9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply awesome, March 14, 2005
With all the attention focused on DC/Vertigo's Hellblazer series (mainly thanks to the Constantine movie), this original graphic novel is great for long time Hellblazer readers and new fans to the series as well. Written by current series scribe Mike Carey and penciled by series artist Leonardo Manco, All His Engines finds John Constantine and his best mate Chas Chandler traveling from England to Los Angeles when Chas' grandaughter Tricia falls under a mysterious coma: along with children all over the planet. In between, we are given glimpses of Constantine's past as he uses his connections and various manipulative abilities, magical and otherwise, to save Tricia. All His Engines features the best the Hellblazer series has to offer: dark and gothic settings featuring the most interesting and enjoyable anti-hero in comics today. This handsome hardcover graphic novel is a nice package to get your hands on, but you'll be wishing it was a bit longer. All in all, whether your new to the world of Hellblazer or not, consider this worth picking up.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BRILLIANTLY HORRIFYING!, August 27, 2006
This review is from: John Constantine, Hellblazer: All His Engines (Paperback)
"John Constantine, Hellblazer: All his Engines" is a brand new and original graphic novel written by Mike Carey with art by Leonardo Manco. As a Hellblazer fan ever since the blokes first appearance in Swamp Thing # 37, I can tell you it's one of the finest stories yet. When the granddaughter of Constantine's friend Chas goes into an unexplainable coma, he contacts John to try and help. Little Tricia is just one of dozens of victims of this same mysterious affliction. Constantine soon finds there is demonic influence at work which leads him and Chas to Los Angeles and the mansion of a demon named Beroul.
Beroul and several other demons have decided to open up their own, little parcels of hell on Earth...think of it like a franchise. Beroul wants Constantine to eliminate the competition and is holding little Tricia as ransom to secure his services. Constantine can cause no harm to Beroul without risking the life of Tricia as he has her soul imprisoned within his own fat, putrid body. There's a marvelously wicked scene when John first encounters Beroul at his swimming pool...a foul built-in, filled with decaying bodies that the demon is liquefying down in order to bathe in...Constantine is up against it again. He finds his only recourse may be to make a deal with an immortal being even worse than the demons...an Aztec God of Death!
"All His Engines" is typical of most Hellblazer stories with John making a mistake in judgment that leads to the death of an associate and in generally puts his friends in danger. And of course, in typical fashion John gets the snot kicked out of him on a number of occasions. But as ever, he proves his ultimate resourcefulness, particularly in dealing with Beroul's competition. You get a good idea of why just about every demon in the underworld would love his head on the end of a pole.
Hellblazer has always had artists who do a wonderful job of capturing the palpable darkness that is Constantine's world and Leonardo Manco is no exception. His depictions of the various demons and the Death God are truly horrific. The use of this being of a near forgotten mythology comes off as brilliant in its execution.
The book concludes with some fantastic resource information about the character and his creation by Alan Moore twenty years ago. Hard to believe it's been that long. Great story!
Reviewed by Tim Janson
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An wonderfully satisfying "stand alone" story from Carey and Marcos, November 23, 2006
This review is from: John Constantine, Hellblazer: All His Engines (Paperback)
I liked the comment below that "All His Engines" was a lot like a Hellblazer "sitcom". I think that's dead on (except for the nauseating scenes of horror and violence that are typically omitted from a show like "The Jeffersons"). This graphic novel actually "feels" somewhat different from the typical "Hellblazer" collection. Almost all of the previous 14 Hellblazer compilations are just that - volumes that collect and compile serially published issues from the "Vertigo" comic series. But this one was written and conceived as a singular work under one cover, so the pacing is a bit different, and there is a lot less recapping and repetition in the work as a result. It makes for a very satisfying read, as a result.
"All His Engines" was my first exposure to Carey's work, and I was fairly impressed. While he doesn't have the bawdy irreverence and depravity of someone like Ennis, or the sheer inventiveness and snarkiness of someone like Warren Ellis, he knows how to tell a good, dark, horror story with amusing elements...in fact, he reminds me a lot of "Buffy's" creator Josh Wheden. And Leonardo Marcos, is, for my money, one of the most compelling and interesting graphic artists working today. Not since the glory days of Totleben and Veitch have I seen an artist who manages to combine fetishism, comedy and drama so well and so consistently. In the words of a critic in another context, "Let's give him a million dollars so he can draw comics forever. Or more importantly, less give him a million dollars on the CONDITION that he draw comics forever."
Their collaboration results in a cracking good "Hellblazer" story, one that remains true to the established roots of the character - the working class street magician, his family and friends, his peers and enemies - and also manages to bring in a new set of ideas to the world of black magic and the supernatural. I especially enjoyed the Carey's use of the Aztec "Death God" as a element of culture class between modern day "white" and "hispanic" mythologies - and Marcos' depiction of the Death God was at once both exactly what you would expect, and yet still impressive and scary.
So great plot, great pacing, snappy dialog, great art, more than a bit of action and violence and demons ripping each others heads off, a very tricky and satisfying resolution to the dilemma (that was still typical of Constantine's use of trickery, bluff, and misdirection)...and also a few unaffected glimpses of both the enigma and the sadness of Constantine himself.
I like it. I like it a lot. More, please.
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