HELLBLAZER #171
"Ashes & Dust in the City of Angels, Part Two"
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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DC Comics/Vertigo imprint
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Pencils: Marcelo Frusin
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Will Dennis
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Azzarello and Frusin blew me away with the first chapter of this story arc last month, and they managed to live up to that high standard once again with the second installment. This tale of the dark side of humanity boasts a new element here, as the writer emphasizes a supernatual mystery as well. Though those supernatural elements are thrilling and entertaining, it's the real-world corruption, the dark side that most of us suppress, that makes this a haunting and entertainingly disturbing read.
After he concludes his interrogation of the S&M fetishist named Peggy, Agent Turro and Detective Havlik engage in a clash of wills over her participation in the case. Meanwhile, a wealthy, eccentric and corrupt soul named Stanley begins seeing visions of John Constantine in his home, while Turro learns from his medical examiner that Constantine's charred body burned from the inside out.
Check out Marcelo Frusin's art... not just in this issue but in just about anything else he's done in American comics. Notice how he almost always obscures the characters' eyes. Now, the level of detail and realism, along with the inherent darkness of his work, contribute to its power, but I think the key to his succcessful communication of human horror is how he renders eyes. The reader's attention is often focused there, even when the eyes are represented by nothing but a thin line or a small pool or darkness. Loughridge's muted tones add to the foreboding, eerie mood as well.
There are a couple of mysteries at play in this issue. The first is the X-Files-esque question of how a body can burn from the inside out, but what's really got me intrigued is Constantine's haunting of Stanley. I honestly don't care how he's doing it; I want to know why. The reader knows that Constantine isn't dead; this is his series, after all. I want to know why he wants people to think he's dead. It's not John's status as a magician that makes him a compelling, but that he's a con man.
There are no heroes to be found in this story. Azzarello shows the reader that everyone involved in this plot is corrupt in some way. While I remained fascinated with Peggy's seductive but disturbed surrender to physical desire, the highlight of this issue was the conflict between Turro and Havlik. Her assertion of authority is delightful, as it involves submission. She calls Turro's bluff, giving him what he's asked for and proving she's just as cold and determined... if not moreso.
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