What do you think?
Rate this book
Hellblazer by Denise Mina #2
Hellblazer: The Red Right Hand
As Praexis demons gather around Glasgow, feasting on the emotions, a deadly infection of empathy turns the city into a ghost town, and unless Constantine can come up with a solution, the world will succumb to the empathy plague.
144 pages, Paperback
First published July 4, 2007
1 person is currently reading
514 people want to read
About the author
Denise Mina
109 books2,519 followersDenise Mina was born in Glasgow in 1966. Because of her father's job as an Engineer, the family followed the north sea oil boom of the seventies around Europe
She left school at sixteen and did a number of poorly paid jobs, including working in a meat factory, as a bar maid, kitchen porter and cook.
Eventually she settled in auxiliary nursing for geriatric and terminal care patients.
At twenty one she passed exams, got into study Law at Glasgow University and went on to research a PhD thesis at Strathclyde University on the ascription of mental illness to female offenders, teaching criminology and criminal law in the mean time.
Misusing her grant she stayed at home and wrote a novel, 'Garnethill' when she was supposed to be studying instead.
She left school at sixteen and did a number of poorly paid jobs, including working in a meat factory, as a bar maid, kitchen porter and cook.
Eventually she settled in auxiliary nursing for geriatric and terminal care patients.
At twenty one she passed exams, got into study Law at Glasgow University and went on to research a PhD thesis at Strathclyde University on the ascription of mental illness to female offenders, teaching criminology and criminal law in the mean time.
Misusing her grant she stayed at home and wrote a novel, 'Garnethill' when she was supposed to be studying instead.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
August 22, 2022
Denise Mina’s run comes to an end with this volume collecting her 7 remaining issues. If you were left confused with the ending of the previous story arc/volume, well, it was never addressed at all and we begin with a Glasgow engulf with chaos.
Unfolding like a supernatural detective story, Constantine is trying to locate cult leader Evans who plans to activate an ancient device that’ll force Glasgow’s decadent population to share the pain of those around them, with the hope that they’ll become that little bit nicer to each other. To her credit, Mina still manages to make her confusing plot immensely readable. The supporting cast are all excellent, and develop well over the story. Mina’s strength is her dialogue; Glasgow’s inhabitants all have genuine Scottish piquancy. Constantine’s bleak, sardonic wit has arguably never been written better. It’s a shame that the story falls into dire convolution halfway, and is resolved by an unsatisfying deus ex machina solution.
Artist Leonardo Manco delivers good Glasgow. Those familiar with the city will recognise the locations he’s photoshopped into the art, and there’s a certain perverse joy in seeing a horde of demons lured into the Kelvingrove Art Gallery to be dosed up on sucky sweets and porn. His cast possess an emotional resonance ranging from malevolence to ecstasy, and the permanently masked and helmeted soldiers elevate the sinister aspects.
Unfolding like a supernatural detective story, Constantine is trying to locate cult leader Evans who plans to activate an ancient device that’ll force Glasgow’s decadent population to share the pain of those around them, with the hope that they’ll become that little bit nicer to each other. To her credit, Mina still manages to make her confusing plot immensely readable. The supporting cast are all excellent, and develop well over the story. Mina’s strength is her dialogue; Glasgow’s inhabitants all have genuine Scottish piquancy. Constantine’s bleak, sardonic wit has arguably never been written better. It’s a shame that the story falls into dire convolution halfway, and is resolved by an unsatisfying deus ex machina solution.
Artist Leonardo Manco delivers good Glasgow. Those familiar with the city will recognise the locations he’s photoshopped into the art, and there’s a certain perverse joy in seeing a horde of demons lured into the Kelvingrove Art Gallery to be dosed up on sucky sweets and porn. His cast possess an emotional resonance ranging from malevolence to ecstasy, and the permanently masked and helmeted soldiers elevate the sinister aspects.
September 22, 2016
In this volume we are still dealing with demons who feed on negative emotions (left over from last volume) and as usual it's up to John and a gang of misfits to save the world. The art by Leonardo Manco is good as ever.
Some of the highlights from this volume include placating demons by giving them porn and candy, and the fate of the entire world resting on the outcome of a soccer game. (And the ending of that one isn't at all what you expect.)
Denise Mina has done a great job on her Hellblazer run I must say. Hellblazer fans should enjoy this one.
Some of the highlights from this volume include placating demons by giving them porn and candy, and the fate of the entire world resting on the outcome of a soccer game. (And the ending of that one isn't at all what you expect.)
