively. But Nergal also promised that if Constantine didn’t help…then Nergal may just help himself to the maternity ward. What’s a few kissing babies, right? Nergal needs John to use his relationship to get close to Zed and mess up their plans and John finally agrees to help so Nergal won’t eat a bunch of babies out of spite. In agreeing to do this Nergal also injects Johnathan with his own blood to almost instantaneously heal John of his wounds. With Constantine completely healed he makes his way back to London, he is at the edge of disaster and really needs to get ahead with some new aces up his sleeve. I wonder who he will pull out of his coat pockets. Hmmmm.
But then we quickly shift gears as we see Constantine wake up in an insane asylum. This isn’t just any asylum though, this has to be Arkham as Constantine’s old “pal” Piggy is there to deliver his “therapy.” Specifically they claim he is there because of Newcastle, and this is really where we first start to get real details about what went down…and the little girl who was desecrated because of it. Turns out that his team was there attempting to exorcise the girl of demons that possessed her…but none of it went to plan and if John held on for any longer than he did…then he would have been taken as well.
But as a final electric shock is delivered to John…he then wakes up again to find himself in a proper hospital. He knows this is real because the pain creeps up on him, those images before was John torturing himself in his own mind. As the pain comes back so do the memories of him jumping out of the train. And it seems that he broke quite a lot of himself in the process. His head is secured and his arms and legs are in casts. He sees a cop sleeping off to the side and as a doctor walks in he decides to fein sleep so he doesn’t have to talk to anyone. But as the doctor stands over him John begins to feel something like a damp towel go around his face. But the stench is unbearable and as it begins to pry open his mouth he is shocked awake only to see the demon Nergal and his long tongue perusing John’s face! Geez, they will hire anyone nowadays huh? Nergal presents himself as the voice in the other end of the phone the other night, and claims that John should have taken his offer before. But now John really won’t have much of a choice now, as Nergal needs him. Nergal proceeds to explain that the crusaders killed Ray and plan to use Mary to birth a new healer into this world. Apparently the events of the Brujeiria, during the swamp thing run, really stirred things up in Hell…leaving heaven an open chance to slip in and disrupt the balance to their side in a big way. This is obviously bad for Mary and hearing about Ray is cause enough, but John is Adam’s ent that he does not fight for heaven or hell exclusively. But Nergal also promised that if Constantine didn’t help…then Nergal may just help himself to the maternity ward. What’s a few kissing babies, right? Nergal needs John to use his relationship to get close to Zed and mess up their plans and John finally agrees to help so Nergal won’t eat a bunch of babies out of spite. In agreeing to do this Nergal also injects Johnathan with his own blood to almost instantaneously heal John of his wounds. With Constantine completely healed he makes his way back to London, he is at the edge of disaster and really needs to get ahead with some new aces up his sleeve. I wonder who he will pull out of his coat pockets. Hmmmm.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2025
(I somehow failed to post this review a year ago.)
Oh my god. It's been so long since I read #7, and the first thing that smacks me in the face isn't even whether or not I've forgotten too much about the story (though I do feel a tad disoriented).
I've really only been reading very recent (21st century) and very old (1940s) comics recently, and I was immediately struck by how much richer the art is here than it is in either of those cases, at least for my tastes.
I want to know the Golden Age roots of Superman and Wonder Woman and I want to know what's going on more recently with various characters, but I'm also pulled in the third direction of this (as far as I know) amazing crest of both visual and storytelling craft that was enabled so impactfully by Karen Berger.
The story is not much better than "lucid" for me (especially coming in with so few memories of #1-7), but the art is so refreshing for someone who's been immersed in the limits of early comics and the unpalatable digital coloring of many (not all) more recent books.
Oh my god. It's been so long since I read #7, and the first thing that smacks me in the face isn't even whether or not I've forgotten too much about the story (though I do feel a tad disoriented).
I've really only been reading very recent (21st century) and very old (1940s) comics recently, and I was immediately struck by how much richer the art is here than it is in either of those cases, at least for my tastes.
I want to know the Golden Age roots of Superman and Wonder Woman and I want to know what's going on more recently with various characters, but I'm also pulled in the third direction of this (as far as I know) amazing crest of both visual and storytelling craft that was enabled so impactfully by Karen Berger.
The story is not much better than "lucid" for me (especially coming in with so few memories of #1-7), but the art is so refreshing for someone who's been immersed in the limits of early comics and the unpalatable digital coloring of many (not all) more recent books.
November 4, 2023
3.5/5
April 12, 2025
Cool-looking, but what's even up?
July 31, 2015
Not as strong as the other early Hellblazer stories.
November 27, 2015
This whole demon bargain was really interesting.
December 16, 2016
Oh, vaya. Finalmente comienzo a comprender.
(Constantine tiene ánimos de bromear hasta cuando hay un demonio frente a él, lo adoro).
(Constantine tiene ánimos de bromear hasta cuando hay un demonio frente a él, lo adoro).
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews