Hellblazer, Tom 2

Hellblazer: New Editions

by Brian Azzarello, Giuseppe Camuncoli (Illustrator), Guy Davis (Illustrator)

W drugiej części opowieści autorstwa Briana Azzarello jej bohater – John Constantine kontynuuje podróż po Stanach Zjednoczonych, nostalgicznie wspominając lata spędzone w Londynie, gdy z punkowym zespołem „Błona śluzowa” występował w barach i pubach. Kontestując rzeczywistość, nie przypuszczał wówczas, że w przyszłości będzie musiał stawić czoła demonom, zjawom i duchom, ale także ludziom – „patriotom” zdecydowanym wyeliminować każdego, kto nie spełnia kryteriów „prawdziwego Amerykanina”.

Album zawiera materiały opublikowane pierwotnie w zeszytach #162-174.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fantasy, Comic Book, Fiction, Dc Comics

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 17, 2017

About the author

Brian Azzarello (born in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. He and Argentine artist Eduardo Risso, with whom Azzarello first worked on Jonny Double, won the 2001 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for 100 Bullets #15–18: "Hang Up on the Hang Low".

Azzarello has written for Batman ("Broken City", art by Risso; "Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire", art by Lee Bermejo, Tim Bradstreet, & Mick Gray) and Superman ("For Tomorrow", art by Jim Lee).

In 2005, Azzarello began a new creator-owned series, the western Loveless, with artist Marcelo Frusin.

As of 2007, Azzarello is married to fellow comic-book writer and illustrator Jill Thompson.

information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Az...

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brian Azzarello has one move, the shock treatment. Azzarello doesn't get Constantine's character at all. He just makes him this awful person who consistently puts himself in every depraved situation he can. There's no redeeming qualities, no humor. Just John trying to debase himself. It's a real shame that John's bisexual side comes out for the first time in more than an aside and it's used solely as a weapon. During this run Constantine has come across prison rape, bestiality, neo-Nazis, and BDSM sex clubs. Constantine is supposed to be the guy who uses his smarts to turn the tables on the bad guys, not be the bad guy. I'm very ready to see Mike Carey take over the book at this point.

Marcelo Frusin does the majority of the art. He has a really good grasp on how to use shadows for effect. The book looks gloriously creepy.

[Dev · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like about 99% of Azzarello's run on Hellblazer is just like ...if John was writing really bad fanfic about himself and trying to make himself look way cool than he actually is? Like 'oh yeah I went to America and got framed for murder and become king of a prison and then joined this sex club and everybody wanted to get with me because I'm so great at sex and then -'. Like ...John ...please. Also he's literally ALWAYS SMIRKING. Like I wish I had taken a drink every time the artist drew him smirking because then I would have just passed out and not had to actually read this. Bad fanfic by a 14 year old ISTG.

I wish I liked this particular volume a bit more because it's the first time John's bisexuality has been addressed in any real way other than an aside comment, but when you pair it with all the other crap Azzarello has been throwing around - prison rape, bestiality, Nazis, BDSM, sex clubs - it seems like he's just throwing bisexuality in there for like 'shock value' and something else to make this run ~edgy~ instead of just ...a total normal sexual orientation that tons of people identify with.

There is one part that I find hilarious, although it's mostly because of another outside source. Basically several years ago there was a story that won a 'worst sex in fiction award' and it contained the phrase devastating and juvenile handjobs and that is now all I can think of when I see these panels:



Thanks, I guess??

Anyway, looking forward to Carey's run coming up next. I'm hoping it's more Lucifer and less The Unwritten but at any rate it HAS to be better than this.

[Antonomasia]

[3.5] Often, I've picked up another volume of Hellblazer at a time that feels eerily well-suited to a storyline, or at least to a few panels. (Recursively appropriate, given JC's synchronicity superpower.) In a couple of instances, I realised I had looked inside the comics earlier or seen synopses which I must have subconsciously remembered; with others, there wasn't such a clear explanation.

My plan had been to finish the entire original Hellblazer series before the next new-format trade edition was published in Feb 2021. Yet here we are at Beltane and I've only finished vol 15 (and started 16). I read the first few pages in Feb, newly in a state where I'd be able to have such adventures again - but was unimpressed with the rest of issue 162, a scraggily-drawn and somewhat cringeworthy story of scrapes John and his mates had got into as young punks in the 70s (and in which Chas looked nothing like his usual self, and a lot older than he should have). Not a fan of Guy Davis's art. Back again, I found myself in April, simply thinking it was time to read this volume, and I had time - but also shortly after I'd had, in its small way, an experience like the second set of panels. A bus unexpectedly terminated and it was going to be the best part of an hour until there was another one home. I'd been toying with the idea of going somewhere else anyway, so I made my way to the nearest train station. There was a Little Free Library, and in it was a book I'd been kind of after for weeks but couldn't quite bring myself to buy on eBay. A friend later mentioned it was a charity shop staple, but even so.

