Lovable rogue John Constantine is back and is making himself at home in DC’s new continuity. Brought over from Vertigo, where he was very much a flagship character for the imprint, Constantine was brought into the fold way back at the start of the New 52. Since then we’ve seen a handful of creative teams try and give Constantine the kind of longevity he has previously seen, but this time round it is up to writer Simon Oliver and artist Moritat to cement his place amongst DC’s finest.
Written by Simon Oliver
Illustrated by MoritatJohn Constantine’s lost weekend in New York City was fun, but London’s where his heart is-only a pissed-off demon and a curse on his soul stand in his way. Even Constantine’s questionable ethics are pushed to the limit when he puts eight million souls on the line to get what he wants….
If anything, DC has certainly shown its commitment in trying to establish John Constantine as one of its more important characters. Okay, so bare with me for a moment because I’m about to give you a very potted history and it may get confusing. When the New 52 started, he began as de facto leader of the“Justice League Dark” and then, as that title ended, he moved on to star in his own solo series, “Constantine”. This in turn was rebooted just last year as the rather excellent “Constantine: The Hellblazer” which of course ended along with the universe itself. Throw in a failed TV series and you can see why this character has a reputation as a survivor. That’s a lot of attempts over just five years, even in comic book land. I suspect DC’s backing of the British magician may be an attempt to piggy bank on the success of Loki over at Marvel. The pair share a lot in common, both are anti-heroes with a penchant for magic and trickery with a good dose of charm thrown into the mix. Top that off with an ambivalent reputation and a backstory seeped in European traditions and you are looking at roughly the same character. Luckily for Marvel they’ve had three successful films and a charismatic actor to make Loki relevant for a modern audience. For as deep and well written Constantine’s history in comic books is, it is still pretty obscure for the same audience.
So DC have placed their hopes in Simon Oliver, a British writer who has had previous experience with writing Constantine. In choosing somebody who has written this character before, along with returning to the original Vertigo title of “The Hellblazer” (albeit with an added definite article) this
reflects Rebirth’s mission statement as laid down by Geoff Johns. It appears Oliver and his artist Moritat want to tap into Constantine’s history and the vast wealth of comics that made him so great in the first place. I would say the team do actually succeed at this, but only to a point. The plot in itself is good and it serves as an introduction to the character without rehashing old ground. This is especially important as we’ve had two previous Constantine solo titles as many years. However, this version does feel like a throwback, what made Ming Doyle’s version in “Constantine: The Hellblazer” so good is she made him feel modern. He was sexy cool with a pass into the dark, underground punk scene of magic. Here he returns to the ‘ave-a-go chancer of yesteryear. Oliver’s Constantine seems to have walked off of an early Guy Ritchie movie.
Though, as I said, the plot is pretty good, with a fun and peculiar concept at its heart. Constantine decides to gamble the life of every Londoner for the chance to save his own after being infected with a demonic curse, one that prevents him from entering the city. Moriat has crafted a very modern, very relatable and realistic London for Constantine’s showdown. There is a ton of fantastic background detail with very specific British references and an excellent representation of the city’s multicultural population. One of the best facets of giving the book to Oliver is having a British writer injecting the right amount of detail into Constantine’s life. As somebody born and raised here, it’s heartening to see the book embrace its heritage. Even something like the anarchic adult comic strip book The Viz”. If that means nothing to you, then I’ll let you discover it for yourself. My biggest problem with the writing on this book is its haphazardness. It took me a few attempts to workout what had happened at the end, I know Oliver is going for a con man vibe and Constantine always holds back on us, especially when it comes to his master plan, but it would have been nice if the ending wasn’t so obtrusive in the first issue. Also, we have a strange and inexplicable cameo appearance from Wonder Woman, Shazam and Swamp-Thing. There is no real explanation to why they pop up or where they go for that matter, but we do learn that Swamp-Thing does have unfinished business. I’m interested to see where that goes and I’d love to see Moritat’s Wonder Woman again.
Continued belowThere is a slight disconnect between the writing and the art in this issue. As I previously mentioned, the book does feel slightly throwbackish, but that mostly comes from the writing. Moritat’s art is another example of the punk inspired, fanzine like approach that is making a resurgence in mainstream comics right now. Everything has an edgy appearance to it yet is realistically drawn and accomplished. Moritat is a master of seemingly breaking the rules yet has a tight control over what he’s doing. There is a really great technique he uses where he subtly hides demonic words on each page, revealing them more and more as the book goes on. He is a little inconsistent with his shading and I find his panelling to be dull and uninspiring but there are some stunning scenes thanks to his collaboration on colours with Andre Szymanowicz. It is through the colouring that Moritat becomes a storyteller, one panel of Constantine looking grave and sobre that really sticks in the mind.
What I’m most looking forward to in the iteration is the characters Oliver surrounds Constantine with. From this issue alone I’m already invested in supporting characters like the return of Chaz for example and Oliver seems to have a good enough imagination for some pretty weird and peculiar villains. All of whom will be designed and drawn by Moritat, this can only work in the book’s favour.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – This new version of Constantine may not be breaking the mold but it’s off to an intriguing start.
