Now for those of you who don't recognize the name, Simon Bisley is an artist who is best known for his work on Heavy Metal Magazine. He has a distinctive style, some might call it epic, which is wonderful for certain genres but is not really appropriate for others.
Sword and Sorcery? He's great.
Dystopian Futures? One of the best.
Modern Day London? Not too bad.
My point in showing all this is that while Bisley is a skilled artist, he is not a particularly realistic one. And yet, his style is still more realistic and better suited to depicting normal humans than that of the previous artist - Giuseppe Camuncoli.
Just let that sink in for a moment.
At any rate, I was glad to see the new issue because it drove home to me just how bad the last issue and the current plotline - centering upon John's efforts to bring his most recent lover back from the dead - are. Not only is John being written horribly out of character but the storyline violates past continuity and the rules of the world of Hellblazer.
What's wrong with this scene? Three things...
1. Last I checked, Chas wasn't on speaking terms with John - A lot of writers have fumbled on this since the end of the Mike Carey run - and Denise Mina at least acknowledged the differences during her run - but I don't recall there ever having been any reconciliation between the two fast friends where Chas forgave John for being indirectly responsible for his wife leaving him. For that matter, I don't recall Chas ever reconciling with her.
This was further aggravated in the most recent issue, which had a scene with Chas' wife nagging him about hanging around with that John Constantine. I suppose I could forgive it if were made clear this was a flashback story... but references to John's being "an old vampire" were made.
2. Phoebe is better than Kit? I don't think so...
For those of you who haven't read any of Garth Ennis' Hellblazer (and you haven't, why the heck not?), a bit of explanation. Kit is one of John's old girlfriends and pretty much the love of his life. She dumped him about halfway through Ennis's run and came back for one "last night goodbye" in Rake At The Gates Of Hell. Until now, no Hellblazer writer since then has seen fit to even mention Kit save in passing and even then only to refer to her being the strongest love John had ever felt in his life.
It's a cliche in bad fan-fiction that oftentimes the original characters the author creates will be presented as being much better than previously established characters in everything. It is also said to be the hallmark of a poor writer that they will tell you things about the characters rather than making them apparent through the story.
For Milligan to have Chas talk about how much better than Phoebe is than Kit... it tastes badly of both of these cliches.
3. You Cannot Raise The Dead Using Magic in The World Of Hellblazer
This isn't an obscure point by any means. Indeed, it is the very centerpiece at the plot of Garth Ennis' last John Constantine story - Son of Man - which you'd think Milligan would be at least passingly familiar with since he's making reference to Kit.
Let me think... what was it John said there? Oh yes...
Not to mention, if there was some way of bringing people back from the dead... why didn't John try it before on any of the other friends and lovers he was responsible for killing? Apart from - you know - Phoebe being "special".
So yeah... I'm done with Hellblazer until further notice.
It's a cliche in bad fan-fiction that oftentimes the original characters the author creates will be presented as being much better than previously established characters in everything. It is also said to be the hallmark of a poor writer that they will tell you things about the characters rather than making them apparent through the story.
ReplyDeleteFor Milligan to have Chas talk about how much better than Phoebe is than Kit... it tastes badly of both of these cliches.
Interesting. This is vaguely reminiscent of the post you had about Kyle Rayner and his one love being Jade and not Dewitt not long ago.
People just don't read enough Santayana.
I don't read "Hellblazer" [I would start if I knew what order the damned trades actually followd], and just reading this is making me want to write a letter.
ReplyDeleteDear People:
SERIOUSLY? Heads out of asses, please. Eyes on your work.
Jesus Christ, you dumb bastards,
Me
Yeah, the trades ARE a bit difficult. It doesn't help that Vertigo has been releasing the trades out of order and have been neglecting a lot of the older issues in favor of the "more popular" writers. For instance, none of the Paul Jenkins run has been collected at all while all of Brian Azarello's work is collected.
ReplyDeleteWord of advice - most die hard Constantine fans ignore Azarello's run. So should you.
Thankfully, it looks like someone has put together a reading list of not just the Hellblazer trades but all the other series collected in TP where John has made an appearance and the order of all of these stories. And it looks like they finally got all of the original Jaime Delano run collected, or at least most of it.
http://www.hellblazertrades.com/
Well, I actually DID like the way Ron Marz developed the romance between Jade and Kyle. Actually, one of my all time favorite comics is an issue he did which addressed just how weird things got with Donna Troy and Jade's reaction to Kyle's ex showing up wanting to talk.
ReplyDeleteThe twist on this? Donna wanted to talk to Kyle because - thanks to a plot-line in Wonder Woman - Donna had been erased from time and then brought back into existence, using Wally West's memories of her as a template.
Now think about that for a moment - one of your friends from childhood and not even the closest one - has to remember everything about you. It's an impossible task. And Donna, realizing how many gaps there are in her identity, goes to Kyle trying to find something... anything... about who she was.
It's a horrifying scenario for everyone involved.
Kyle tells Donna about thier first date, his playing with her son, how she used to love taking photos and even points out a book by her favorite photographer. But Donna doesn't remember any of this... but she still loves Kyle, because Wally remembered her loving Kyle. And Kyle, who is now involved with Jade, is horrified to realize that he still cares for Donna... but that she is literally not the woman he fell in love with anymore.
That bad, is it? That's disappointing. I like a good Azarello story.
ReplyDeleteThat link is wonderful. I'll be putting it to work shortly.
Well, your mileage may vary... but the various reasons for fans not liking Azarello's run range from...
ReplyDeletea) It takes John out of his usual environment (the whole run is set in America rather than England) And the "British" dialogue doesn't sound quite right.
b) the first story opens with John in an American prison and we take six issues to find out why - he felt guilty over a friend's suicide he failed to stop and went to prison for his murder as a penance. Which kinda belittles all the other friends John actually DID kill, directly or indirectly, but never felt guilty about.
c) there isn't any supernatural horror except for that which John causes.
d) John overtly uses magic several times - usually, his powers are subtle or requires a lengthy ritual.
e) the last story arc is just plain confusing.