What do you think?
Rate this book
Hellblazer (Single Issues)
Hellblazer #18
Now armed with the mission of finding Mercury and his newfound confidence, John Constantine returns to London with a vengeance!
23 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
20 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Delano
459 books351 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 17, 2024
Amazing new chapter in this Amazing arc, but I kind of butchered it, since I have been reading it since yesterday and today I am not even focused.
So we got letters between Marj and Constantine.
We got Mercury writing in her diary.
We got the wife of the police officer talking and then killing herself.
We have John meeting that same officer and learning a lot of stuff from him.
So yeah very busy issue!
Also 23 pages my ass there was way too many double pages in there but whatever.
So we got letters between Marj and Constantine.
We got Mercury writing in her diary.
We got the wife of the police officer talking and then killing herself.
We have John meeting that same officer and learning a lot of stuff from him.
So yeah very busy issue!
Also 23 pages my ass there was way too many double pages in there but whatever.
September 17, 2014
"I've become the proverbial mad, bad and dangerous to know."
Now we are finally heading somewhere that's cohesive and substantial! Hellblazer has been such a chore to read for me lately, and I have to admit that since The Fear Machine storyline started, I was half-asleep reading through issues 14-16 only because I wasn't that interested with its premise. But that's about to change now, thankfully.
To recap: After defeating the demon who bested him in Newcastle, John Constantine went under the radar to ensure that he doesn't get falsely arrested for the murders of his former landlady and another friend. In doing so, he took shelter in a hippie community led by Eddy (who I think is some sort of modern shaman?) and met the mother and daughter Marj and Mercury who seemed to play the role of a surrogate family of his for the time being. I can't help but insist on that interpretation, given the weight of impact that issue #13 (the dream-sequence story I loved so much) had on me.
In that dream, John's subconscious reveals that he longs for a quiet, stable life with a family but also readily negates that possibility because of the consequences that might happen that could stem from living a dangerous life which he chose when he embraced mysticism and the occult.
This is why I feel that his relationships with Marj and Mercury are echoes of that desire, and when Merc was abducted by some scientists who appear to be building a machine with the use of psychics to fuel it, John forces himself out of his funk to rescue her and bring her back home safely to Marj. It does feel like John identifies with these women as an extension of a family he wish he could have, and that means that finding Mercury has now become a personal mission for him as well. I'm just happy to see John doing stuff again even if that means placing himself in screwed-up situations yet again (see last issue, #17). I stated before that I enjoy Mercury's character and her interactions with John and I maintain that she's still beguiling to read about, especially in this issue where we get to see her showcase the extent and effectiveness of her psychic abilities.
Meanwhile, John continues to investigate and uncovers more vital clues that have now placed him in the right direction to find Merc. While in pursuit of a person of interest, he stumbles inside that person's lodgings and discovers an appalling sight (and the issue ends with a cliffhanger). Typical night for our John Constantine, I say.
In addition to that, I believe this issue is quite literal in scope too, if I may add. Entitled Hate Mail and Love Letters, the story started with mail correspondences with an unknown character (whose significance will be later revealed) and the letters exchanged between John and Marj. I still don't like Marj, okay? Can we just get that out of the way? She's so insufferably dull.
Moving on.
In line with that theme, we also get scenes of Mercury writing her experiences with the Fear Machine in a diary. I'm glad for that expository courtesy by Delano because, through Mercury's writings, I was able to understand better and get a clearer picture of what these scientists are up to and it's morally repugnant. After all, if you can fuse psychic power with scientific research and create some machine to infiltrate people's minds and cure them of their mental 'terrors' then why the fuck not? I'm highly suspicious at this point because this is Hellblazer and people are assholes and life on earth is hell so there is more to the Fear Machine than a simple altruistic invention. I almost don't want to know.
On a positive note, my ratings are improving again.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MORE OF MY HELLBLAZER REVIEWS
November 25, 2025
Wow this issue really threw us into it without any apology. But even for how confusing things can be at times I am impressed on how well everything connects back to each other. We open this issue with a woman listening to the news on a rainy night. It’s revealed that it’s been 2 months since the train incident last issue, and there have been an increase in deaths reported at a military psychiatric hospital where the psychic man we saw at the end of the last issue took his life by stabbing his eyes out with scissors. All of this bad news, coupled with all of the hate letters the woman has been hiding from her police officer husband, has taken a total on her mental health and tonight she took her life vs risking having another breakdown. On a happier note, Marj is doing much better up in the pagan community. Turns out Zed is fully alive, although with a new look, and it seems these people have a real connection to the earth and life that Marj can only describe as sexual. She even tells John about a performance Zed went through, only for it to break out into a fleeting dance that ended in an orgy. She described it a lot more fantastical and natural but I do wonder what the legal age of consent is in Scotland as Marj talked about having sex with a 16 year old boy. Just looked it up and apparently that is legal. But of course the top of her mind in her letter to John…has he found Mercury?!