My impression of Azzarello's run isn't going to be helped by reading its two volumes five months apart, but I'm not sure it entirely makes sense in the details, and it feels off-kilter. Once we'd got the backstory of youthful arseholery and pranks out of the way, it was back to the story's present, to clear up the mess that got John wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of a right-wing redneck, and declared officially dead after the prison riot he stirred up. There's a voiceover type narrative of white-nationalist interpretations of the Bible, and gay adventures with debauched billionaire S.W. Manor and at a Californian BDSM club.

During the 00s I found a lot of contemporary culture boring and meh (until I discovered electro house), and I didn't have a sense of the decade's ethos or meaning beyond my own experience even several years afterwards. It is only quite recently I've started to get a sense of at least part of it as plasticky and decadent and consumerist, dialling the fun bits of 90s sexiness up to something more toxic, with the internet having an increasingly accelerating and magnifying effect. The 00s was Jackass and Girls Gone Wild and nu-metal bros. I liked parts of the 00s, certain retro aesthetics and sexiness, which kind of came together in burlesque - but looking back I see stronger pressures to look a very specific way for young people (whereas now the strongest pressure feels like it's for most people to say, and have said, the right things. Or maybe that's my age.) This article from March, about toxic 00s celebrity culture, helped crystallise this sense of the decade further, and had me adding to the ethos the likes of highly sexualised shade names for makeup. (Nars, I'm looking at you, but by no means just you.)

In contrast to the better-thought out, dare I say it, more artistic and intelligent edginess of Warren Ellis's HB issues, this volume seemed to typify the too-much, not-quite-fun-anymore feeling that certain parts of 00s culture evoke. It needs to be cleverer, funnier; it needs to laugh at itself more. And maybe have better insight? There were times when it was kind of hot, even whilst knowing it was absurd (e.g. some of the scenes with Kitty) but it was also silly in a bad way. The folks from the BDSM club sit and strut around the police station waiting area like they were still in the venue - that very British mundanity I'd expect from HB is missing. Where are the tatty blankets, the remarks about how bored they are and how the shoes are starting to hurt, the unflattering postures of tired people?

Azzarello has made charisma JC's superpower during his run. (That, I would say is responsible for the effect which another GR reviewer described as being as if young John had written bad fanfic about himself.) That power, plus these storylines, too easily combine to make something humourless and … I feel there should be a term for this, but like a more sexualised modern form of grimdark? The power is rarely explained, and because of that, it can jar: e.g. a neo-Nazi thug describing him as "a righteous dude". It also has the potential to make things too easy for JC, though I didn't notice that as much in this volume as in the previous one.

It doesn't help that, although the subject of American white nationalists was topical during the Trump presidency, the way they are handled here by Azzarello had sometimes dated badly, and I cringed, especially at the uncritical voiceover narrative. However, in highlighting the role of right-wing racist white women in these movements, it did seem forward-thinking for its time. The absence of Black characters could go either way: the comic fails to show who gets the worst time from the neo-Nazis, but on the other hand, it shows a white man dealing with them, and current social justice emphasises that progressive white people need to confront white nationalists, not just leave it to PoC.

This cover: dear oh dear. I'm a big fan of Simon Bisley's other Hellblazer art, like most of the covers shown here, but this one is ... just no. Least favourite cover of all these trades. Too far from the character's original look in an ugly way, though I get that trashy cartoon metal look going on with the other human figures. (I struggle to find the right description, but I'm thinking of the sort of cartoons sometimes associated with metal in the 80s and 90s - the example I can think of is Bruce Dickinson's book Lord Iffy Boatrace, but I'm sure I saw it on albums too.)

For all that the above sounds critical, I was rarely bored, and I appreciated another dose of the character. It's not as bad as much of Jenkins. Therefore, 3.5

----

If the reports are correct of HBO significantly rewriting the character to make Constantine PoC (mixed race maybe?), younger, and, I'd guess also non-binary as well as the canonical bi/pan, because maxing out on liminality would make sense - liminality fits with who Constantine is - then topics like these could look very different from the original comics. (It would make more sense to create new storylines from scratch rather than adapt the old ones.) John Constantine started out as a political creature of 1980s Britain, so there's sense in making him (them?) different in order to make the character equally political in 2020s America. But that also seems to add up to a different character: one of the Constantine family's magically adept members, as shown elsewhere in the comics series.

