Synopsis: As Noah’s mother lies in the hospital, deep in a coma with no prognosis of awakening, John Constantine makes the acquaintance of a rapacious spirit-one with a terrifying significance for all of England.
The Story
This one short story is a part ghost story and partly a celebration of the UK’s under-resourced NHS. When Noah visits his mother in Hospital he notices a nurse in the corridor who has been visiting different patients every night. As he investigates and tries to make a move on her he gets more than he bargained for when she reveals herself as a ghost.
As the story develops we learn that she is visiting terminal patients and killing them. The one common factor is the fact that all the patients who are getting killed are people who migrated to the UK from other countries.
The Artwork
Aaron Campbell manages to provide us with some brilliantly spooky panels. I especially the sequence where the ghost reveals herself to Noah as he tries to chat her up. Campbell manages to both convey the clinical conditions of the hospital as well as the eeriness of the wards where we see most the terminal patients and that sense of waiting for the inevitable end. The sequence toward the end of the comic where Noah figures out how to exercise the ghost is beautifully drawn.
Overall
A brilliant issue, which manages to provide some social commentary about not only the NHS but also about how hate can fester if given the right motivation. In this story, the ghost is revealed to have been a lonely old woman who was receiving letters filled with a hateful speech about immigrants, which is what spurs her on to become a hateful spirit. I loved the speech that Constantine makes about pride and its many forms and how it was British pride that built our NHS. I also enjoyed how the ghost gave a brief biography of each person before she paid them a deadly visit.
Overall. A great story that has a very important point to make.
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- Covers8.7
- Story9.3
- Artwork9.7
- Lettering9.5
- Colours9.7