Denise Mina has done a great job on her Hellblazer run I must say. Hellblazer fans should enjoy this one.
April 2, 2018
If you thought magic didn't make sense before, then you don't stand a chance in this story. Older characters are brought in, apparently out of the writer's ass, then connections are made between empathy, happiness and a soccer game. Solid! John gets an overhaul as an uncaring defetist who barely uses any magic in favor of 'think happy thoughts.' But at least this writer's run is over. She was consistent, I'll give her that. This feels like the worst part of the series so far.
In the one-shot Map, the magician living in the London Metro and John's kinda friend, is dying. Entirely skippable. John is pretty much useless.
Jumping to Glasgow now, the Praexis demons are gorging themselves on the souls of the newly-dead citizens, victims of empathy. Steve Evans wants desperately to help the city that has been walled in by the army. In the last volume John met the watcher of the Third Place, a former angel banished from heaven, but never arriving in hell, and the bad guy that is generating the evil empathy. Yes, empathy is evil here, but the way it ends is amazingly ridiculous.
In the one-shot Map, the magician living in the London Metro and John's kinda friend, is dying. Entirely skippable. John is pretty much useless.
Jumping to Glasgow now, the Praexis demons are gorging themselves on the souls of the newly-dead citizens, victims of empathy. Steve Evans wants desperately to help the city that has been walled in by the army. In the last volume John met the watcher of the Third Place, a former angel banished from heaven, but never arriving in hell, and the bad guy that is generating the evil empathy. Yes, empathy is evil here, but the way it ends is amazingly ridiculous.
August 12, 2022
Cool concept, doesn't execute that well sadly
May 10, 2019
I admit that I hadn't read the whole story arc, but I struggled to be emotionally involved with this and the art didn't grab me. Still glad to have read it though.
December 21, 2014
Not the best in the Hellblazer series that I have read yet, but still quite enjoyable. Hellblazer: The Red Right Hand by Denise Mina puts our protagonist John Constantine in a dying Glasgow where people are killing themselves, unable to take the pain and hatred that they see around them. The few survivors do not have much time before this feeling of loss spreads further beyond. Constantine may be the only one who can save the world, but will he?
Denise Mina has put together a gripping story that brings across Constantine as the messed up man who is humanity's last hope. A troubled soul, a tormented person, a self-absorbed persona, these are the traits of Constantine that follow him everywhere, though within all that he still has a beating heart and a strong will. Denise Mina's story once again challenges the strength of Constantine and the people around him. The art by Leonardo Manco adds to the grim settings of the story, though unlike some other comics that I have read in the Hellblazer series, this one does not have any differing styles across the different issues. Nonetheless, it is a quick and captivating read!
Denise Mina has put together a gripping story that brings across Constantine as the messed up man who is humanity's last hope. A troubled soul, a tormented person, a self-absorbed persona, these are the traits of Constantine that follow him everywhere, though within all that he still has a beating heart and a strong will. Denise Mina's story once again challenges the strength of Constantine and the people around him. The art by Leonardo Manco adds to the grim settings of the story, though unlike some other comics that I have read in the Hellblazer series, this one does not have any differing styles across the different issues. Nonetheless, it is a quick and captivating read!
January 17, 2016
I really liked how this volume explored Constantine's "defeatist" attitude. He really is an interesting character, even if I don't personally agree with him (those kind are the strongest and reflect the best writers). A decent ending to a decent story, though still a bit hard to follow along. I wonder if not reading the issues before this and "Empathy is the Enemy" perpetuated my confusion.
February 6, 2008
This conclusion to Mina's Empathy is the Enemy has a pretty good pay-off. It's occasionally a bit goofy, but I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I'm a bit disappointed that Mina only had the one run on the series.
August 22, 2016
I love the empathy pandemic!
September 26, 2023
If you grew up enjoying Madeline L'Engle's faith and love triumph over the science and plot that a story is built on endings than this might be a five star book for you.
There's nothing wrong with enjoying that sort of thing, it's just not for me. If you're going to spend a whole book dealing in magic and science, only to have religion come in and triumph over both, then I'm not interested in anything you have to say.
I wasn't a fan of Mina's first collection but I thought that was more a failure of the coloring, and a conceit that I'd seen repeated in many Hellblazer runs. So, while not my favorite, not at all a terrible book. This book, however, is terrible.