(April-May 2021)

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lapdogs and England 3.5
Highwater 4
A Fresh Coat of Red Paint 4
Chasing Demons 3.5
Ashes & Dust 4.5

This volume picks up where Good Intentions left off. We actually get a few cameo appearances from Detective Turro and Dickie, the brother of the poor chap Constantine got sent to jail for allegedly killing.
This volume is rather charged. Dealing extensively with hate and racism. Very serious, very nuanced and very violent. Though still maintaining a very objective POV. But all through. It comes off packing one mean punch and couldn't have wished for a more entertaining volume than this.
Brian Azzarello outdoes himself in this, especially on Highwater and Ashes and Dust.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Azzarello's run on Hellblazer ends in these final thirteen issues, concluding Constantine's wanderings across America in search for the reason why one of his friends killed himself (as seen in the previous volume.)

The first two issues are a flashback tale with guest art by Guy Davis, who fits the grungy time period very well as we see John back during his Mucus Membrane days trying to con someone, as he does. The gravity of this story doesn't come into play until the final arc of this series, so it's much better in hindsight than on a first reading.

The Highwater story that this volume is named after is disturbing as hell, as John finds himself in a town run by neo-Nazis, which is gross. John gets his hands dirty though, so the ultimate conclusion, while not satisfying, is darkly enjoyable.

The next two issues with guest art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, whose art is still as recognizable here as it is today, give John a bit of a breather between arcs, reintroducing the detective from the first of Azzarello's arcs as well as checking in with John's friend the Lord Of The Dance.

And finally, Azzarello's last arc, the five part Ashes And Dust In The City Of Angels, which is maybe two issues too long, but a fitting end to the saga he's been telling with John. John himself is barely in it, instead playing with the detective character and the villain for the most part, but when he does show up, shit goes down.

Marcelo Frusin draws the main two stories here, and again proves well-suited. His faces can become a little samey, but I still love how creepy he makes Constantine look and his use of shadows is brilliant.

This is actually a pretty subdued volume of Hellblazer. The stories hit hard, but they do it without you realising. There aren't high stakes, or big magical portents, or even a demon or anything. Instead, it's John against some sick as hell humans, and that's even more disturbing than when he's going up against the First Of The Fallen.

[Shadowdenizen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this was a decent read and I still love the Hellblazer saga, Brian Azzarelo's work really doesn't speak to me...

I've also mosly liked the covers for these "New Editions", but this one was a bit of a let-down.

3.5 stars, reluctantly rounded down.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marginally better than Azzarello's previous contribution to this series, but still falls heavily on his edgelord tendencies to try to make Constantine an absolute monster who is also going up against the worst people on earth (in this case, mostly Neo-Nazis). The whole thing just has a real gross energy, where you can constantly feel Azzarello screaming "Can you believe I just went there?!" The problem is, simply writing a story that features white supremacists as bad guys does not automatically mean your story has anything to say. This one absolutely does not. Azzarello is just using white supremacists the way Quentin Tarantino uses racial slurs: to shock you and nothing else. There's no analysis of Naziism or any sort of introspection about why they exist or how they're bred or what society does or doesn't do to stop them. It's just "Ooh, look, a guy with a swastika on his face, isn't that crazy?" Um, no, it exists, it's a real problem, so it's inherently not crazy. And it's very boring to read two volumes in a row about this stuff, neither of which manages to make a single point about any of it. Azzarello's pacing may be good, and the art in this is decent, but this still feels like amateur hour. Like I'm reading someone's Parler drafts or something. Big no thanks!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

And another awesome story, great artwork. Overall, a great collection.

[Katz Ripley · Rating 1 out of 5]

i really hate azzarello's run. w/ hellblazer, there's a delicate balance 2 be struck between humor, brutality, and human emotion. azzarello steered hard towards brutality, and forgot about the rest. i'll concede that he definitely TRIED some humor, but it rarely landed for me, and certainly never served to lighten any of this... sadism-fest. i really can't tell if azzarello was trying wayy too hard to make his run edgy, or if he really is this much of a sick clown. either way, i couldn't wait for him to wrap up his monstrosity. also? huge thumbs down for setting the entirety of his run in the U.S. much as it pains me to say it, John Constantine and London belong together. if you're gonna separate them, you better have a damn good story to justify it.

i disliked vol 14 as well, but 15 is where i really was disgusted. ONE caveat: i liked lapdogs and englishmen. but that's 2 issues out of 12.

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT.

#164-167 (highwater). on the one hand, at least azzarello did clearly express "neo-nazis are bad". and yet, was it really a good idea to have the one character to stand against them be a white gentile? sure, it's john's comic, but really? and you had him kill them with a GOLEM? as like a clever little fuck you to nazis? despite the fact that you didn't have a single jewish character in this arc? fine, go ahead, dig your hole a little deeper, azzarello.

#168-169 (a fresh coat of red paint, chasing demons) just. utterly, UTTERLY fucking pointless. taking away points for weird homophobia (a goddamn portent of things to come, though).

