Written by Jonathan Vankin
Illustrated by Marco CastielloFollowing the events of Brightest Day, the new protector of Earth has been chosen. But one reluctant hero making his return to the DCU is trying to convince Batman, Superman and the others heroes of the DC Universe that this may not be a good thing, because he can see that things are not right and mankind’s brightest days are indeed over.
The return of Swamp Thing to the main DCU generated quite a bit of uproar among Vertigo fans, but not as much as the announcement that John Constantine would be making his return as well. I will fully admit that I was one of the many people that complained about the idea, but even I can separate the actual quality of a story from the implications of said story. Was the issue better than I thought it was going to be? Follow the cut and see.
As I said earlier, I’m a bit biased. John Constantine is a favorite character of mine. Sure, I haven’t read every single issue of Hellblazer, but I’ve read enough to appreciate the multi-faceted magical bastard. He’s complicated and three-dimensional, and that’s what makes Hellblazer tons of fun, no matter who the writer is (well, usually). In this issue, though, I don’t see much of that. Sure, he’s shown to be a bit of a manipulator, and that scene of him talking to the plants without a care that there were people around him was pretty spot-on, but things like that seem to be on the back burner. What are Constantine’s two most defining traits, according to this issue?
- He is from across the pond.
- He smokes.
Yes, these are qualities that Constantine has, but they’re superficial. If John Constantine stopped smoking, he would still be John Constantine (so long as it was for a reason, and not just because Joey Q joined DC and mandated that no characters could smoke anymore). Writer Jon Vankin knows that there’s more to the character (hell, he edited Hellblazer for a while), but he clearly isn’t giving us the full picture. You know what?
I’m okay with that.
Traitor! Blasphemer! I know, I know. But let’s think a moment: this mini clearly isn’t trying to get longtime Vertigo readers to become fans of Constantine. The point is to get mainstream DCU readers to learn more about the character and then go searching for more stories with him. Don’t believe me? Not only is DC featuring him in Justice League Dark, they’ve also recently reprinted Hellblazer: Original Sins, and I would imagine that more reprints are to follow. Yeah, he might be portrayed a bit superficially in this mini, but the DCU is a pretty superficial place. Sure, maybe he isn’t characterized perfectly in this issue, but I can deal with that if it means that people who have never read anything featuring the mischievous mage will check out either other writers’ work on his book or the upcoming Justice League Dark (wherein I think we can assume that he will be well-characterized, since Peter Milligan is on the book).
The story itself is take it or leave it. It’s hardly bad, but I can’t say that I’m terribly excited to see where it goes. I will admit, though, that I’m a bit confused. I think I get the implications of Alec Holland and Swamp Thing no longer being the same, but I really don’t get what that last page is supposed to signify. The art is in the same boat: it isn’t bad, but it isn’t particularly good either; honestly, it’s so middle-of-the-road that I really can’t think of anything to say about it. I mean, it’s a fun little read (that “anti-smoking message” is pretty damn funny), but unless you’re really interested in seeing how the loose plot lines from Brightest Day are tied up and/or how the Vertigo characters are going to be reintegrated into the DCU (and can’t wait for the relaunch), it’s not necessarily worth $2.99.
Final Verdict: 5.5 – Browse
