Tim Bradstreet painted the cover for HELLBLAZER #192.
© DC/Vertigo

Mania Grade: A-
Issue: 192
Authors: Mike Carey, Marcelo Frusin
Publisher: DC/Vertigo
Price: $2.75

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HELLBLAZER #192

To my shame, I must admit that I'm a completely new convert to HELLBLAZER, Vertigo's longest running title. I'd encountered the character of John Constantine for the first time in THE SANDMAN, but that was about it. That being said, I am a complete convert now - this book is amazing. Of course, now I have 192 issues' worth of catching up to do...

One of many measures of success for a book is whether a new reader can join a story arc in medias res and still want to keep reading the title without knowing what's gone on before. An even bigger measure of success is whether a book can hold the interest of such a reader without resorting to that old chestnut of contemporary comics, the ubiquitous "Story So Far" page (or "Previously," or whatever else it may be called). HELLBLAZER manages to do both, a tribute to the power of Mike Carey's plotting and characterization. Constantine may come off a bastard every once in a while, but he's a likeable bastard, while Gemma's every bit the sort of strong female character we'd want to save our collective asses when the boys take a powder. The story itself also has the same appeal as the proverbial train wreck (in a good way, mind you) - how many people could easily look away from the end of the world, especially when it's done in such stark vividness as here? And besides, you've got to love any story that brings in the Swamp Thing and in which part of the action takes place in someone's esophagus. That's the stuff of legend, that is.

Of course none of this would work nearly as well without the right artist, and Marcelo Frusin is far and away the right artist. People used to complain about Peter Snejbjerg's art on the late lamented STARMAN series, but I always found it incredibly powerful in the most simple of ways, an appropriate fit for a series whose appeal lay in its subtler moments. Frusin's work makes me think of an even more accomplished Snejbjerg: the art is deceptively simple, using shadow in the most effective manner to create the dark mood this storyline deserves. It's hard to imagine Frusin doing an equally effective daytime scene, but now that I'll be reading HELLBLAZER more often, I'm sure I'll get to see him prove me wrong. It's no wonder this series has lasted as long as it has, if the creative teams before Carey and Frusin were this talented. Now, if only they don't drop the ball in the final chapter...