#170-174 (ashes & dust). the crowning piece of shit on a monumental pile of manure. 3 cheers for homophobia + misogyny, and azzarello was even kind enough to throw in a bit of transmisogyny as well. first, turro is a pig. i can't fathom how we're supposed to root for or pity him at all.

second, stanley manor. honest to god, i have to laugh, because otherwise i will just cry. john constantine has been established as bisexual since the early 90s, but for years and years he'd only been shown to be in relationships with women. with ashes & dust, we finally see john constantine in a relationship with a man, and the entire thing is a slap in the face. not only is john constantine's love interest an evil gay kinky batman parody (WHY!?), but it comes out in the end that john was only in this relationship as part of a revenge con! way to go, azzarello. manor is clearly devoid of morals, which would be bad enough for your only gay love interest, but honestly, it gets worse, because from my read, it really seemed like manor's homosexuality was played up to add to his creep factor. there are definitely nasty little undercurrents of pedophilia/general predatory behavior there. it sucks on ice. and really, having manor be an evil predatory homosexual is already so, so bad, but for some reason, which i'll never be able to fathom, azzarello wanted to also make him a batman parody. it's like this weird joke that's never mentioned, and also not very funny. it's not necessary, and the absurdity of it simply doesn't fit with the rest of the story. it's incomprehensible. the man feeds orphans to bats. listen, i'm familiar with the gay batman jokes/theories, and i think they can be fun. but this was in poor taste, and poor judgment.
and yeah, once again, in the end it turns out john seduced the guy just to manipulate him into killing himself. admittedly-- manor deserved it! but as john's first m/m relationship to be shown on the page, it's nothing. it's worse than a joke. it's an insult.

oh, also??? it weirded me out how there was almost a complete lack of the supernatural in this volume. i'm not saying hellblazer needs magic to be good-- the family man had a completely nonmagical storyline and is one of John's best character explorations-- but going so long without any magic got a bit dull. don't get me wrong-- one of my favorite things about JC is that he rarely actually uses magic to win, but that's only special because he's usually up against magical threats. having so little magic, on either the protagonist's or antagonists' side, just.. didn't seem like hellblazer.

far as i'm concerned, nothing from azzarello's entire run counts as hellblazer.

[Sylvester · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first arc was once again, about Neo-Nazi (this has already been done before). Most written as narration on the mindset of the skinheads, but their views were basically what a rational common man would have held, so it's mostly an SJW rant. Then we are greeted with a small one issue story about Constatine (attempted to) having a threesome. Lastly we have a sex club arc that had amazing cover arts but the story itself was rather dull and predictable. I really don't like Azzarello, he can't write.

[Jack Bumby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt like I had to push through this quickly because I wasn't crazy about Azzarello's previous work on Hellblazer. And this volume is a slight improvement I guess?

Azzarello leans too much on shocking the reader (again) and forgets what made John such a great character. I'm really hoping that subsequent volumes under new writers can find that charm. Here he's just a nasty character, always smirking and lacking that vulnerability. He's a god that's always twenty steps ahead, which gets a bit old.

But a lot of this stuff is decent. I like seeing John take out a neo-Nazi gang with a Jewish golem even if it's a bit juvenile. And I really appreciate that we're seeing more about John's bisexuality. Though that does feel a little for shock value in this story, I know it goes on to play an important part in his character.

There's less grossness in this one and I appreciate Azzarello writing a self-contained, US-set arc. But I'm looking forward to returning to Liverpool.

[Frank Privette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover art does not do this collected edition (no. 16 in the series) justice. It is, both artistically and narratively, among the best Constatine arcs I’ve read.

Written in 2001 it effectively treats current issues such as the normalization of racism, the far right, and tribal politics, as well as more “ever green” topics that are somehow still controversial such as homosexuality and abortion.

This is the conclusion of Brian Azzarello’s time at the helm in the Hellblazer series (and wraps up John’s US-prison-Deep South-California arc). I dare say he may be the best or second best (after either Delano or Ennis) writer to pen the series. He went on to bigger things after this run, but damn did he raise the bar.

[Shakengrape · Rating 1 out of 5]

I genuinely cannot finish this. It started off alright, but then went into the whole racist and nazist crap that just goes on and on. I looked through it and it just looks like it tries to be a sexual murder mystery. Constantine looks like an idiot, smirking and saying some things that make no sense trying to look tough and mysterious.

[Nathan Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gotta love it when neo-nazis die

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to echo Shadowdenizen's review in that this is a 3.5 rounded down.

In terms of plot and content, this volume's pretty memorable: a young Constantine on a quest for a magic artifact, Constantine in America confronting Neo-Nazis, Constantine's immolated corpse showing up in an S&M club. I'd be excited by the idea of these stories if you suggested then to me, but the execution misses the mark.

A big part of that is the fact that Constantine is in America. It's not just that Constantine is a British character, there's something about his despair and contempt that's uniquely British. In his home country, he's the rake, the underdog, the man who loses even when he wins. Constantine isn't so much a magician as someone who knows how the river runs and the best place to stand to both survive its passing as well as redirect it to his momentary benefit. What he knows is Britain and its well-worn ways--both its old history and its old class structures.

