There’s always a plan.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ming Doyle, James Tynion IV
Art: Eryk Donovan
Colors: Ivan Plascencia
What They Say:
Lord Neron has joined forces with John Constantine’s own infernal ex, the demon Blythe, to make New York City an offer it can’t refuse: the magic the Hellblazer has sought his whole life in exchange for the city’s immortal soul. How can John defeat not one but two devils when even he can’t deny their dark allure?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of the things that draws me to a book like Constantine is something that Doyle and Tynion have definitely captured. This is a character who has a particular view on things that was born before he even truly dabbled in magic. Giving us the first couple of pages that explores his narrative of how New York is and all that’s related to it is important because it’s the color and context of this world through his eyes. He’s not looking at things through hope and optimism of a superhero or the naivete of a youthful hero deciding their path. He’s not exactly a curmudgeon either, but rather a sort of pragmatist that’s looking out for himself more than anything else. Which is what he tries to convince himself of since he tends to slide in those other directions more than he cares for.
With him feeling guilt over what happened with Oliver’s kids, it’s no surprise that he’s making his play to try and figure something out to get them back. And that’s all he wants to do; he’s written off events here as he realizes what Neron has pulled off and that it’s bigger than him. So seeing him swagger into the club to try and deal with Neron is great, particularly since he’s thrown off by Papa Midnite being there and on the side of Neron. That he signed on with Neron is no surprise considering where Constantine left him but there’s some delicious dialogue between the two, and later on as Midnite makes it clear that he really doe get Constantine. Invariably and against great odds, he finds a way to achieve things others thought impossible. That comes from his thinking outside of the box in a big way.
What becomes really fun here is in seeing how badly Constantine has screwed himself – which will force his outside of the box thinking even harder. Midnite’s switch is bad enough, but when he discovers that Blythe made her way out and now has a binding control over him, and has aligned with Neron, well, his life in the city and in this mess just went to complete crap. With him being unable to do anything about anything related to what Neron has enacted, it’s amusing watching how he attempts to just go back to something of a normal life. And even feels “good” about Oliver pushing him away and just going his own way to try and save his kids. That Constantine views this as a victory of sorts says a lot, since he keeps telling people to not get entangled with him, but you know there’s that other layer just below that will get tickled enough to do the right thing.
In Summary:
As things get ready to come to a conclusion here as Rebirth is about to get underway, Constantine has a very good issue here that explores where things stand, brings in a little help at the end that’s not exactly thrilled with him, and looks like we’ll get a solid end point for it in the next installment. Eryk Donovan stepped in for the art on this issue and it certainly feels like it’s a part of the style we’ve had from the start with its somewhat quirk style and I liked it well enough because it has the shape and feel of what came before, but not quite to the same degree. I’m curious to see what becomes of this property as the Rebirth event goes on but I’m also wondering if we’re about to hit a jumping off point as well.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 11th, 2016
MSRP: $2.99
