Hellblazer #19

Hellblazer (Single Issues)

by Jamie Delano, Jamie Delano, Alfredo Alcalá (Inker)

John Constantine's friend attempted a suicide and luckily failed. But now, more suicides--and in more bizarre fashions--are cropping up. Meanwhile, the evil behind the Fear Machine is exposed!

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

22 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1989

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 5 out of 5]

The sandman appeared in this issue, but he didn't even say a word, Constantine talked about how he got rid of his nightmares through the sandman and how he had spent two days with him, if that's a clue on a story that happened in the sandman series then I sadly don't remember it.
I think sandman might be the only comic series I'll reread one day, because when I read it I didn't write reviews, I would like to have reviews on all the issues.
Anyway, brilliant as usual, the story is long, it just keeps on getting better and better.
And I believe this format is a winner, long ass stories that feel like a novella, would be huge for most comics.
Issue is when it's a bad long story, a novella you can just dnf, but a comic series you know something probably better is coming after so you end up forcing yourself to continue reading.
Constantine is risking his life digging behind this company to save Mercury, while Marj her mother is spending her time having orgies with the pagans and doing mumbo jumpo crap that will not bring the girl back.
I wonder what the writer has in store for Zed, I hope that's her name because suddenly I am not sure, but issue is, I think Jamie Delano will probably leave the series after this story, or somewhere during volume 4, where Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison will try their hand at writing Hellblazer and either fail or end up not having enough time to write it.
Since they will only do very few issues.

[Ｆｒａｎｋｈ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"These days we all need a hand to hold--in the dead of night when the rain dashes itself in blind waves against the windows. When fear seeps, pooling in every vague depression--diluting and dissolving us, diminishing us--suspending us drifting in a submarine world. When you're drowning, any hand will do."

I was pretty outspoken in my reviews about how the first three issues of the Fear Machine storyline made me disinterested in general (in retrospect, I now realize those were set-ups for the main stage), and it was only until the fifth issue that I felt like the story finally found its voice. The slow-burn quality of this storyline has finally paid off, however, with the sixth and seventh installments. This issue entitled The Broken Man picks up the pacing yet again and it thankfully continues to improve with the next one after this as well.

The first thing I want to discuss is Mercury, a character I've had a penchant for since the beginning. She had been abducted by some scientists because she has psychic abilities and they use those powers within this invention they call the Fear Machine. Finally, we understand better how Mercury actually performs her tasks within its mainframe, and what they are specifically. From what I can understand, Merc is rooting out people's night terrors. They have a roster of patients in the facility that they would allow Merc to help and she would get inside their heads and extract their nightmares. This is not an absolute cure, however, because Merc explains that these terrors come back every now and then and she has to repeat the process for as many times as it takes. And she does it voluntarily, acknowledging that for once in her life she is finally doing good deeds with her gifts. It makes her all the more interesting too, especially the depth of compassion she has for the people who are plagued by such horrible things in their sleep. She may be afraid herself because she has no idea what the motives of the scientists were and how it will affect her, but she is bravely making the most of her circumstances, and doing something worthwhile for other people. For this, I just absolutely adore her.

Still, she knows that she can't stay there forever so she started to plot her escape, employing the help of Dr. Philip Futon (who seems to be quite infatuated with her) most especially after she uncovers a deadly code shared among her captors that she may have no power over, even if she is a talented psychic.

On the flip side of that coin, her mother Marj is still getting on my nerves, most probably because a series of interesting things might be happening to her but she remains remotely uninteresting. For this issue, we see her canoodling with a certain character from the earlier issue who was supposedly dead. Can I just spoil it because it's been hovering since issue #16---it's no other than John's ill-fated former shag buddy Zed (otherwise known as Mary). She's some sort of a witch doctor now, and she and Marj are apparently getting sapphic. But I really couldn't give a shit.

Now moving on to John Constantine himself. He's been so focused since he got back from his sabbatical. Clean-shaven and sporting a dark leather coat, John looks the part of  man who means business, and he has been on the right track since. He also seemed to be gathering like-minded men who are following the same cause as he iw. For this issue, he got to talk with journalist Simon Hughes who could have died if John didn't got him out of that closet where he was tied up and near asphyxiation. It's a really horrid way of to kill someone (Simon is later revealed as a gay man which is why stuffing him in the closet has that level of hate crime to it that is hard to miss).

Another precious gem for this issue is Neil Gaiman's Morpheus from The Sandman who makes a cameo appearance (I did mention that I first encountered John in Preludes and Nocturnes where he accompanied Morpheus in retrieving his sand pouch from a junkie ex-girlfriend). Those three panels made me really giddy. Right after that charming side mission, John goes back to his original goal at hand which is to find Merc and take care of the people who took her. With Simon tagging along, John meets up with police officer Geoff Talbot (from issue #18) whom they convince to join their crusade. While on the subway, this bum, who had been following John since the first page of the issue, walks up to him, reciting gibberish about being a broken man. And then he shoves a piece of paper into John's mouth and jumps off the train. He shouted "Jallakuntilliokan!" Good times.

