posted
Ennis's run (the only one I ever followed on Hellblazer) is very much a prototype run for the Preacher book that he and Dillon would begin right afterward. A lot of the themes and attitude they used in Hellblazer would be picked up and ran with on Preacher. I'm not saying they're identical, but Preacher certainly isn't a huge departure from the kind of work they did on Hellblazer. They even set an arc in America that predicts some of Preacher's themes.
Their run on Hellblazer was the reason I picked up Preacher in the first place. And I was so bored with the issues that followed by Paul Jenkins that I haven't ever picked up Hellblazer ever since.
Oddly enough, I still have never picked up the storyline that Ennis used to start his run, "Dangerous Habits", that details Constantine's bout with lung cancer. I've always meant to pick it up but never got around to it. I started Hellblazer with its first issue under the Vertigo banner (which was when I started picking up Sandman among others), so I missed that first, crucial storyline. It's of not that "Habits" did not feature Steve Dillon art. I believe Dillon's first issue was the first Vertigo banner issue I mentioned.
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
The current Hellblazer arc by Milligan is also shaping up to be very, very good. Like a lot of Milligan's stuff, it built slowly, but now that everything's hitting the fan, the payoff's great.
From: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada | Registered: Sep 2004
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I'm curious about Milligan for sure. At one time he was my very favorite writer in comics when he was doing Shade, Enigma, Animal Man and lots of other great stuff for Vertigo. When he went to Marvel, his appeal to me faded very quickly.
I picked up Greek Street number one and found it a confusing mess, so I haven't picked up the following issues. Dunno, maybe I just wasn't in the right mood when I read it? I might check out his Hellblazer in trade if I hear enough good things about it....
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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Greek Street got considerably better the next two issues. The recap pages, as narrated by a stripper each issue, actually really help.
From: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada | Registered: Sep 2004
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Madame Xanadu's second arc wrapped up with last week's issue, and it did not disappoint.
Click Here For A SpoilerFans of Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont should be especially delighted.
With its emphasis on magic and social outcasts and its ties to the Golden Age of the DCU, this is a much more conventional book that typical Vertigo fare, while at the same time it's kind of like in a "Classic Vertigo" style, if anything it recalls the mid-to-late 80s comics from before there was a Vertigo. And there's nothing wrong with any of that.
posted
To further entice you Lardy, in the latest issue of Hellblazer, Milligan re-introduces some pretty important characters form his Shade run.
From: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada | Registered: Sep 2004
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The Madame Xanadu arc has been terrific. Stealth gives an accurate summary of the 'feel' to the whole thing, and I'll add the art is simply outstanding. Its such a great, moody story that feels part early Vertigo, part Bronze Age horror, taking the best from both eras.
On another note, I've dropped Greek Street. I wanted to really like that one, having a great love of Greek mythology, but it just wasn't doing it for me. I'm reading so much Vertigo that I just can't praise the current selection enough these days, but this one falls pretty flat in comparison to Unknown Soldier, Unwritten, Madame Xanadu, Fables or even House of Mystery.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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The latest issue of the Unknown Soldier has begun a story that could perhaps be the best story in all of 2009. Really powerful stuff so far...I'm blown away by how good this comic is. The artist on the latest story is from Africa (I believe it was the Sudan) and his own story of how he had to flee his country is just as powerful (there's a one page of text in the back of the issue). This series simply does not shy away from some terrible topics and finds a way to show characters struggle to keep their dignity and humanity, something that a lot of creators have trouble expressing.
Also excellent is Unwritten which continues to be a treat to read. The story is unique and incredibly interesting and the delivery of the whole thing is also really unique.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Recently, I've been on a bit of an eBay TPB bargain-hunting binge. One recent acquisition is a book I've been coveting for a long, long time, but which I've repeatedly been putting on the backburner. The book is HELLBLAZER: DANGEROUS HABITS, which collects Garth Ennis's initial arc on the title and details Constantine's battle to escape his latest, toughest foe--terminal lung cancer.
My first-ever exposure to Garth Ennis and Hellblazer was when I sampled the book with the creation of the Vertigo line. By that point Ennis had already written the book for nearly two years, something I've only recently realized. I picked up the book for the rest of Ennis's run and dropped it shortly after Paul Jenkins took over. (I followed Ennis to Preacher which wass really thematically comparable to Ennis's work on Hellblazer unlike Jenkins' fairly dry work on the character.)
Anyhow, I remember HABITS being advertized in the Vertigo books as a TPB release and constantly meant to get it. Many years later, I finally did and enjoyed the book immensely. On full display in this arc is Ennis's penchant for creating memorable character interactions and dynamics. The story itself has many Constantine hallmarks, particularly his penchant for conning his way out of bad situations. What really makes the story way above average, though, is Constantine's scenes with a fellow cancer patient with whom he stikes up a friendship.
I recommend this arc to anyone who's either unfamiliar with Constantine or wants a good standalone Ennis story that isn't too over-the-top with many of Ennis's usual hyper-violent/hyper-satiric sensibilities.
Looking up my old Ennis Vertigo issues, I realized there's a lot of Ennis Hellblazer I never read. I always thought HABITS was the only arc before the Vertigo launch. Turns out there's a whopping 16 issues between Habits and the first Vertigo. The TPB BLOODLINES, which collects the bulk of those intermittent issues is out of print, but I was lucky enough to obtain a reasonable one thru eBay which I await delivery of. I'm determined to read that of course, find and read the few issues not collected and then reread the Vertigo issues I have.
Ennis's Hellblazer run is good stuff, and I'm looking forward to (re)discovering it!
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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Oh, regarding HABITS, I forgot to mention that that storyline was pre-Steve Dillon, so the art was by Will Simpson. Some of you may remember him from the two or three Vamps miniseries put out by Vertigo a decade or so ago. His art on this storyline is pretty decent, but I prefer the Dillon issues by a mile. I also think Simpson did a much better job on Vamps.
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I got two Andy Diggle Hellblazer trades through the library, Joyride and The Laughing Magician. These stories gave a very human side to John Constantine; you felt some of the misery he'd gone through in his rather tragic life. Some Hellblazer stories are too rough; the character is just a smoking, drinking, devil-fighting thug, little better than the evil forces he's opposing. In these stories, Constantine shows a lot of emotion, kindness, concern for people - yet he's still got that wily con-man way of dealing with nasty situations.
In these stories, Constantine fights a big property developer (who is of course aided by evil forces), after getting back on his feet following a severe down-and-out period.
One of my favourite stories within the two books was actually a sidestep from the main plot, a tale about an underground river in London, whose spirit was much diminished and had been taken over and kept in a separate dimension by a cannibalistic force.
posted
Glad you enjoyed them, FC. I hope Diggle returns to Constantine someday, in a one-shot or something.
You might also enjoy Mike Carey's opening Hellblazer arc, Red Sepulchre. I've now almost finished catching up with Carey's run, and looking at it objectively, it had great moments, but it never again scaled the heights of that first arc.
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