Customer Reviews

Hellblazer: The Fear Machine (Hellblazer (Graphic Novels))

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can't believe this item is rated so poorly. I've read nearly everything on the Hellblazer line and this rates near the top. Everything that the other reviewers criticize I thought, by contrast, was a strength. I didn't find the portrayal of Constantine as a hippie to be unrealistic. We see Constantine at a very youthful stage in his life, and he begins to become a man in this volume. The far-out story telling (have you ever heard of ley-lines?) takes you for a wild ride, but it is original and refreshing when compared to usual themes of demons and hell that one frequently encounters reading Constantine's other adventures. Of course, if Jamie Delano's style turns you off, and I don't know why it would, then that's something that won't change with this book. It's just that these issues are absolutely classic and some of the earliest ones out there. One can't argue that Delano developed the core of Constantine's world (check out "Original Sins") after the character was created by Alan Moore in the Swamp Thing a few years earlier. Whether you are new to Hellblazer or a dedicated fan, I highly recommend this title. Don't let it go out of print!

First off, thank goodness this trade exists. I love Jamie Delano's run on Hellblazer, which was frustratingly incomplete until Vertigo finally set out to collect his brilliant post-Original Sins storylines. I loved the stories included in The Devil You Know, which wrapped up -the events left dangling in the Original Sins trade and included the disturbing yet beautiful Horrorist mini-series. I have yet to read The Family Man, but I plan on picking it up soon. Let's hope the next trade wraps up Delano's initial run!
But, as my title indicates, this story was a disappointment. The artwork is there, as are the government conspiracies, nightmarish violence, and trippy concepts. Alas, like many arcs that stretch past 6 issues, The Fear Machine falters and ultimate becomes a chore to read. Maybe it's that imagining Constantine as a hippie just doesn't click, but the story felt like another title altogether. Plus, there are no breaks in the main story, as there were in the "Zed" storyline from Original Sins and The Devil You Know. By the final issue, you're praying the climax will be earth-shattering, and while all the elements are there (sex, rituals, saving the world yet again), I mostly felt relief that I'd actually reached the end.
That said, I still liked more of the storyline than I hated. Delano always pushes the envelope and throws more originality into every page than you're bound to see in countless "edgy" imitations. My advice is to go for the first 2 Delano trades first, otherwise you may be disappointed. Let's hope they wrap up the run in paperbacks soon!

The Fear Machine collects Hellblazer 14-22, originally published in 1988 and 1989.

Although the collection is... ok (not bad, but certainly worthy of its mediocre 3 star rating), it mostly serves as a reminder of how the comic industry has progressed in the past 20 years. The art and colors feel dated, and the Thatcher's-Government-Is-Out-To-Get-You plotting by bureaucratic evil-doers has been replaced by much sleeker military-corporate conspiracy theories over the past two decades...

A Freemason/Corporate/Government conspiracy (involving black wizards and corrupt cops) has built a 'fear machine' - raising a giant Freemasonic Lovecraftian beastie by using psychics to suck fear into a big Stonehengey box. Fighting for the good guys? John Constantine, of course. This time, he's aided by a group of travellers - gypsy renegades who live off the grid and practice oddball nature magic.

There are a few tense moments, but mostly this is a plodding, slightly confusing, journey from start to finish. Except for a few brief moments of decisive action (most of which amount to nothing), Constantine is a frail and useless bystander. I don't mind Constantine not blasting away with eldritch bolts, but I do resent following someone that is, at best, ineffectual. He isn't being crushed by the baddies either - he's just not very good at anything, keeps making fumbling mistakes, and is eventually kicked into the corner by a pair of uninteresting ex-lovers, who solve everything on their own.

This is a low point in Delano's otherwise solid run, but I definitely prefer the more sinister, more potent Constantine from the Ellis & Ennis eras.

I've been a comic book reader/collector for close to 30 years and I still love classics like this series. It is well thought out and the story lines always keep me in suspense. It definitely is NOT for children.

So many HB fans have a problem with this arc and it makes me wonder if they are really fans at all. This was a great Constantine story with all kinds of twists and turns that really make you think about the role of government in society. Granted, this whole story is grounded in Magic and fantasy. But a lot of it seems relevant, especially today. There is so much more that we don't know in terms of who supposedly has our best interests in mind as citizens in a free world. In that respect this Constantine tale seems to have a good stronghold on reality. At the same time its our favorite demonslayer at his witty, cockney-bantering finest, so its very entertaining. As far as the narrative, it's not an easy read, but why would you want it to be? The Sandman epic isn't like reading the latest misadventures of Archie and Jughead. Does that mean there is no place for Morpheus? Those books make you believe in a dreamland ruled by a dark being who may or may not be protecting everything and everyone. Always keeps you thinking? I love that about these books, specifically Sandman and Constantine. Read this and then second guess the guy you voted for in the last election. He could be a master of the Columbian necktie and a puppeteer of the apocalypse. Then maybe go and kiss a tree. Eff the naysayers on this one, mate!

Something happened to Hellblazer after the first few issues. Jamie Delano, as the third writer after Alan Moore and Rick Veitch to tackle Constantine, had turned the smooth operator into a guilt-ridden mess of a man who was barely one step ahead of the forces that were out to destroy him. After dealing with Newcastle and the demon that threw a brash punk rock exorcist into the mental hospital.

Yet, once that storyline was over (and is the Newcastle story collected YET? Can DC pay two artists royalties for one collection), Delano came up with this mess of a story. Even though there are some great moments (the train issue was particularly scary), the tension and the horror that kept me waiting month after month for the next issue to see how things were going to turn out was missing. Instead, we have a messy tale full of anti-Thatcher paranoia, hippies and stonehedge. There's also something about laylines and a few interesting characters who don't live until the end. Oh and did I mention the hippies? Sadly, they survive to make a few annoying returns.

I found it uninspired at the time and I found it very dull today. Furthermore, the artwork is even worse than I remember it. I hated Buckingham when he took over the art and I hate his 1988 artwork even more now. He makes people look like pigs. Everything is ugly and Constantine's transformation from wreck to hippie to cool operator is just hideous. His work on Fables is some great stuff, but this is a book where he's learning his craft and his style was really too rough to sustain a title.