The Stop Button

I’m not sure how seriously Jamie Delano takes Hellblazer. Well, maybe he takes the story seriously, but not John Constantine. The issue opens with a demonic incident–bugs, since it’s a Swamp Thing spin-off, but to be bugs–and it takes a while for Constantine to show up.

When he does, Delano’s writing style changes. He intentionally gets very purple with adjectives, he’s got Constantine talks very British to himself. Maybe the humor is to offset the grossness.

But the plot is also a little goofy. Constantine’s a globe-trotter. He starts in London, heads to Africa for some investigating, then to New York. While Delano ties the New York setting into the character’s history well enough, it’s hard not to think the stateside setting is for the U.S. comic market.

John Ridgway’s art is good. He gives the various settings a lot of personality while maintaining general uneasiness.

CREDITS

Hunger; writer, Jamie Delano; artist, John Ridgway; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, Annie Halfacree; editor, Karen Berger; publisher, DC Comics.