Customer Reviews

John Constantine, Hellblazer: Pandemonium

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Everyone loves a little bit of John Constantine and we would be hard pressed to resist the appeal of this brand-new graphic novel featuring the charming occult detective from London. Add in the fact that it is written by acclaimed Vertigo luminary, Jamie Delano, and illustrated by fan favorite artist, Jock, ignoring this graphic novel becomes all the more harder. The cover looks shiny and sleek with a dirty depiction of Constantine on it, sneering with a cigarette in his lips. It's all you need to get an idea of what to expect in this rip-roaring and wickedly original story.

In an interview on Comic Book Resources, Jamie said that "in a moment of weakness," he agreed to writing PANDEMONIUM. When a writer says that, you know it implies a deep love for a character and that can be seen in how Jamie portrays Constantine. In other words, you can expect the John Constantine you have always loved, the chain-smoking, profanity-talking bastard with a warped moral compass. Every act of goodwill he does never comes from a deep motivation to do well by anyone, but stems from an effort to reduce the inward debt to his personal demons.

He shows goodwill to a woman named Aseera, a Muslim woman with a deep-cut past. They find themselves go through all manner of activity and we see how John, the bastard he is, goes through hell with her, both in a figurative (Iraqi warzone) and literal (hell itself) sense. Jamie keeps it all tight and intriguing. You can never be sure how John arrives at his conclusions but you are aware of his inherent intellect and, in the book's final moments, his wickedness running the full course. Again, it's the Constantine you love; the mage with a capacity for terrible justice in his own twisted standards.

Jamie did well by making that the driving force in this book, as should be, and the poetic words on the pages help bring the message across. Every line feels like something out of a Shakespearean play, never dull and always rife with flavor. One can never deny how tender every caption box or dialogue balloon reads.

But Jamie's style may be difficult for first-time Hellblazer readers to digest as he writes with such discontinuity. However, as it stands, the story does run along well enough to get a sizable feel of what's going on. PANDEMONIUM is a book about war, not just against our adversaries but also against malignant forces within us and perhaps, below us.

It would be fair to describe PANDEMONIUM as a love letter to Hellblazer fans, with John Constantine's dysfunctions and traits on full display, but new readers would do better by hunting down Jamie's run on the main Hellblazer book, if only just to get a feel for his complex style.

As Hellblazer and Constantine go this is a good book. Written as a single story for some kind of annivesary, the story is well written. The humour is black and the build up is good.

Our hero has travelled to Hell but here he enters a different hell, modern day Iraq to battle demons and spirits that thrive on the suffering of War.

The book fed my appitite and left me well satisfied.

Recommended.

The uninhibited juggernaut of a character that is John Constantine gets to shine brightly in this politically and philosophically fueled, sinfully enjoyable romp full of magic, mythology, horror, and dark humor.

Delano makes a triumphant return to the Vertigo stalwart he was responsible for launching decades ago. I feel this is the best writing he's ever done on the "Hellblazer" title that revolves around the irreverent con-man and blue-collar mage known as John Constantine. Though created by Alan Moore in the pages of "Swamp Thing", the character's 'true' beginnings were the brain-child of Jamie Delano. He breathed life into the character by giving him his own title for fans to follow. And followed we have. "John Constantine: Hellblazer" has been a successful series for what seems like an eternity(and I've only been reading the title since the late 90s!). I have read the majority of "JC: Hellblazer" trade paperbacks, starting with volume one, "Original Sins"(which was written by Delano). I have also read the fantastic "Hellblazer" graphic novel, "All His Engines"(which is a review for another time). But if I hadn't read "Original Sins", I wouldn't have gotten hooked on the character, and thereby would have deprived myself of some of the best comic book stories I've ever read. Delano's "Original Sins" was, just like "Pandemonium", heavy in its political and philosophical tone. This book, however, is a more entertaining read than is his first run on the character. I really liked "Original Sins", but "Pandemonium" surpasses it in every way. The story, in my opinion, is more cohesive and tightly woven. Delano is and has always been an amazing wordsmith. But here, he is better than ever; the dialogue is snappy, and his use of description is far and away some of the strongest I've ever come across. In words, he sees more than just a way to advance the plot. Each turned phrase is ripe with a poetic-like delivery that would turn even the most boring of stories into an assault on the senses. He's that good. Then there's the way he handles the main character. Delano writes Constantine with the sarcastic and fiendishly politically incorrect sense of humor, endearingly opportunistic selfishness, and sneering devil-may-care attitude that makes him fun to read. Add to that the fact that aside from all the posturing, once you scratch the surface and look a little deeper, you see that he really has a good heart. All of these things have made him possibly the coolest character in the pantheon of cool comic book characters. And the political satire that Delano is so brilliant at, is seething with brutal honesty. And the philosophical elements that he provides make you think(which I feel more graphic novels should endeavor to do). This original graphic novel shows all of these aspects while tossing in a really interesting plot stacked with all the outer-dressings that make for a real page-turner.