America is a fundamentally different setting so Constantine, by necessity, becomes more of a magician, more of a malevolent spirit who's going to win regardless of the situation, and that victory is a problem. He's no longer the rake ultimately trying to charm his way into a bed and a beer, he's, as the main villain in this volume says, the Liar, the trickster, and that mantle isn't a good fit for him.

These problems are accentuated by Azzarello's dialogue. He's aiming for a hard-boiled noir-ish voice for a lot of the characters, and it comes across really forced, almost parodic when it's not clunky exposition. The text feels, sadly, a little smug, like he thinks he's come up with something really clever--especially in the final story--only it's not that clever.

To the good, the story with the Neo-Nazis *was* inventive, surprising, and viscerally satisfying and the whole volume moves at a good clip. And it's not that the writing isn't smart, it just gets bogged down in a faux edginess with story elements that are there because Azzarello thinks they'll shock the audience instead of being central to the telling. That's what I mean by "smug."

The volume, though, all the stories together, deal with the themes of the past and future--the acceptance of the former and the uncontrollable nature of the latter. Characters are obsessed with controlling their future and unable to forget the past, undone by the promises of oracles and freed only when they walk away from old debts, and, being a Hellblazer book, that's if they're freed at all. That is done with subtly and is really smart.

In the end, this isn't my favorite stretch of Hellblazer, but it's not bad. The concept, Constantine in America, has promise, but I don't think these stories lock onto the setting the way Hellblazer traditionally does with Britain. It has some nice touches, one great arc, and is thematically well-composed, but misses the mark with elements like its noir pretenses that just don't work.

Edit 2020: just reread this volume as part of a larger reread of the entire series. I still feel the way I did when I wrote this review, but wanted to refine my comments on Constantine in the US vs UK. I said in the review that Constantine doesn't work in the US, and that's not quite right. The problem is the earlier volumes of Hellblazer are as much about the setting as the sorcerer. They don't just happen in the UK (and at times elsewhere), they happen at THAT moment in THAT part of the UK. Politics and pop are always present and, at it's best, the series manages to make the horror elements reflect the reality of when the stores were composed.

Azzarello's America is not a place. Where in the US, apart from the final story in LA, does this happen, and when? It was published from 2000-2002 (presumably written several months in advance), but where are the elections or 9/11? I don't need an arc of Constantine smuggling a video of W sodomizing a pug dressed as Goering, but New Labour got an offhand reference in an earlier run which let us know when it was happening, where the world was at that moment, and how Constantine felt about it. The elections and 9/11 are part of the world Constantine is moving through: they would be in the background and he'd have an opinion about them. Yet I had to go digging for the original publication dates of these issues because they operate outside time. Since I can't tell when they're set they, ironically, feel very dated.

This speaks to the importance of setting and the transience of shock. Azzarello's run feels like it was conceived as a series of setpieces: Constantine in prison, finding a porno ring, ruling an S&M club. You can almost hear the "Oh sick bro!" shouts from the pitch meeting. But none of the places feel interesting or real.

Another reviewer here said this feels like Hellblazer fanfic written by Constantine himself, and that's both pretty damming and accurate.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 2 out of 5]

So we have Nazis and BDSM arcs tied together. I don't even know what to say. This is the arc that shows that John is bisexual. I guess for me this run by Azzarello is more about perversity, looking for that thing that will push the series over the edge. Maybe. Just looking back at the run, it seems to jump from internet/societal scaries to other edgy topics. Just seems to be like a best of Maury show.

Or maybe I am just cranky. Regardless, while I did enjoy parts of the arc, other just fell flat for me.

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 2 out of 5]

With the 15th trade finished, the not very long run of Azzarello ends. I will forever love him for 100 Bullets, and i digged his Wonder Woman alot. Sadly his Hellblazer not so much. The previous trade was not to spectaculair but safed by a great long story with Constantine in jail and in the USA, this volume continues Johns trip through the US, but he fails miserably. He tries to be edgy and brutal so much and doesn't get the point of Hellblazer, the biggest story is an absolute Letdown,  with a dumb story full of so called kinky sex and BDSM. I dont mind sex in comics, really dont, but this was so childish and distasteful, and felt like such a reach to be edgy.. 14 year old Rumi would have loved it because of hormones, but now i was just like WTF Azzarello,  their is no point at all. Also a story about a failed atempt  threesome with a hooker made me just hate Constantine for the first time.  And again  a story with  neonazi's .This run has been trash almost from beginning to end,  the artwork is decent, the stories are absolutely not. Really looking forward to start Mike Carey's run and just forget about this mess.

🌟🌟. Recommend for completionists like myself,  otherwise a hard pass.