Recovering from the shock of that sudden (and comical) physical assault, John takes out the paper and opens it up. Simon looks at it and trembles. He recognized the symbol and it was the design on the ring of the very man who strangled and stuffed him in the closet. The issue ends with that ominous revelation and I love it!

I'm getting pretty excited with the turn of events by now. The villains are now on focus and John is becoming insanely hotter and more irresistible when he shows this level of focus and dedication on the mission at hand.

What more could I ask from Hellblazer?

RECOMMENDED: 8/10


DO READ MORE OF MY HELLBLAZER REVIEWS

[Cybernex007 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conspiracies all wrapped together, I have to admit this issue got a bit more confusing but the general idea of the direction we are taking makes sense. We pick up directly from the end of the last issue, we see as a man in a purple patchwork coat stands outside the hotel Constantine is staying at as the owners are woken up to the yells from Constantine trying to rip down and save the reporter’s, Simon, life after we found him strung up at the end of the last issue. The owners ignorantly believed Constantine and Simon, who is gay, we’re doing something sexual, but the moment Simon gets his breath back he stops them from calling an ambulance, he doesn’t want cops involved but is still reeling from someone actually trying to kill him. Constantine provided comfort to Simon as he finally got some rest after such an incident, he was able to speak a bit on Geotroniks and help piece together some of the puzzle for Constantine. Apparently they are a defense sub contractor supposedly working on tracking systems utilizing the planet’s electro magnetic landscape. Which is a clear link to the let lines. But their scientists also keep turning up as suicides. Which begs the question if they are being killed to keep a secret or if the job is getting to them. But Constantine is sure it’s a weapons system, which would explain the Russian interest. But there is also the issue of the black squad made up of police officers that Talbot dug up. He knows the two are connected due to that security guard Constantine met, Davis, and he can see how Geotroniks is using Mercury’s psychic energy. But he doesn’t know who is running the show. Maybe the regular police being recruited points to the state being behind it. But Talbot also mentioned Freemasons blocking his investigation. But now he is getting twisted into conspiracies. And all the while the man in the patchwork jacket stands outside mc constantly mumbling to himself about being a broken man.

As we go and check on Mercury things are not going so well. She has pieced together that her taking terrors and locking them away is not a good thing and it’s actually conjoining together into a larger terrible force that will continue to grow. As such she decides to go into the ley lines under the threat that if she is touched she will let the terror thing out of its trap. All of this is happening as Doctor Fulton is waiting on word from the oversees investors and with Mercury being the crutch that keeps their entire operation standing, this is not a good time. I’m not exactly sure what happens in the panels where Mercury goes through the ley lines and sees the horrors that are culminating, but she does come to a conclusion…it’s time to leave. I’m not exactly sure if it had a hand in her decision, but we also see her mother, Marj, perform a pagan ritual with the other women to try and call her home to her mother. And as Marj gets out of the ley lines and into her own body, she immediately gets into Fulton’s mind and takes him over so he can escort her out.

As we jump back to John we get a quick scene revealing to us that he has actually been over with Morpheus in the sandman series for at least 2 days, lol, but that is just in time to go and pick up Sammy and take him over to see Fulton at his wife’s funeral so the three can get together and talk more. As they all meet up they missed the ceremony and set off together to work through this. They end up in a subway station where the man in the jacket continues to follow Constantine, right at this moment Talbot is mentioning a Russian he knows and wants Constantine to meet…until the man in the jacket comes up to Constantine, shoves a piece of paper in his mouth, and then jumps in front of an oncoming subway car. WHAT JUST HAPPENED! Constantine pulls out the paper to reveal a strange symbol and a reference to the G.O.A.G. coming. Sammy is immediately sent into shock, not because of the death that just occurred in front of them, but because the symbol on the paper was on the ring of the man who tried to kill him!

[Devin Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to mention this for #18 but I wasn't sure if the art team had changed (it did; I forgot to look before posting a review), but I'm really loving this hatching. The art throughout this series has been good, but the hatching-heavy style (which is also present in early issues) is really to my tastes and I think it fits the tone very nicely.

This also taps into psychedelic images that we've seen from other Hellblazer artists, and I just adore the imagination on display.

The writing continues to be wonderful. It's touching on social themes (as always) in tasteful ways, while keeping things moving and exciting (without losing Delano's talent for introspection).

[irene ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5. (Pequeño cameo de Dream, el de Gaiman).