Constanting behaves less and less like himself over the course of the run but we aren't given a reasonable explanation for it. We also aren't really given a proper explanation for how the current apocalypse is working, but that was also true of Mike Carey's run. The main problem I had was the incredibly insipid ending.
I wrote in my review of her previous Hellblazer book that I liked Mina's dialogue and narration enough that, even though I wasn't enjoying her Hellblazer story, I was going to seek out her other work and give it a try. That is no longer the case. I think Mina is a very talented writer who deals in a style of storytelling that will never engage with me.
There's nothing wrong with enjoying that sort of thing, it's just not for me. If you're going to spend a whole book dealing in magic and science, only to have religion come in and triumph over both, then I'm not interested in anything you have to say.
I wasn't a fan of Mina's first collection but I thought that was more a failure of the coloring, and a conceit that I'd seen repeated in many Hellblazer runs. So, while not my favorite, not at all a terrible book. This book, however, is terrible.
Constanting behaves less and less like himself over the course of the run but we aren't given a reasonable explanation for it. We also aren't really given a proper explanation for how the current apocalypse is working, but that was also true of Mike Carey's run. The main problem I had was the incredibly insipid ending.
I wrote in my review of her previous Hellblazer book that I liked Mina's dialogue and narration enough that, even though I wasn't enjoying her Hellblazer story, I was going to seek out her other work and give it a try. That is no longer the case. I think Mina is a very talented writer who deals in a style of storytelling that will never engage with me.
July 20, 2024
Tem altos e baixos assim como a anterior, de baixo principalmente o Chas, acho ele muito repetitivo aqui. Mas, tem uma sacada que achei muito corajosa no final e que ficou bem engraçada. Já tinha lido e esse final era o que tinha ficado marcado pra mim.
October 14, 2018
So, the whole thing in on the edge of the outcome of a football game...
Actually pretty fun.
Actually pretty fun.
August 22, 2023
The tone of this was just what I'd be looking for. A little macabre and genuinely funny, an excellent read that doesn't force humour, violence, sadness or plot. Excellently done in my opinion.
August 2, 2011
This TPB is the second half of the story arc written by Scottish mystery novelist Denise Mina for Hellblazer. The first part of the story is collected in Hellblazer: Empathy is the Enemy.
When we last left John Constantine, he was in Glasgow where a well-meaning but deluded cultist had loosed an empathy virus intending to bring on the Aquarian Age, or something. Instead, the unwanted and incessant mainlining of friend's and stranger's darkest secrets was causing panic and mass suicides. Constantine, not surprisingly, could care fuck all. But he ends up helping because the government has cut off all roads into Glasgow and he'll be running out of cigarettes soon. Then some familiar faces from John's past show up to help because this. could be. the end. of the world.
Like a lot of Hellblazer stories, I can't really swear this all made sense but the story was fun and I love Denise Mina for stepping outside of her genre (she excels in her day job as a mystery writer, the best of which is her Garnethill trilogy.) Typical murky Hellblazer art from Argentinian artist Leonardo Manco and colorist Lee Loughridge.
There is a stand-alone story that opens this volume, "The Season of the Zealot." It would be better placed at the end so as not to confuse readers picking up from the last volume who like me might start reading only to wonder, "Whither the Praexis demons?"
When we last left John Constantine, he was in Glasgow where a well-meaning but deluded cultist had loosed an empathy virus intending to bring on the Aquarian Age, or something. Instead, the unwanted and incessant mainlining of friend's and stranger's darkest secrets was causing panic and mass suicides. Constantine, not surprisingly, could care fuck all. But he ends up helping because the government has cut off all roads into Glasgow and he'll be running out of cigarettes soon. Then some familiar faces from John's past show up to help because this. could be. the end. of the world.
Like a lot of Hellblazer stories, I can't really swear this all made sense but the story was fun and I love Denise Mina for stepping outside of her genre (she excels in her day job as a mystery writer, the best of which is her Garnethill trilogy.) Typical murky Hellblazer art from Argentinian artist Leonardo Manco and colorist Lee Loughridge.
There is a stand-alone story that opens this volume, "The Season of the Zealot." It would be better placed at the end so as not to confuse readers picking up from the last volume who like me might start reading only to wonder, "Whither the Praexis demons?"
February 9, 2010
A fairly weak entry in the Hellblazer series (along with the first part, Hellblazer: Empathy is the Enemy) -- hey, I'm all in favor for multiverses where superheroes get to save their particular universe every few weeks, but Hellblazer has always been rooted in a very specific time (the grimy present, mostly) and place (a grimy London), and doesn't quite lend itself to the usual sorts of global apocalyptic meltdowns. There's a reason Garth Ennis' Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits is still one of the best story arcs in the series: Constantine as grubby mortal, not as man of steel.