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't particularly like this collection. Azzarello has always been a bit too vague as a writer - not coming out and saying what a story is about and dancing around until he finally gets to a muddled end. While I absolutely LOVED his 4 parter with Constantine in Prison (from the previous collection) - these other chapters - one where he puts some white supremacists in the grave and one about his final revenge on S.W. who held a grudge for 20 years because a young John fooled him about a magic clock that wasn't very magic. The last one especially dances around and we don't get to see Constantine until the end. For a six part story it lacked any dramatic tension or interesting characters or satisfying conclusion. As well, Azzarello doesn't seem to write a Constantine that I recognize. This one is all about sex (sex with a hooker, sex in an S & M club, sex with the man he eventually kills) and most of it doesn't really make sense. It is sex just for shock value. The art was okay but not really my tastes. Overall - this is NOT a collection I would recommend someone just getting into Constantine to read and one that could be skipped even by a fan of his other volumes.

[Heath Lowrance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well. If you read my review of "Good Intentions," you know I had high hopes for "Highwater" and was ready to go into it with a positive attitude, despite any misgivings I had about Azzarello as writer. I mean, I really like a lot of Azz's work; 100 Bullets is still one of my favorite comic series, and Diablo was good too. But his second and last volume of Hellblazer fell horribly flat for me. There are still decent moments here and there, but over-all it's a bit of a mess.

Spoilers follow, as usual.

The two-part "Lapdogs and Englishmen" opens this one, with guest art by Guy Davis, whom I only knew previously from Sandman Mystery Theater. He's an unconventional artist who's style works decently with the setting of this story: a flashback to Constantine's punk days in the 70s, and Constantine and his mates are approached by American ba-zillionare SW Manor to secure a mystical clock that sees the future. They aren't able to get the clock, but they pull a scam on Manor, give him a fake, and then stage their own deaths to scare him off. Meanwhile, some punk girl with a thing for John finds a book that really CAN tell the future, and is shaken after reading about Constantine's future life. She's murdered in her room by a mysterious figure who wants certain parts of the future kept secret.

This is a plot thread that Azzarello leaves dangling. There's no follow-up, and we never do find out who the mysterious killer is. It goes nowhere. Aside from that, "Lapdogs and Englishmen" is probably the high point of this volume.

The four-part "Highwater" is next, with Marcelo Frusin returning on art. Constantine finds Lucky Fermin's widow Marjorie in a small Montana enclave of white supremacists on the verge of taking some violent action. Constantine ingratiates himself with them, setting them up to turn on each other, and ultimately creates a Jewish golem to destroy them. This would have been a good Hellblazer story by itself, but the ongoing subplot involving SW Manor gets in the way of itself.

Here's what's going on with that, by the way, information we learn gradually over the course of this volume: Manor (who is a very thinly veiled pastiche of Bruce Wayne) was the catalyst for this entire American adventure. He's still pissed about Constantine tricking him all those years ago, and so pays Lucky to kill himself and set Constantine up to take the fall for it, making sure Marjorie is well cared for. Manor is a total bastard, with very dark and depraved sexual tastes, looking to fill some deep hole in his soul that can never be filled, and he has enough money and power to do pretty much anything damn thing he wants to do.

We learn some of that info in "Highwater," some more in the one-offs "A Fresh Coat of Red Paint" and "Chasing Demons". Those two issues find Constantine once again verbally sparring with FBI agent Frank Turro, and in alternating scenes of Manor being villainous while Constantine sits in a bar somewhere talking shit with the locals. These two issues are pencilled by Giuseppe Camuncoli, who is sorta like Frusin taken to cartoonish extremes. I'm not a fan of Camuncoli's work, sorry to say, but many years later he would become the primary artist of Peter Milligan's run on Hellblazer.

We finally, at last, come to the end of Azzarello's line with the 5-part "Ashes and Dust in the City of Angels". Frusin returns on art duties. It starts with another "cold open" (something Azz is pretty good at): at an exclusive sex club, a body that is apparently Constantine has spontaneously combusted from the inside, and Turro, along with LAPD detective Havlik, are investigating. Through a series of flashbacks from witnesses and from scenes with Manor, the story unfolds--

Constantine infiltrated the sex club to get to Manor and maneuvered his way into seducing him. Manor falls in love with him (or at least Manor's twisted version of love), and Constantine sorta... tortures him into a vision of his dead parents, who apparently loathe what their son has become. This sends Manor over the edge, and he decides he has to kill what he loves. He sends for Richie, the last surviving Fermin brother, to help do Constantine in. It all ends with Turro and Havlik showing up at Manor's estate just in time to witness Manor trying to feed a little boy to his hungry vampire bats, and a shootout with Manor's bodyguards. Turro loses a hand to Manor's blade, and then gets impaled. All the guards bite it, and Manor, wracked with remorse for killing his great love Constantine, blows his own head off.

Bleeding out, Turro looks up to see John Constantine, alive and well. Of COURSE he's alive, you didn't think he was really dead, did you? Don't be silly.

