Comic Book Review #1

Hellblazer #254

Written by Peter Milligan

Art by Goran Sudzuka & Rodney Ramos

I've stuck with Hellblazer from issue #1. Through the highs (which have been many) and the lows (mostly Brian Azzarello's patchy tenure). I love this comic.

When I read that Peter Milligan was taking over from Andy Diggle I was tentatively hopeful having enjoyed much of his past work. This is the first issue of his second storyline and frankly i'm not impressed with where he's going with the title. I prefer Hellblazer when it digs deep into the psyche of John Constantine and puts him through hell (both literally and figuratively) with an epic scope.

In the right hands Constantine is arguably one of the most compelling fictional characters ever to grace the medium. Actually, make that any medium. But everything about this comic screams mediocrity. The artwork is terribly bland and lacking in style. Compared to the superlative work of the last truly talented artist to work on the title, Leonardo Manco, it's just...well...shite. And that's the problem. If you take a blandly scripted comic and dress it up with stunning artwork it still won't work. But sometimes if the writing is engaging enough it can make up for underwhelming artwork. What we have here though is bland writing married to equally bland art and the end result is a comic that, if Milligan doesn't get his shit together, threatens to lose me altogether.

But perhaps this is just me. Perhaps i'm being too hard on Milligan. He is after all only four issues into his run. So i'll hang around for another few months to see if he can reverse his fortunes. But right now...this title is floundering.

3 out of 10