Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image.

A good example of this is the recent creative regime of writer Andy Diggle and artist Leonardo Manco on DC Comics/Vertigo’s long-running comic book series, Hellblazer.  It’s not an exaggeration to say that Diggle and Manco are putting their stamp on modern horror fiction.  Let’s face it; if their Hellblazer were a prose novel, it would be on bestseller lists and would be praised to the high heavens (which I plan on doing).  The recent trade paperback, John Constantine, Hellblazer: Joyride collects the duo’s inaugural run on the title, reprinting Hellblazer issues, #230-237.

Diggle’s conceit as the new writer is that after 20 years of publication and (about) two years of narrative time, Hellblazer’s title character, John Constantine, is worn down, and he thinks that it’s time from him to get back his mojo – literally.  Joyride opens with Constantine’s life going the way it usually goes.  He’s doing a favor that looks like its going to cost him his life, but what the favor ultimately leads to is a chance to shake all the crap and crud out of his head.  John is determined to reform and cast out all the psychological and spiritual debris left over from that most pivotal moment in his life – Newcastle (the exorcism of a child that went mega-bad and was recounted in Hellblazer #11).

The fundamental episode in this story arc comes midway through Joyride, and it is Constantine’s return to Ravenscar, now a casino and hotel, but once a mental institution run by a ruthless doctor who wanted to leech Constantine’s magic for himself.  Even if the return to Ravenscar allows Constantine to take back what’s his, he’ll certainly need to be at his badass best when he faces a powerful new enemy, one who can match Constantine’s every move and who can be just as devious and ruthless.

Joyride certainly makes for great reading.  The truth is that in Joyride, Diggle and Manco offer more than just inventive cold-blooded violence and an ingenious use of the tropes of fantasy.  When John Constantine first appeared (fully) in Swamp Thing #37, readers were introduced to a devilishly clever human, a hustler who seemed to be as much a sly, mischievous bastard who belonged to Hell as he seemed to be the perfect fighter against the forces of Hades.  That character is back.  Constantine is more than just an occult detective digging at the murky evil that permeates human living spaces – he’s hardboiled.

Another good thing about reading an Alan Moore Swamp Thing was the tactile experience of actually holding the comic book.  An effective teller of dark tales, Moore stories made holding one of his comic books thrilling and chilling.  That’s how reading horror should feel – like you’re holding onto something that could bite you.

Handling Diggle and Manco’s John Constantine, Hellblazer: Joyride is like holding onto something dangerous and scary in your hands – a sinister narrative that dozes for a page or two, then wakes up to give you a good old fright.  It may seem like I’m kissing Diggle and Manco’s asses, but if you love horror and someone delivers the goods, you witness to it.  So I’m testifying about the return of the king.  John Constantine, the big boss of British occult, is back.  Thanks to Diggle and Manco.

Oh, yeah.  Series cover artist, Lee Bermejo is also delivering some cold-blooded stuff.

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