All I can say about the artwork of Jock is that his craggy style fits perfectly with the atmosphere of a "Hellblazer" book. I've loved Jock's work since first seeing it in "The Losers". I then treated myself to his magnificent stylings in "Green Arrow: Year One". His stuff is very original and unique. No one else's art could be mistaken for Jock's. His triple-threat abilities of pencils, inks, and colors are on full display here. He nails the tone of the story. 'Nuff said.

Bottom line: Buy this book. If you've read Constantine before, you'll love it. If you haven't, you'll become a new fan. Either way, you win!

Things that go bump in the night usually stay in the night; otherwise their voice-mails would be hacked and they'd be on the cover of a British tabloid, their cover totally blown. I mean if there were REAL demons we'd all be back in church and little more virtuous, right?

Constantine doesn't live in a very virtuous world. He's dodgy and dirty. But in this excellent story arc he comes face to face with people that are even dodgier and dirtier than he is, plus blessed with public and political backing.

With weak writing or illustration, the setting could come off as merely politically exploitative - I mean setting a horror comic story in the midst of the real horrors of the US/British engagements in Iraq?

Instead the story sucks you in, just barely plausible enough at the beginning to suspend disbelief, never exploitative of the sacrifices made by the troops or the suffering endured by civilians. A demon feasting on all that suffering is the fickle finger of fate that makes us wonder if fundamental Christians and Islamics might somehow be right, that there are deeper things at work in these conflicts than we want to face. In this case there are deeper things, not larger, noble battles - just dirty jockying for the "juice" that keeps hell running.

The story ending is very satisfying. The rational mind cannot see magic even when it is right in front of it, the blinders are bound too tight. It's not possession, it's combat fatigue or PTSD, what did he just do, we don't know or care just tie him down and pump him full of knockout. Constantine sees what others don't see, he shares this with us, and he doesn't win nobly and sometimes doesn't really win at all. His stories seldom fail to engage though.

(We don't only shut our minds to "magical" terrors; how quickly we forget or digest Abu Ghraib.)

John Constantine has made deals with the devil, fought back the apocalypse, survived death itself, and been to the depths of hell and back again. In Pandemonium, he finds himself in the center of a hell unlike any other he's had the displeasure of facing--the frontlines of the Iraq war.

After a chance meeting with a Muslim woman, Aseera al-Aswari, and a bombing at the British Museum of Arts, Constantine finds himself conscripted by the British government to help interrogate a captive hostile. The hostile is a demonic scavenger caught rooting through the carnage following a car bombing, stealing the last bits of energy from the dying wounded. His interrogators are cursed with supernatural afflictions that drive them insane, leaving it up to Constantine and al-Aswari to unravel his secrets.

Snarky and distrusting, not to mention manipulative, Constantine is a strong anti-hero with a habit of playing both sides against one another in order to ensure he always comes out ahead. Equal parts sorcerer and scam artist, he is uncannily lucky, highly skilled at reading people, and oftentimes just a step or two ahead of everybody else. He's a bit of a supernatural detective built from the staples of hard-boiled crime fiction gumshoes like Philip Marlowe, clad in PI-standard trench coat with cigarettes at the ready.

