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John Constantine: Hellblazer: Stations Of The Cross by Mike Carey, Marcelo Frusin and Leonardo Manco
01/03/2007 . Source: Paul Skevington 
pub: Titan Books. 224 page graphic novel. Price: £ 8.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-84576-329-7. Buy John Constantine: Hellblazer: Stations Of The Cross in the USA - or Buy John Constantine: Hellblazer: Stations Of The Cross in the UK  check out website: www.titanbooks.com www.titanbooks.com
Following straight on from the near-apocalypse of the previous collection, 'Stations Of The Cross' begins with our anti-hero John Constantine wandering the streets of London suffering from amnesia. This is a result of his encounter with the Beast, a creature that had refused to be named by man and had planned to take its revenge on humanity by hacking into the collective unconscious, enabling it to orchestrate a mass suicide of global proportions. Constantine defeated the Beast in his usual style, with a dash of cunning and a willingness to use any tool to get the job done, as shown by his callous manipulation of Swamp Thing.
Powerless and virtually defenceless, Constantine stumbles into the path of a homicidal maniac who torments his victims with their own secrets as much as with his knives and who is fascinated by his inability to read Constantine. Desperate and downtrodden, Constantine has nowhere left to run, the only sprig of hope being offered to him comes from the hands of a demoness. She offers him a deal that would seem to solve all of his woes, but Constantine is wisely reluctant to take it. As the demoness says herself, 'Give them what they ask for, never what they really want.'
Carey's work on 'Hellblazer' is improving all the time and 'Stations Of The Cross' is no exception. By removing Constantine from all forms of support and even from his own identity, Carey creates the sense of confusion and isolation that is the lifeblood of horror. Readers can no longer rely on Constantine using one of his mystic powers to lever himself out of the mess he has created and the fear his vulnerability creates is palpable.
John Constantine's memory loss also creates an opening for Carey to explore the characters moral ambiguity. In particular, there is one scene where Constantine narrowly avoids committing a dreadful crime. It is not entirely clear that this lucky escape is intentional on his part.
Constantine's amnesia forces him to examine the integrity of his own motives. After stealing a truck driver's money, he thinks that 'Maybe I always found the excuse I needed to screw some poor bastard over.'
The first part of the collection is illustrated by Leonardo Manco, the artist who did such a fantastic job on the stand-alone graphic novel 'Hellblazer: All His Engines'. It really does seem as if the title has found its ideal expression through Manco. His panels are incredibly detailed, his characters beautifully realised and the overall tone he manages to convey is one of a grim starkness that wraps itself tightly around the dark wonder of Carey's storyline. Page 25, which shows Constantine's flash of memory, demonstrates Manco's aptitude at depicting the demonic and the downright weird aspects of Constantine's life. He was definitely the right choice to take 'Hellblazer' forward and he will undoubtedly be providing us with many more wonderful moments in the issues to come.
Unusually, an issue drawn by Chris Brunner then punctuates the collection. His art is jarringly different to Manco's, being more angular and less complex. Perhaps this is designed to disorientate the reader during the unmasking of the story's prime antagonist, if so this is an effective strategy. Although this may be the case, and I certainly don't dislike Brunner's style, I would much rather Manco had continued with the art duties until the conclusion of this particular tale.
Marcelo Frusin, who illustrated part of the previous collection, then takes over with a few issues that incorporate some great design work that whilst not being quite as enjoyable as Manco's, nevertheless successfully carries the story up to the brink of its conclusion and a highly notable one it is, too.
This is the graphic novel that leads up to Hellblazer's landmark 200th issue, a fact that DC has apparently not taken lightly. The story is told in three vignettes, each drawn by a different artist. Steve Dillon of 'Preacher' fame illustrates the first in his unmistakably distinctive style. Frusin tackles the second, creating some of his best work here with haunting images of twisted devastation. Happily, the issue's finale is handled by Manco, whose work here is simply stunning. Witness the gorgeous splash page of the demoness in her full glory for evidence of this.
I've got to mention those Tim Bradstreet covers again as well! He is an artist who never disappoints.
Having reached it's bi-centenary, 'Hellblazer' continues to be a title that defines the best of what this medium has to offer. It is a great starting point for what will hopefully turn out to be another hundred issues of quality storytelling.
Paul Skevington
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