Anyway. It all becomes a bit tedious near the end. "Ashes & Dust" is one of the darker, uglier stories in the Hellblazer canon, I'll give Azz that. But at some point it became no fun to read, and about halfway through this volume I found myself really trudging through it, hoping it would end soon.

I was going to give this one three stars, but the more I think about it, the less I like it. Let's go with 2 and a half. It did have good moments; I liked the golem thing in "Highwater," and "Lapdogs and Englishmen" was a good story despite the plot thread Azz never follows up on. But over-all, Brian Azzarello's run on Hellblazer left me wanting.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were a couple almost interesting parts, but this book was just terrible. The writing was garbage, the art was off-brand, and the whole thing was totally passable. I am decidedly not a fan of Brian Azzarello. I’m so glad his run is over now. I can’t wait for Mike Carey’s.

[David Cordero · Rating 3 out of 5]

John’s back to the grind on a U.S. tour that doesn’t disappoint. He sets his standards low so he never gets disappointed.

[Christian Oliverio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: This is for both Hellblazer vol. 14: Good Intentions and vol. 15: Highwater

Spread across two volumes, we get the Hellblazer treatment of Swamp Thing's American Gothic. Constantine travels across America, confronting various American horrors on his own path of vengeance.

The story starts off great. Constantine gets thrown into prison and takes over the place in some pretty messed up and gnarly ways. Con-man and magician. Next, he finds himself taking down a canine sex ring in West Virginia... yeah, this story was interesting and weird. Surprisingly not as bad as it sounds, largely due to the strong character work. Then he finds himself caught in a snowstorm with a serial killer trapped in the diner with them, easily stealing the highlight of the whole arc (so good). We get an introduction to our villain, then Constantine takes on some Nazis using a Golem, (which was amazing for all the irony that entails, especially when Constantine rightly points out how the Jews are God's chosen people AND how the Holocaust is indirectly responsible for the modern state of Israel. The worst nightmare of a Nazi and he really had fun milking the truth while killing them with a Jewish spell), before finally getting his vengeance on the evil gay Bruce Wayne, S.W. Manor, in a very shady and kinky nightclub.

Overall, this was a solid story. The thing I enjoyed the best of this whole arc was how morally gray Constantine is. Much like in Swamp Thing, you don't really know what his motives are or what his big plan is until the end. All you know is he is manipulating everybody. This really shines in the prison and neo-Nazi arc. Although the best usage of Constantine's 'shadiness' was easily in the snowstorm where Constantine is prime suspect as the urban legend, but ends up proving to be a wild card in the whole affair. This arc in particular very much tied to the horror roots of the character and I loved it, especially Constantine's devilish smile.

Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the final arc. It still had some great moments and Manor was a phenomenal villain, but all the stuff at the BDS club felt very... weird. Disturbing in a way that just isn't interesting or entertaining to me.

In short, a great arc that would be a solid intro to the character, while also being fairly self-contained. Just be advised there are some pretty messed up stuff you'll witness.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marcelo Frusin returns for the major arcs, “Highwater” and “Ashes & Dust,” so the art’s nice. Future regular artist Giuseppe Camuncoli delivers some solid art in between those two major arcs. Unfortunately, the writing isn’t up to the art for most of this.

#162-163 Lapdogs and Englishmen 4/5
A story from Constantine’s youth that builds the world, but, much like haunted, isn’t followed up on its creator’s run. It. Is a great hook that fills in Constantine’s backstory without being annoying. Guest artist Guy Davis really gives a younger feel to the characters and a nostalgic feel to the story.

#164-167 Highwater 1.5/5
Um, the Nazis are dumb arc. There is an ending cliffhanger that feeds into the final arc, but this train does not get better. An extra half star for skinheads being killed by a Jewish golem spell.

#168 A Fresh Coat of Red Paint 1/5
Character building? I am really not fond of how Azzarello builds his Constantine mains. They’re not just horrible people, they’re stupid, boring, horrible people. This arc begins the “not making sense” crap that plagues the next two stories, though this and all the remaining issues in Azzarello’s run are all basically part of one arc.

#169 Chasing Demons 1/5
More character development that won’t make much sense until after “Ashes & Dust,” but truthfully, I just didn’t care at this point.

#170-174 Ashes & Dust in the City of Angels 1/5
Another story collapses in on itself. The hook is nice, Constantine burned himself to death according to witnesses and the FBI idiot from the end of “Hard Time” and “A Fresh Coat of Paint” comes to make sure he’s dead. It’s a shame nothing is explained.

Does Constantine need to struggle for anything anymore? Since when did he become a demigod? I’ve seen people compare this to the Alan Moore Constantine, but I’m fairly sure he was still a trickster who used a bit of magic to get by. Now, he can just magic his problems away with ease. Ugh. I hope Lucifer’s Mike Carey rights the Hellblazer ship; it’s sinking again.