And that gives us great cause to check in on John. He has not found Mercury but he is still following leads and wracking up a massive tab in the low-key hotel where he has been staying. He ended up digging out some books from storage and selling them to keep up with the costs. And it seems like he isn’t the only one hiding out as the owners mentioned another tenant, Simon, who is a reporter working on a story with all the suicides connected to geotroniks. As John is writing back to Marj, he mentions ending up in a down and out bar where he runs into detective chief inspector Geoff Talbot, a ban he knew quite well and the two immediately lock eyes at the same time. The copper calls out to him and asks where he has been, and of course Constantine asks for a drink before being carted away and the cop asked why they should do that when it’s pouring rain. Constantine points out because of the crimes he is accused of, and the cop can only laugh it off. They know that wasn’t him but the press saw his name in the list of suspects and ran with it. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Constantine has been a free man this entire time! The two share a couple of drinks and the officer begins to go into why he is here in the first place. Turns out he was assigned to some internal affairs and he turned up some serious badness they have been covering up. Most of the time a scapegoat would have been put forth and people would go on…but not Talbot, he kept digging and going further up the chain as there is nothing he hates more than bent law. Constantine really wasn’t paying much attention until he mentioned Beale and the black squad. Turns out Talbot uncovered the squad that snatched up Mercury. At this point Talbot was sloshed and not doing much more talking and Constantine escorted him in a cab back home. Talbot also spoke of all the hate mail he had been trying to hide from his wife with the squad turning its back on him, but as they arrive home we find that the wife was just as well trying to hide hate mail from him…as the woman at the start of this story was the wife who killed herself. Constantine helped a Talbot take her body out of the tub and then stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. He finally got back home and that’s when he got Marj’s letter and he read another article about ley line chaos and bizarre suicides, and in a minute he is going to go across the hall to talk to the reporter who wrote it. But ending his letter he tells Marj not to worry as Merc is a tough kid and she will be alright.
Now seems like an opportune time to check in on Mercury. And she is indeed doing pretty well in the Geotroniks facility. Sure she doesn’t know where she is and the only person she has to talk to is her diary, but they are teaching her how to use her mind abilities to help people, I’m sure that won’t last for long. But Mercury has found that she can get inside peoples heads, including very easily getting inside mold face/Dr Fulton and of course Fulton only sees bow beneficial her power can be do their organization as she is the most powerful psychic they have ever had. But with the events from the last issue and everything mister Webster had them do, they are getting a lot more attention than they would prefer. Which may result in them moving to Scotland. Mercury has also had experience in the stone circles. One of them looks like Stonehenge and we have already seen in action, this lets her connectors the ley lines and feel them like roots. But the other one is scary and acts like a trap for fear, letting them reach out into the minds of scared people and the. Taking their greatest fears and trapping them in the circle back at the base. It reminds me a lot about how the bad spirits would be locked up in the mental boxes in the shining, but it also raises questions about what they are doing with them. They aren’t just freeing people of their terrors out of the goodness of their hearts. As the issue comes to an end we check back in on Constantine as he finally gets a clear hallway to check on the reporter. He gives a knock but gets no answers and finds the door unlocked. As he walks inside the room is empty, but then he hears a bumping from the wardrobe. I to worn the issue to end finding the man tied up and bound with his arms and legs to his back in leather, a wrap that must be hard to breath in is placed around his face, and completely hung up to a pipe and some chains!
