Comics
Review: ‘Hellblazer’ #300 – The Final Issue
A can’t miss event, Hellblazer #300 weaves together a fitting end to John Constantine’s journey. Never meant to fade away, the “Hellblazer” series heads to some interesting new places before its final pages. Readers are in for one last batch of revenge, black magic, and crooked deals.
WRITTEN BY: Peter Milligan
ART BY: Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini
PUBLISHER: Vertigo Comics
PRICE: $4.99
RELEASE: February 20th, 2013
After cheating death so many times before, is John Constantine really dead? Constantine’s wife, Epiphany, is certainly wondering that same as she mourns for her husband. Constantine, always the chain-smoking con man and magician, might actually be buried six feet under. But then, who is the person standing in front of Epiphany’s doorstep? Epiphany wants to believe Constantine found some way to come back from the dead. As one last trick is played, angels and demons battle for Constantine’s soul.
Peter Milligan keeps the heavily-driven plot running at full speed, adding so many plot twists, sudden re-appearances, and last-minute surprises. Just when you think you know where the story is going, Milligan pulls the rug out. This is the type of storytelling that has made the previous “Hellblazer” stories such fantastic reads.
Even though this is the final issue, Milligan isn’t steering for a tear-jerking finale. Yes, Milligan does bring back fan-favorites, but he doesn’t overstay their good-byes. This is about giving Constantine the proper bloody sendoff, the type this anti-hero deserves. Milligan closes up loose threads, while providing an ending that is questionable and fitting at the same time. I had to reread the ending twice, not because it was bad, but it was a surprising direction Milligan took.
Artists Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini make this an emotional roller-coaster for Epiphany. The theme about Epiphany’s growth is whether she can live a life without Constantine. Camuncoli and Landini focus on her emotional facial reactions, as she is always on the verge of tearing up. I found the scene between Epiphany and Constantine’s ghost very touching. Given a second chance to say good-bye, they are trying to share one last cigarette.
Camuncoli and Landini also pay special attention to the backgrounds, focusing on the rainy and cloudy atmosphere of the British locations. There is a lot of detail to the London Eye, the less-crowded streets at nighttime, and to some seedy nightclubs. In one of the backgrounds, Constantine arrives at a cemetery where a gravestone is shaped like a grand piano.
Readers will not be disappointed as “Hellblazer” #300 reaches its conclusion. I started reading “Hellblazer” when I picked up, “Dangerous Habits.” My personal favorites of “Hellblazer” are Warren Ellis’ “Haunted,” and Brian Azzarello’s “Hard Time,” which is an unforgettable tale of Constantine’s stint in prison. I am interested in seeing what writers Jeff Lemire, Ray Fawkes, and artist Renato Guedes will do with “Constantine” #1.
4/5 Skulls
Reviewed by Jorge Solis
IDW Dark and Paramount recently joined forces to launch limited comic book tales set in the worlds of Smile and A Quiet Place, and we’ve learned today that they’ll continue hanging around in those franchise universes with two brand new limited series tales.
Entertainment Weekly has exclusively revealed this afternoon that IDW Dark’s Any Given Smile debuts in September, while A Quiet Place: Rising Tides arrives in November.
First up, from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo Collar, Any Given Smile puts a football-themed twist on Parker Finn’s successful Smile movie franchise.
The five-part limited series is “set in January 1995, during the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The rising superstar of the Sharks, backup quarterback Dupree, is feeling the pressure from his teammates, the fans, and also the city’s gambling underworld, to whom he owes a considerable debt. Meanwhile, a sports journalist investigates a string of suicides that may be connected to the big game. At the very least, they are connected to a sinister entity that preys on the minds of its victims.”
From writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, A Quiet Place: Rising Tides will also be a five-issue limited story. The comic book tale “brings the creatures to the Florida Keys, where a father-daughter duo attempt to survive on water in a houseboat.”
EW further details, “This tense family reunion coincides with the arrival of the vicious creatures that hunt through sound. Grace and her dad find safety on the open ocean, but she’ll have to make landfall sooner or later; the father’s oxygen tank and their supplies are running low, while a hurricane swiftly approaches.”
Learn more about both comic books over on Entertainment Weekly.
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