The major comic companies put out enough comics that sometimes it can leave your head spinning and eyes bleeding as you search the new titles each week for something worth reading. To aid in your Geeky endeavors, Speak Geeky To Me on occasion reviews new titles from the major companies to spotlight the best and worst of what’s available at your local comic shop. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a new Comic Review.

 

The Info Bit

Title: Constantine #1

Genre/s: Fantasy

Writer: Ray Fawkes (Batgirl, Justice League Dark) & Jeff Lemire (Swamp Thing, Sweet Tooth)

Artist: Renato Guedes (Wolverine, Superman)

Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo (Demon Knights, Teen Titans)

Letterer: Sal Cipriano (Django Unchained, Before Watchmen)

Publisher: DC Comics

Number of Issues: 1 (on-going)

Page Count: 21

Price: $2.99

 

The Review Bit

Hellblazer, the long running DC/Vertigo comic series that began back in 1988 and followed the adventures of John Constantine, ended its 25 year long run this February with issue #300. Now while this was an end to the old John Constantine we knew from Alan Moore’s epic Swamp Thing run, this was not the end of the character completely. Like many comic characters from DC, Constantine was carried over into DC’s New 52 universe back in September of 2011 with Justice League Dark. The character quickly became the commanding lead of the series and now has earned himself DC’s newest on-going title in the New 52. Entitled just Constantine, the first issue of the series came out last week.

This issue starts at an indeterminable time in the New 52, as the narration doesn’t assure us whether or not John has become a part of the Justice League Dark yet or not. Things begin alright for old school Constantine fans, with John showing a disdain for heroes as he exits a bar and lights up a cigarette. We even get a slight hint that Papa Midnite is a part of the New 52. John appears a wise magic using man similar to his old incarnation, but now suddenly lives in a pet store basement somewhere in New York City. A bit of a trade from London, but we’ve already seen many changes to the character’s origin in the New 52. At John’s home, he takes in an acquaintance of sorts by the name of Chris. Chris has the ability to see things and is currently envisioning the location of an old wizard’s compass, which allows the user to locate certain magical events and artifacts. Constantine determines he must be the first person to track this compass down and takes Chris with him on a flight to the mystically discovered location, out in Norway. Along the way Constantine is attacked by a secret cult member disguised as an air stewardess before landing in Norway. An uncannily short taxi ride later, the duo find themselves in northern Norway at an ice hotel, tracking down the compass’ needle. But when they find the needle, evil is short behind in the form of a new incarnation of Sargon the Sorcerer. Constantine proves himself as still a bit of a bastard in the end, as he attempts to flee the evil chasing after him and this compass.

Like many of DC’s New 52 series that have taken an old character from Vertigo or Wildstorm and dragged them [back] into the DC universe, this is a good story on its own. It reads well and could be rather enjoyable except for one factor…the protagonist is almost nothing like the character we once knew. I was always more of a Jamie Delano fan when it came to writers of John Constantine, because I liked his visceral noir horror style. However, regardless if you are more of an Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, or even Mike Carrey fan of Hellblazer, if you took off the trench coat from this new Constantine, you’d hardly recognize him. He is about as English as a 16-year old Los Angeles hipster wearing a T-shirt depicting Matt Smith as the Doctor, but even then could be read as more American in dialogue. He drops a lot more simplistic and cartoonishly easy magic than the old Constantine. And while he pulls a somewhat dick move towards the end of the book, it just doesn’t feel like the John Constantine of the past 25+ years.

When we don’t focus on how little this John Constantine compares to the older comic version (which I admittedly can say is closer than the Keanu Reeves movie version), the comic is still written enjoyably. Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes can certainly script a comic and make it a fun read. The flow of the story is great, the ending is enjoyable, and the dialogue seems fitting for some late twenty-something in modern day New York City with a bit of magic in the atmosphere. It just sadly isn’t Constantine. There is much more I could complain about in the changes this issue brings to the New 52, such as how magic is depicted and how certain classic heroes of DC magic are now being vilified as the founders of a dark cult…but I’ll stop here.

On art duties, Renato Guedes does a rather good job. His characters look good and his version of Constantine has most of the iconic pieces (the trench coat and hair) with a bit of a younger, hipper style (the tie is quickly lost for a scarf…but it does get extremely cold in Norway). One of my biggest complaints in his art actually comes from me being fairly familiar with Norway. Once John and Chris land in Norway they are taking a taxi over the Storseisundet Bridge, which Guedes draws rather awkwardly trying to get the unique angle and perspective that would show the bridge going through the Atlantic Road, across several islands. The only problem is the Storseisundet Bridge is nowhere near where the compass was shown on the map of Norway, being roughly 600 miles south west of it on an island. I believe they were trying to depict the compass as being at the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel…but they even were fairly off on the art depiction of that (but the map location is right!). Not the greatest research or perspective displayed on the art end, but credit for pulling up an iconic Norwegian location to begin with. Marcelo Maiolo provides decent color to Guedes’ well drawn figures, but even there I have to nitpick that his variation in shading is quite harsh, lacking any sense of smooth gradient coloring. Normally he does quite well making that work, such as he did in Demon Knights and Teen Titans, but it just appears off in this issue. Thankfully at least Sal Cipriano does a job I can’t complain about, with beautiful lettering and a great choice in fonts for captions, creepy magical words, and mystical character names.

 

The Rating Bit

Overall Constantine #1 isn’t horrible. In fact, the comic could be great if you’re new to the character and aren’t going in with any previous baggage. But I can’t judge it on that level because they’re selling this comic on the title of it being based off a classic DC/Vertigo character and even canceled his previous book to do so. While a new character in this exact same story might have rated the book a 7 or so, with the broken baggage and littered history of John Constantine creating a sad trail behind this book, the story just seems empty and the art just above mediocre. Constantine #1 earns a saddening 4 out of 10, that might impress a few, but will ultimately leave many just upset and disappointed.