And that gives us great cause to check in on John. He has not found Mercury but he is still following leads and wracking up a massive tab in the low-key hotel where he has been staying. He ended up digging out some books from storage and selling them to keep up with the costs. And it seems like he isn’t the only one hiding out as the owners mentioned another tenant, Simon, who is a reporter working on a story with all the suicides connected to geotroniks. As John is writing back to Marj, he mentions ending up in a down and out bar where he runs into detective chief inspector Geoff Talbot, a ban he knew quite well and the two immediately lock eyes at the same time. The copper calls out to him and asks where he has been, and of course Constantine asks for a drink before being carted away and the cop asked why they should do that when it’s pouring rain. Constantine points out because of the crimes he is accused of, and the cop can only laugh it off. They know that wasn’t him but the press saw his name in the list of suspects and ran with it. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Constantine has been a free man this entire time! The two share a couple of drinks and the officer begins to go into why he is here in the first place. Turns out he was assigned to some internal affairs and he turned up some serious badness they have been covering up. Most of the time a scapegoat would have been put forth and people would go on…but not Talbot, he kept digging and going further up the chain as there is nothing he hates more than bent law. Constantine really wasn’t paying much attention until he mentioned Beale and the black squad. Turns out Talbot uncovered the squad that snatched up Mercury. At this point Talbot was sloshed and not doing much more talking and Constantine escorted him in a cab back home. Talbot also spoke of all the hate mail he had been trying to hide from his wife with the squad turning its back on him, but as they arrive home we find that the wife was just as well trying to hide hate mail from him…as the woman at the start of this story was the wife who killed herself. Constantine helped a Talbot take her body out of the tub and then stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. He finally got back home and that’s when he got Marj’s letter and he read another article about ley line chaos and bizarre suicides, and in a minute he is going to go across the hall to talk to the reporter who wrote it. But ending his letter he tells Marj not to worry as Merc is a tough kid and she will be alright.
Now seems like an opportune time to check in on Mercury. And she is indeed doing pretty well in the Geotroniks facility. Sure she doesn’t know where she is and the only person she has to talk to is her diary, but they are teaching her how to use her mind abilities to help people, I’m sure that won’t last for long. But Mercury has found that she can get inside peoples heads, including very easily getting inside mold face/Dr Fulton and of course Fulton only sees bow beneficial her power can be do their organization as she is the most powerful psychic they have ever had. But with the events from the last issue and everything mister Webster had them do, they are getting a lot more attention than they would prefer. Which may result in them moving to Scotland. Mercury has also had experience in the stone circles. One of them looks like Stonehenge and we have already seen in action, this lets her connectors the ley lines and feel them like roots. But the other one is scary and acts like a trap for fear, letting them reach out into the minds of scared people and the. Taking their greatest fears and trapping them in the circle back at the base. It reminds me a lot about how the bad spirits would be locked up in the mental boxes in the shining, but it also raises questions about what they are doing with them. They aren’t just freeing people of their terrors out of the goodness of their hearts. As the issue comes to an end we check back in on Constantine as he finally gets a clear hallway to check on the reporter. He gives a knock but gets no answers and finds the door unlocked. As he walks inside the room is empty, but then he hears a bumping from the wardrobe. I to worn the issue to end finding the man tied up and bound with his arms and legs to his back in leather, a wrap that must be hard to breath in is placed around his face, and completely hung up to a pipe and some chains!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2024
I'm not the most experienced reader of comics. Like, I've read sort of a lot of them in a relatively short amount of time due to the affordability and accessibility of digital comics subscriptions, but I'm not trying to claim broad encyclopedic knowledge of the medium.
But I feel comfortable saying that Delano is better at being "literary" (I'm not trying to be snobbish) than any other writer I've seen. Other writers--including ones I like--certainly spend some time in captions, but I feel like Delano justifies it better than anybody else. A lack of dialogue and "action" in a Delano book feels justified and substantial: the introspection does not leave me wanting for other devices at all, and it feels very organic.
Because when a lesser writer does it, it can venture into failing to "show, not tell". But Delano's characters have more depth than that, and it's a treat to get so much access to their thoughts.
That said, I could use a little more plot in this, which feels odd to say because I simultaneously feel like this was a lot to take in in one issue.
But I feel comfortable saying that Delano is better at being "literary" (I'm not trying to be snobbish) than any other writer I've seen. Other writers--including ones I like--certainly spend some time in captions, but I feel like Delano justifies it better than anybody else. A lack of dialogue and "action" in a Delano book feels justified and substantial: the introspection does not leave me wanting for other devices at all, and it feels very organic.
Because when a lesser writer does it, it can venture into failing to "show, not tell". But Delano's characters have more depth than that, and it's a treat to get so much access to their thoughts.
That said, I could use a little more plot in this, which feels odd to say because I simultaneously feel like this was a lot to take in in one issue.
December 23, 2015
This story arc continues to be underwhelming.
December 17, 2016
2.5/5
¿De dónde sacamos que somos una especie inteligente?
¿De dónde sacamos que somos una especie inteligente?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews