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HELLBLAZER #168
"A Fresh Coat of Red Paint"
Recommended (7/10)
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DC Comics/Vertigo imprint
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Pencils: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Inks: Cameron Stewart
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Will Dennis
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Well, that
was... odd. Azzarello continues to deliver stories on this book that intrigue
me, pull me in and often wind up making very little sense by the end of them.
This particular story is a bit lighter than the last few, with artwork to match
by Camuncoli and Stewart. It's not exactly goofy, in fact it borders more on
willfully sleazy, but it's not as grim and horrific as the last few arcs have
been. It feels a bit off for the book and for the character, but I can't bring
myself to dislike it, because there are just too many fun elements in the story.
The whole driving force behind
this story is that John Constantine picks up a hooker for the evening and takes
her on a very unusual date. That said date includes a trip to the bingo parlor
to win money and torment older people, a visit with an FBI agent and some fairly
kinky sexual innuendo is what makes the book entertaining.
Constantine, in Azzarello's
hands, has been played as a right bastard. He's almost constantly smirking, with
the kind of confidence that would make most want to punch him right in the face.
This attitude has been his most endearing characteristic, and I found it
endearing here as well. His ease of picking up Kitty was enjoyable, and the
whole sequence in the bingo parlor was funny and mean.
This issue we're also
reintroduced to FBI agent Frank Turro, who stood with Constantine at the end of
the "Hard Time" arc and gave us some great banter and a worthwhile
ally/antagonist/complication. The banter this issue is equally good, playing
things a little too vague at time (is Turro's interest of an incestuous nature,
or am I misreading, for example?) but basically establishing the relationship
between the two men as an eternal pissing contest. Kitty, up to that point an
interesting character in her own right, becomes a pawn when she gets between the
strength of personality from these two men, which was certainly an interesting
development.
There's a certain
tongue-in-cheek humor to this entire issue, from the notion of Constantine
gaining his money by cheating at bingo to the playful sexual innuendo at the
end. Camuncoli and Stewart are a perfect match for that tone, with art that has
some of the same shading and style that Marcelo Frusin has brought to the book
but generally looks more like Phillip Bond's work. The art is playful and
lighter than the shadowy work the book has generally had, and I'm pretty
impressed by what I think is my first exposure to Camuncoli's artwork.
Though I often find myself wishing for neater and clearer conclusions to his stories, Azzarello remains an entertaining writer for Hellblazer. His Constantine
is quite different than the one that has gone before, and perhaps not as
definitive as that of Garth Ennis or Alan Moore, but I think it's certainly a
valid and interesting interpretation.
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