The odd man for the odd jobs.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ming Doyle, James Tynion IV
Art: Riley Rossmo
Colors: Ivan Plascencia
What They Say:
New York, New York it’s one HELL of a town! John Constantine returns beaten and broken from his English excursion to find his adopted American home in magical peril. A mysterious plot is building in the mystic underbelly of New York City-demons, imps, monsters, fairies are running rampant, and only the Hellblazer can save the Big Apple from an infernal takeover. But does he even want to?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As much as I enjoy the big arcs, the deep storytelling and some of the truly creative elements of many series – particularly one like Constantine, I have a greater love for the transition issues. This one essentially brings the first arc of the series to a close and it works in a wonderful way to give us a little more insight into Constantine with who he is at this point in his life. And considering the things that he’s been through in the past arc, on top of his life in general, there’s definitely a certain weight to it all. It becomes very easy to understand why he is the way he is and how he reacts to it all. Thankfully, even with it dealing with these things, it finds a way to do it in a really fun and engaging way so that it’s not all doom, gloom and evil spirits. And that’s something that this team executes with aplomb.
After spending time away in London, he’s returned to New York City now and is trying to get back into the groove of things. It’s not an easy thing to do after being away for a bit as he notes how people’s lives move on even when you’re away. He’s always been a disconnected man because of what he involves himself in and the kind of collateral damage that can come from it. We saw that with all the ghosts that were with him at the start of this series and that really makes a strong impact since he had such a hand in their deaths, directly or indirectly. But now he returns back to his apartment and there are none left. He’s truly alone for the first time in forever. While you have to love having him walking around in his lanky way completely naked outside of his socks, you also really have to grok his gallows humor as he wonders if he should make some new friends so he can have new ghosts haunting him. His admitting that that’s even pretty bleak for him is an utterly wonderful moment.
Since the best way to cope with being lonely is to get out and do things, the bulk of this issue is a montage sequence where he opts to do actual low level magic work in the city by helping to deal with all sorts of demons and the like. This is one of the best things you could ever witness, particularly with Rossmo’s wonderful style and expressive characters here, as we see him chastising demons, hunting others and having drinks with a different set. It runs through so many and hits so many levels of humor that’s wholly appropriate that you could grin and giggle your way through it all. It does get a little serious towards the end with how he does have to take a risk in making a friend (hello, Oliver!), but it’s an earned piece with what he has to work through. And it’s such an utter joy to watch these sequences unfold with all of its humor that you want to revisit it a few times to get all the details. Rossmo kills me with how much he puts into a panel sometimes.
In Summary:
This is one of the best single issue reads in recent memory for me and it comes on top of a pretty strong opening arc. The team here has completed gotten into the groove of the character quickly and just delights from issue to issue. With great writing and fantastic characterization, we’re just scraping the surface of what can be done here and I’m excited to see what comes next. Especially when Riley Rossmo is involved because the art is just incredible here. He captures and conveys so much throughout these pages and the montage aspect of it with a wonderful creativity to some of the demons that I just grin thinking back on it. Which won’t last long because I’m going to go read it again and savor it all once more. Very, very recommended.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: November 11th, 2015
MSRP: $2.99