This time around, it's Glasgow that's infected by an epidemic of over-empathy; the poor Glaswegians end up overdosing on the terrible memories of the people around them. Chas and Gemma are dutifully trotted out, as always, but they have nothing better to do than to guilt-trip our Johnny into saving the universe (again). Mina's Empathy Engine sounds an awful lot like Jamie Delano's Hellblazer: The Fear Machine, an arc that never worked in the first place, and the ending fizzles out, predictably, in an anticlimactic fashion.
This time around, it's Glasgow that's infected by an epidemic of over-empathy; the poor Glaswegians end up overdosing on the terrible memories of the people around them. Chas and Gemma are dutifully trotted out, as always, but they have nothing better to do than to guilt-trip our Johnny into saving the universe (again). Mina's Empathy Engine sounds an awful lot like Jamie Delano's Hellblazer: The Fear Machine, an arc that never worked in the first place, and the ending fizzles out, predictably, in an anticlimactic fashion.
March 27, 2017
Some kind of magical elements in this one, situated in a city where everyone have negative feelings and everything are in disorder that have something to do with hell and a watcher from there feeding the citys hoplessness and horrors and one guy who invented a machine who started this and now it might spread put to the rest of the world.
And how does ithey prevent doong that? By getting help of a magican who only bring missery with him, I think a had have a bit more understanding jumping in part one of this grapic novell and not only part two but I liked the drawing style and the little urban fantasy/magical realism that was part of this story.
And how does ithey prevent doong that? By getting help of a magican who only bring missery with him, I think a had have a bit more understanding jumping in part one of this grapic novell and not only part two but I liked the drawing style and the little urban fantasy/magical realism that was part of this story.
October 19, 2014
COnstantine's escapade in Scotland comes to a conclusion - as much as it ever does with him - with one of his companions taking the place of the demon who was causing the overabundance of empathy. The story doesn't really seem to be concluded though, since the man in question could become like the demon in time and continue to create havoc! Constantine isn't really convinced either it seems - or maybe that's just his typical cynicism kicking in again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2010
I couldn't easily remember this one by the title (others I have been able to). It's a sequel (apparently) to one I haven't read, and obviously didn't make an impression. Possibly because I don't remember the writer from anything before; usually, if a Hellblazer GN is good, I've heard of and read the writer's work before.
January 27, 2012
As other reviewers have remarked here, "well, that was silly." Having the fate of the world reliant on the outcome of a sporting event in any story is a far cry for tension, especially in a Hellblazer piece. Also, again as other reviewers pointed out, the whole empathy engine plot is waaayyyyy too similar to Jamie Delano's Fear Machine, which also was a very lackluster storyline.
February 13, 2013
I wanted to like this one, but it was hard to follow. The first chapter I really like. It was visually cool, but the story is never resolved, it just leaves off. Then it suddenly jumps to Constantine being in Glasgow with no preamble or setup and from there its just too much coincidence and lull. A weak entry.
October 26, 2014
Constantine is an enigma wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in a trench coat. He's the look Castiel is trying for. And somehow, no matter what he does, things just always seem to be getting worse for him. That's talent. Check out my full review: Hellblazer: The Red Right Hand
August 1, 2018
Not gone on Denise Minas story line though I must admit it has a couple of good moments, and though Constantine himself feels right, none of the other characters do. I do not like the premises for the plot either - too complicated without yielding any real power. But it’s her first go - so I’ll keep reading.
November 3, 2009
Great drawings, somewhat crappy plot, but you can't have it all, eh? And I'm devoted to Constantine. Um... also the character's LEFT hand becomes red, not the RIGHT. So why's it called "The Red Right Hand?"
Want to read
June 13, 2008Can't ignore a Nick Cave reference...
January 26, 2009
Comic begins in the middle of the story.
May 12, 2009
i really liked denise mina's writing.. sad she only did one arc.
March 4, 2016
Denise Mina stsenaristitöö teine pool ja ühtlasi Empaatia-teema lõpetus, vajub suht susinaga aurust tühjaks, ikka väga keskpärane soga, in my humble opinion.
July 2, 2012
The first trade was good, but this just falls apart. Rather disappointing.
February 10, 2015
This is more of a part two to Empathy is the Enemy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews