JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER – DEAD IN AMERICA #1…. Wow. For many, this is four years in the making, for me, it’s a few months, since I only read the first series by Si Spurrier, Aaron Campbell, Matias Bergara, Jordie Bellaire, and Aditya Bidikar back then, yet the wait was long all the same since the sequel was not announced back then.
Of course, we had our fix with DAMN THEM ALL, which is a phenomenal series that everyone should be reading if you’re a fan of Hellblazer, but that looming question of “What’s next for Hellblazer?” always rested in the back of the mind, especially considering the loose threads at the end of the 12 issue run.
I’m really proud to say that HELLBLAZER – DEAD IN AMERICA manages to maintain what made that original maxiseries good, showing a level of craft that genuinely is a step up from so many of its peers. There’s sequences of panels in this book that were stuck in my head since the first time I had a chance to read the issue, and are still stuck now, just because of how cool they are, the kind of stuff that makes you go, “Damn, why don’t I usually see more of this?”
To preface, it’s important to acknowledge that you do need to read the original series to pick up on the context of where we’re at now. The story does a good enough job at catching you up if it’s been a while, along with a recap page, but if I was picking this up as a first-time reader, I would be confused. Thankfully, the credits page does have a little blurb that tells the reader to catch up, so it’s an easy enough guide for someone to know what to read beforehand.
But man, once you do, you’re in for a treat.
The opening two pages are a funny bunch, but once you’re past the credits, the meat starts to surface, and it’s the real good stuff. We follow John, who’s up to his usual, with Nat and Noah by his side, on a road trip across America where Dream needs John’s help. Before anything else, I need to talk about the page layouts, because Campbell perfectly illustrates every single one of them, upon which Bellaire elevates them sky-high and then Bidikar ties it all up in a perfect bow. I know I just talked about them a few paragraphs ago, but every single one of them is genuinely beautiful and thoughtful. It’s the conversation with Dream in specific that stuck out to me specifically, where the backgrounds are reflective of the topic of the conversation at hand, from the US flag to Dream in the background growing larger as he takes control of the conversation. It’s so cool.
Spurrier’s already proven that he gets Constantine, and that he understands what really goes into a Hellblazer story. Taking him from his usual grounds and bringing him to the United States of America, and on top of that slowly building the idea of how magic works in America is brilliant, and he sets that up in such a way where our British protagonists contrast with it to really sell you on the idea that this is new territory for them. When you write Hellblazer, you need to tackle politics too, and I’m glad that this is something that carries over, and I’m excited to see what’s in store.
JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER – DEAD IN AMERICA #1 is in stores now, and you should pick it up regardless of whether you’re into Hellblazer or not. If you’re not, I have faith that this issue will make you interested, so once you read it, go back and grab those last two trades. We’re in for a treat.