[Nate]

Azzarello’s daring and unique Hellblazer run concludes here. I have to say I didn’t like this as much as the first half, and it actually makes me like the first half less. Azzarello’s run tells a complete story. Each arc informs the next, and while some of them are good on their own, the overall storytelling is odd and overly complicated. It centers on John’s relationship with Stanley, stemming from an encounter they had in the late 70’s (seen in the two-parter that opens this book). The lengths they go to get at one another are unrealistic, to say the least, while the things Azzarello says about corruption, desire, and revenge fall flat. The conclusion left me more baffled than not.

I was also irked by Azzarello’s Constantine. He’s a shadow player, especially in the last arc, exuding confidence and knowing snark from behind the scenes. We rarely see the uncertainty behind his confidence, because Azzarello doesn’t have narration for John. One thing I do like is how John’s bisexuality is addressed here. It adds an interesting layer to the story, and I think Azzarello handles it well.

I wanted to like this more than I did. The first half of Azzarello’s run was powerful and interesting, with a directness that I quite liked. But it falls apart here for me, exposing several flaws. The storytelling is off at times. This run is definitely different, and I appreciate it for that, but it’s not a defining run for me.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Brian Azzarello took over as writer for Hellblazer, a noticeable change came over John Constantine. Less amiable, more taciturn, not as quick with a witty non sequitor. Definitely a lot more angry. Probably had something to do with the fact that he’d been thrown in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

Azzarello also opened the door for more discussion on Constantine’s state of his soul. The word “evil” came up quite a bit. I mean, Constantine has always been dark, even for an anti-hero, but evil?

In Volume 15, “Highwater”, Azzarello kicks the evil up a notch. And the kink. To “11”.

Azzarello seems to be making a pretty strong—-and possibly unintentional, even accidental—-commentary and examination of toxic masculinity in this. Or he truly is this perverted. Whatevs. It’s borderline misogynistic and blatantly offensive to even the most liberal of sensibilities regarding sexuality. I honestly didn’t think anyone had Garth Ennis beat in terms of pushing the envelope of good taste, but I was wrong. Azzarello wins.

This is an interesting volume in that Constantine only appears in roughly half the story. The other half, he’s dead. Or at least that’s what he wants everybody to think, including the guy who set him up and got him sent to prison.

The takeaway? Perversions are like any obsession: they eventually take over your mind until they’re all you see, no matter where you look.

Definitely one of the most fucked-up “Hellblazer” volumes I’ve read.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picture comic book writers (yes, I know they're called graphic novels) sitting around challenging each other to come up with the most over the top ideas and plots. After all, the tales are fantastic and so much more can be done than would ever be possible in real life. It works even better to me when real world problems/issues can be addressed. I think this volume succeeds with that since this volume addresses themes such as: even if we could, do we really want to know our future; American exceptionalism funneled into white supremacy - God's law as interpreted for whites over all others; and only Americans understand American football. (That last one was only one panel.) I give this 4 stars because of how well I liked the themes but some of it just seemed to spin off without a real explanation. Still this is a heck of a ride.

[Remxo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two stars are for the art by Frusin and others because the stories are extremely dark and off-putting. Trigger warnings for torture, gratuitous violence, the useless killing of a squirrel, racism, sexism, sexual violence, and the list goes on. Should you ever feel the need to dive deep into the underlying philosophy of white supremacists, this is the book for you. The Highwater arc features an extensive rant of a neo nazi who goes on and on about the superiority of the white race in the caption boxes of, god knows why, 4 (four!!) bloody issues. Not sure if I should sell this or just burn it.

[Heather Cain · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time ever reading any John Constantine comic and I was not disappointed. I didn't expect it to be so raunchy or scandalous at first, but it makes sense because of his own experiences with dark forces and magic. I honestly loved this series and I seriously need to find more to read about him. The story lines with Constantine have important dialog but I need more background about the characters and their storylines to better understand their connections in the series. Will definitely look for more later.

[Matt Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bizarrely unsatisfying and for the most part poorly executed conclusion to Azzarello’s run on the book (the artwork is the one saving Grace of this collection if you ask me), with the effort made to be provocative just coming off as a bit desperate and more than a little embarrassing. Azzarello’s take on Constantine as a character also feels off base throughout.

It has to be said, my experience of reading Constantine has been uneven to date, but I’m still committed to completing the series if only because I’ve got this far.

[AJW · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume covers the second half of Brian Azzarello’s stint on Hellblazer.

I enjoyed it almost as much as the first half. The arcane spell Azzarello cast over this volume had me turning the pages over and over, until I finished this book.

Azzarello’s Constantine is a hard bastard, but he’s cleverer than hell and has a smidgeon of goodness.

I loved Marcelo Frusin’s artwork. And Tim Bradstreet’s covers were amazing to look at too.