Comics Review: "Constantine" #1

- by Ninja Ross, 20 March 2013

As you may know from my last article, I am a huge fan of John Constantine. The series "Hellblazer" got me into comics and has been my favourite since. But now we have something new. A Constantine born and raised in the DC universe, written by Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes with art by Renato Guedes. How did it go?

I don’t know if I wanted to see this fail or succeed. On one hand a failure would mean the "Hellblazer" series could come back in a big way. On the other, it would be nice to see the character taken in a new direction.

While I can’t say if this is going to be good or bad in the long run, I have to say it’s a bit crap at the beginning.

We first see John in a more seedy side of America, where a young man, receiving visions of a dangerous mystical compass, has caught John’s attention.

Off to Norway they go to find the first part of this compass. Along the way we’re introduced to a cult who wants to kill John and their bosses, magicians who have been corrupted.

My issue here is not entirely with the story. While I think it’s a bit melodramatic for John, I think that’s part of the reason he was moved to DC and I can accept that. Heck, it looks interesting and Jeff Lemire knows how to write interesting.

It’s the character I can’t get behind. At the beginning, this goes through John’s mind:

A picture of inner monologue.

What you see there is John thinking about taking some responsibility but if you know anything about the character, you know it’s pretty far-fetched. John has only been known to take any responsibility for another person’s actions if it suits him.

But besides that, there’s also the slightly forced British language that kind of feels off at times. Awkward uses of words like “bloke” for example.

Bloke!

But besides that there are hints that these guys know how to handle the character, at least partially. Towards the end, John does some pretty despicable things that show just how much of a selfish person he really is. These things are a little big and obvious but, as I said, that would be due to his surroundings now.

So John’s still in there, even if he’s been changed to suit the DC universe a bit.

But how about the art? Dose John at least look good?

The art is average, I think. Guedes does a fine job at making Constantine sneer just right but a lot of the faces in this book look too long. Like John is fighting horses.

Insert your own Sarah Jessica Parker/horse meat scandal joke.

Average art doesn’t help make things look over the top and fantastic, like they should if he’s going to keep up with Superman. It wasn’t a big thing in "Hellblazer" but now he has such colourful characters to keep up with, it is a big thing here.

So the book was, over all, ok. Certainly not great but I am hoping that it’s just a weak start to what will be a great run. But I’m also hoping it fails and "Hellblazer" returns.

Can’t make my mind up...

Did you read "Constantine"? What did you think of the new direction? Let us know below!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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