Jamie Delano has a strong grip on the character, and makes Constantine effortlessly charming and relatable, despite his flaws. Having been the first writer on Vertigo's monthly Hellblazer comic book, he penned several years' worth of stories back in the 1980s. In a series that will soon be closing in on its 300-issue milestone, he set the stage for writers such as Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, and Brian Azzarello to come and play. Returning to the character for this original graphic novel, Delano is instantly familiar and comfortable with his old stomping grounds and wastes no time before shoving Constantine into a new environment to face familiar problems.

Joining Delano is Jock, an illustrator best known for his work on another Vertigo title, The Losers. His work is highly stylized, but not always consistent. His imagery of Iraq and London are both well-handled, each surprisingly beautiful in their own ways. The sunrises and sunsets of each locale both give the reader an instant familiarity of life in those locales, and his imagery of Iraq brings forth clear reminders of the damage that has been inflicted upon both the country and its people. His scenery is incredibly well constructed and his page and panel layouts are easy to follow, but his portraiture is occasionally messy and inconsistent. Although it's easy to discern characters, details oftentimes become muddied and the geometrics of his characters undergo odd changes. Constantine is variably depicted as having a lean look with a strong jaw line, while at other times he appears more angular and sharply pointed, or rounder and softer.

Given that the lead character, writer, and artist are all British, it seems a no-brainer that Pandemonium has a very British sensibility to it and is immediately different from most American comics. Although it starts off with a bang, much of the story is more subdued, only briefly punctuated by big action scenes. There are moments of horror and violence, but the story itself is deliberately paced and wordy. This is not a bad thing by any means, but it is a book that requires attention and effort and it will reward those with the initiative. It is a mystery story with overtones and glimpses of horror and supernatural fare. It is also highly political. The story being told here functions on several levels beyond just mere entertainment. Delano is crafting a careful parable, presenting war itself as a high-stakes poker game in which human life is bet and wagered upon, drawing very strong parallels between the demons who thrive on mankind's follies and the politically powerful who make warfare possible.

-- Michael Hicks

In his own distinct way, Jamie Delano as Hellblazer writer, is every bit the genius that Alan Moore was with Swamp Thing and that Neil Gaiman was with The Sandman. All three of these series (by these authors) are monumental works of horror storytelling that are linked together by their "shared" origins in the DC universe, and by the fact that they go beyond the story and into the realm of deeper analysis. While Gaiman was heavily influenced by Moore to create his own story, Delano took a character created by Moore and established his very own signature on that character (one that is still true to Moore's intoduction of him in the Swamp Thing books). In this graphic novel, Pandemonium, Delano returns to write a John Constantine story that is both consistent with his prior characterization and one that seems to fit well for a John Constantine that is nearly 20 years older than when he left him. Other reviews have summarized the plot, but I will add that the Delano style is as good as it ever was. He integrates his own critique of society into the situation that Constantine finds himself in, one that deals with the sources of hatred that fan the fires of war on both sides of the conflict. Overall, this is an outstanding read, with thoughts and images that will linger long after the last page is turned. The entire story is expertly bookended by two poker games that reveal so much about the character of John Constantine. I should also mention that the artwork of Jock is very good and compliments the story well.

A solid Hellblazer story from the character's best and most definitive writer. Great to see Delano's take on Constantine as the burned-out old man he must surely be these days, confused by but still one step ahead of 21st century England...

Jamie Delano, the man who helped launch John Constantine's solo adventures into the macabre, returns for this original graphic novel that finds our favorite chain-smoking magician/con-man in a world of trouble. After being blackmailed into going to Iraq with a mysterious woman whose both caught his eye and is the focal point of the unraveling conspiracy that Constantine finds himself being in the center of. What Delano ends up doing is crafting a story of war profiteering of godlike proportions, and it winds up being the best Hellblazer story that Delano may have done yet. Combine that with the superb artwork of Jock, and Pandemonium is without a doubt one of the best John Constantine stories you'll ever come across.