John Constantine has to travel to London to stop a couple of mystic baddies from collecting the last ingredient to a big-time magical artifact: a compass that can locate every mystic resource in the world. Constantine has three things going against him: Sargon the Sorceress and Mister E, two nasty spell-slingers who really want that compass, and the city of London itself. Turns out Constantine has been cursed to die if he sets foot in London, so he figures he has mere minutes to find what he needs and escape before his head explodes.
The trouble starts on page 2; Constantine is already starting to hemorrhage. Constantine knows he has very little time to find the lens of the compass. An old flame of his picks him up to give him a lift, and the whole city starts to collapse around them. A really nasty trap is sprung, a deal is struck, and the final component for the compass is found.
The Good: Ray Fawkes and Jeff Lemire are doing a pretty nice job of capturing the voice of John Constantine. Renato Guedes throws some decent-to-good pencil work around. Constantine is a cock-sure bastard. London literally collapsing as it tries to kill Constantine.
The Rad: The trap sprung half way through this issue is just nasty. Bodies hanging from visceral nooses everywhere, perspective completely out of whack and a London-scape ripped straight from hell. The Riddling Butcher is a nasty piece of work. The art at times borders on incredible…
The Fugly:…and the art at times borders on mediocre. Constantine looks less sly than palsied in a few panels. For a horror comic, there is very little menace at play; classic Hellblazer could be downright un-nerving, and often times with really flimsy art. Fawkes and Lemire need to up their game and write real horror, or fans of the franchise will move on. Horrific imagery is only part of the battle, guys! The stakes involved in Contstantine so far have been explained, but never really felt. This is the set-up for a bigger story yet to come, so I’m going to stay on with you… For now. Recommended for Hellblazer fans, casual recommend for horror fans.
Constantine #3 is available now at your local comic shop.