Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bloody Great!, July 22, 2003
The most interesting aspect of this book, and several of the others, is the fact that John Constantine rarely uses magic. It's his trademark, aside from arrogance and a trench coat, but I've found the best stories deal almost exclusively with the man. In this volume, our chain-smoking hero tries to hunt down the killer of one of his ex's, whose spirit is now trapped on earth. Some familiar faces pop up, and John takes the reader on an interesting trip through London's history. The writing here is great, and the art crisp, and the story is self-contained enough that even if you've never read a Hellblazer comic before, you could follow along. A great buy.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Constantine, good Ellis., June 7, 2006
Warren Ellis, John Constantine, Hellblazer: Haunted (Vertigo, 2003)
I have to admit-- and this is a painful thing to admit, really-- Warren Ellis has never really done much for me. While I haven't yet read the series everyone seems to consider his magnum opus, his work on other series has always seemed to be phoned in-- especially his work on Hellblazer. Then the library finally, after seven months of searching, turned up their copy of Haunted, and I started seeing what all the fuss is about.
John stumbles upon a murder scene, and the victim is, coincidentally, an old girlfriend. Needless to say, John worms his way onto the case, and the game is afoot. Not terribly much of a plot, but there you go. It's Hellblazer, what do you want?
The focus of the book is a lot more on character than action, which seems to have disquieted a number of longtime Hellblazer fans. I'm not one of them. People sitting around nattering for pages and pages works for me, as long as there's some goal toward which the author is reaching-- even if that goal is just giving the reader more of an understanding of the character who's doing the nattering. We spend time hearing learning about John Constantine as much as we do learning about the case (and its, of course, unsavoury end). Ellis does his thing with a minimum of flash and a maximum of depth here, and it works, as long as you're not looking for nonstop action.
Not as good as Azzarello's run on the series, but certainly Ellis' best work on it, up to par with much of Ennis' Hellblazer work. Surprisingly good, especially given the reviews. *** ½
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A GRIMY TALE OF REVENGE, February 21, 2005
John Constantine is one of the more unique comic book characters. An anti-hero in every sense of the word. No super powers to speak of Constantine is a foul, and foul-mouthed, chain-smoking part wizard, part detective, part demonologist. His is a world lower than the most seedy underbelly. He's a man who has seen the kind of death, sorrow, and evil that would drive the average man insane, and perhaps has already done so to Constantine.
This Warren Ellis tale tells of an old lover named Isabelle who is horribly murdered. John investigates to find that his old friend had died as a cheap prostitute barely living on the fringes of society. John eventually finds out she came under the domination of a rival mage who did unspeakable things to her before killing her. REluctantly John needs help and calls upon a couple of old friends. The ending...well, to say the ending was one of the more disturbing things I've ever read or seen in a comic would be understating it. It's not pretty, but then that is Constantine's world. The graphic novel was illustrated by John Higgins and while I'm not crazy about some of these more abstract comic artists, his gritty style certainly fit the story.
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