In Review: John Constantine: Hellblazer (2019-) #1

Synopsis: John Constantine is back in London, back to his old tricks-and just in time, as things have become very dark indeed in his old stomping grounds. A small-time gang lord has found himself dealing with a big-time outbreak of supernatural weirdness…and without any allies to call on and nothing left to call his own, John doesn’t have much choice about taking a paycheck from one of London’s worst, or accepting the help of one of the gang lord’s would-be foot soldiers.

Review: This open issue of ‘This Green and Pleasent Land’ is decidedly unpleasant but enthralling with some wonderful imagery.

The Story

Having arrived back in London. John Constantine finds himself out of touch with a city that he used to know like the back of his hand. And there is a gang being led by someone with a touch of spooky wookys that is in need of his services. Although he doesn’t approve of the gang leaders’ methods. The case has Constantine curious and even more strange is the fact that angels are coming down and eviscerating victims of drug and gang violence.

The Artwork

Drawn by Aaron Campbell. The art in this book has a very scratch and edgy quality to it, which totally suits the narrative of the story as well as the Hellblazer series in general. There is a lot of great work here and all of it is somewhat on the dark side with the little color that there is somewhat muted. There’s a wonderful panel partway through the book once Constantine has finished talking to a bouncer where he is walking alone down one of London’s streets.

In short. I really like this art and the art style that Campbell has chosen to go with.

Overall

This has the beginnings of a promising story with enough mystery to it to keep me entertained. On the downside though we have the gang and the gang leader talking in a very street way, which am sure is pretty accurate to how the gangs of London speak. So am going to need to brush up on my knowledge of shortened English and slang in time for the next issue or hope that we have some more characters other than John Constantine that speak a more fluent form of English.

A solid if not a slow start with some really impressive artwork.