Hellblazer #3

Hellblazer (Single Issues)

by Jamie Delano, John Ridgway

Demon yuppies from Hell plague the streets of London! Now it's up to John Constantine to play the two using their own evil game!

Genres: Comics, Horror, Comic Book

23 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Jamie 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.

Reviews

[Tawfek · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems like all the demons were in this comic series all along!
I don't feel like writing long reviews these days, I am forcing myself to write this, so that I can read the next issue in peace.

[Ｆｒａｎｋｈ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised that this issue managed to make me chuckle several times as I read it. It was also a breath of fresh air from the grimness and moral ambiguity of the first two issues. Both John Constantine's inner monologues and the dialogues among characters are sparkling with wit and snark. Everything felt lighthearted on the surface because of the black humor injected in the pages, but it starts to become disturbing once you started to think more about what you just read.

So far, I'm enjoying Jamie Delano as the writer for the series, mostly because I never know what to expect or to get from his Hellblazer stories. He also writes with great subtlety, never resorting to heavy-handed prose. I'm also tickled in a special way with his descriptions of the most mundane events in the pages. It was also in this issue that he marked John Constantine's sense of humor with a dark tinge to it which I just ate up while reading his inner monologues.

The issue started entertainingly enough. We finally get introduced to demons who function as 'soul-brokers'. There's a network of them operating in London, handling contracts with mortals who sell their souls for wealth, fame and your garden-variety hedonism and/or narcissism. Anyone who's a Supernatural fan would recognize this formula (but given the 1988 publication date, Hellblazer came up with this beguiling concept first. It's safe to say that Eric Kripke, SPN creator, has read these comics as well and were inspired by them).

John Constantine tracks down a couple of said demons and managed to infiltrate their club by sheer luck and accident. He barely got out of there alive since he was ill-prepared. But our hero casually brushes that reckless self-endangerment and proceeds to contact the head supervisor of the demonic lot. Things got even weirder and more hilarious later on. Constantine makes the simplest of mistakes that he's also able to remedy along the way which highlights how quick he is on his feet. He still possesses that laid-back begrudging attitude even when confronted with literally hellish situations; as if getting almost savaged and eaten by demons is more of an inconvenience he needs to deal with it as oppose to a real threat. The writing's sardonic and comical approach is to be commended. I enjoy sinister stories that have some humor into them. It makes the reading experience well-balanced. For that alone, this issue gets another 8 out 10 rating for me like the last two. I know that my rating has been consistently high so far but that's because the issues deserve it.

I don't want to spoil the story further by going into any more details but I can guarantee that the third issue entitled Go For It is pure, wicked fun. It has satirical commentary thrown in the mix and a definitely more relatable and down-to-earth version of Constantine yet that manages to find himself in the most absurd situations and yet responds to them like a champ. I truly believe it was important for Delano to contrast this issue from the last one (which was quite sad and depressing and has certainly made Constantine kind of a prick).

It's great that Delano has already established dimensions to his titular this early in the game and doesn't make him come off too likable. This allows readers to get to know Constantine for themselves through the delightful conversations he has with himself and other people. Readers also understand his personality better because his actions truly do speak louder than his words could--and the result isn't always pleasant. I hate getting ahead of myself but Constantine can be such a polarizing figure in these stories that Hellblazer could have suffered with a dwindling number from the readership. However, the tonality of the stories we find him in was able to make him endearing in such a jaded sort of way.

Go For It is a great stand-alone story with a writing that doesn't hesitate to make fun of itself, as well as make readers think why they are laughing about certain things in the panels and/or dialogue in the first place.

Of Delano's descriptive passages, a phrase that stuck with me was "fetus-skin sun drapes" because I remember chuckling quite gleefully at that...and it made me uncomfortable that I did. I'm excited to see what new directions the story is going in the next issues. I really appreciated the cohesiveness of the elements presented in the first three so far.

RECOMMENDED: 8/10


DO READ MORE OF MY HELLBLAZER REVIEWS

[Cybernex007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The word of the day is: yuppies! We’ve got yuppies everywhere in this issue, demon stock broker yippies trying to cash in on the election fears to send the soul market in hell skyrocketing, and the human yuppies dumb enough to get indebted to these demons and ultimately pay the price for it. This issue also features an extremely based Constantine who hates to see these demons try and get Margaret Thatcher elected to boost their profits even more. Constantine actually came across this issue while trying to forget about the election when he payed his friend Ray, who owns a clippings agency, to find some stories that would interest him. And that’s when he found out about the dead yuppies. One of them was found jogging with melted running shoes, but they were jogging in a very shady neighborhood. This he had to see for himself, and sure enough he ended up finding a very reputable establishment right int the middle of a run down neighborhood.

Turns out these demons are from the financial district of hell, now they may look human right now but that is solely a disguise. They work for Blathoxi, lord of flatulence, and someone who praises the arch-demon of profit…Mammon. The young demons that surround him were the first to come and present the UK market as ripe for the taking with how much election fears there are and all the “haves” being terrified of being “have-nots.” Their lord decides to allow them to Gina long wit the plan, but they’ve better not screw up or he will have them “slapping out corpse-meat in a fast-food joint” for the rest of eternity.

Constantine decided to try and investigate around the fancy house a bit, and he ended up following the patrons for a night out in the town. The cat drained of blood he stumbled upon in their path should’ve been the first sign, but he decided to follow them down into a dimly lit wine bar anyway. Once inside he started to notice odd things, like the lampshade with a tattoo and that the drinks are absolutely disgusting. And once he spits out his drink and yells “JESUS CHRIST,” it seems that the entire room turned on him. This was his sign to get out of there and fast and he started to back away towards the door…only for a ditzy woman to barge in and be swarmed by the sharks in the room. Seems she already made a deal with them and purchased some stocks with their advice, but then she made some bad investments at the horse races and now needs an extension on their commission. But unfortunately for her that won’t be possible…the contract is very binding and she must now pay with her eternal soul.

After seeing that go down Constantine got out of their by jumping through a window, lol. He now knows what he is up against: “They’re demon yuppies. Soul-brokers from hell!” As he runs away he passes through a few churches to see if they will follow before he gets back to his home. There he clobbers together a bag of tricks he for from others to create a summoning circle. Seems he has dealt with a similar situation before and has met with Lord Blathoxi before. He ended up skipping a few of the formalities for the summoning circle, namely the dead cats, and Blathoxi sent a steward of the club to tell Constantine to do better when summoning, lol. He also invited Constantine to talk to Blathoxi in person if he cannot. So after meeting their strict dress code of putting on a tie, Constantine was off to descend into hell to talk to the boss directly. It’s wild how fast this issue turned from Constantine realizing what he was doing…to literally walking over heads to descend into hell. Constantine met with Blathoxi in something called the “suppuration room,” which is like a sauna but full of putrid vapor. Of course Blathoxi is very curious to find out why Constantine would come to see him, and that’s when Constantine announced that he is here to sell his soul! (I guess the whole NewCastle soul situation isn’t cannon yet, huh?) Constantine claims that he realized this was the best time and he wanted to go right to the source instead of dealing with his yuppies. Sounds good to Blathoxi, but as he starts to discuss rates and notices Constantine’s unusual willingness…he starts to grow concerned. He thinks Constantine has inside knowledge, he presumed that Constantine knows the left will win and their soul market will crash!

Well Blathoxi won’t be ruined by the likes of Constantine, and proceeds to have him thrown out of hell. Only for Constantine to run directly into the demons waiting in his apartment…and it seems that his bag of tricks have run out. When he wakes back up he finds himself hanging upside down in a storage room in the bar with full election coverage playing on the TV. Every time Thatcher comes on the demons hoot and holler for how much they will make off of her, which is only natural at this point. They call for drinks, and Constantine is starting to think that his cleverness may not catch up in time. But as the waiter walks in and is surprised by the demons, they proceed to slice his head off…only for the waiter to pick it right back up and reveal himself to be Blathoxi! Seems they have failed in their endeavors, and Constantine’s bluffs has worked and successfully panicked the market. The price of souls is plummeting and now Blathoxi’s stock is worthless! As suck he wiped out all the demons for Constantine. Once finished Blathoxi left without paying Constantine any mind, after all it would lose him too much face if he admired that Constantine bluffed him again, hahahaha! As the issue comes to an end it does seem that Constantine may be getting a worse fate than those demons though. He started this mission trying to avoid the election cycle, now he is stuck upside down in a room with total election coverage…and even worse it’s starting to swing conservative. Sigh…

[Devin Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hm.

So... haha...

There are multiple British uses of a certain f-word (the long or short version) that are legitimately not homophobic. Early in this series, it's clearly being used as the word for a single cigarette (which is uncomfortable but not unacceptable). In my time as a music fan, I've also been challenged to understand the use of the long version of the word in an old King Crimson song. If I remember right, it's an obscure vegetarian dish? Thankfully harmless.

But there is a use of the short version in this issue that just seems flat-out like the homophobic slur.

I'm willing to take these things in their full context (I assume 80s Britain was a very different time and place compared to my perspective, not unlike how Mark Twain's use of the n-word is not exactly the same as someone else's decades later), but it's regrettable (which is also to say I'm not entirely comfortable with Twain's use).

Anyway.

I knew this comic had a reputation for being pointedly political, and I was a little surprised for that element to be so understated in the first two issues.

No more of that! We're hanging out with John on Election Day, and the walls of the city are literally dripping in political signifiers. The types of people who are pretty literally "demonized" are a very specific type, too.

I think it risks being a little too facile, but that's not the worst thing. I really like where it goes, too.

I continue to love the expressive, loose art.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este es uno que se puede perder en el tiempo. Es sobre política en el Reino Unido en 1987. Toca otros temas como la economía y la consciencia en el manejo del dinero, pero todo se resume a lo anteriormente dicho. Solo me dejó una lección, los candidatos no han cambiado. Desde antes de mi nacimiento hasta el momento que lees este texto, nada cambia. Pero eso algo que todo el mundo tiene claro o lo puedes aprender de otra fuente.

[:) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Constantine: hey there demons, it's me, ya boi

[Jennb_9 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Han · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still not quite as drawn into this.

[irene ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5