thecaptainand's review

4.75
adventurous dark mysterious
adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
took_afoot's profile picture

took_afoot's review

4.5
dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lastoreoandmilk's review

5.0
adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Amazing!
adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Beyond exceptional, and the perfect ending to the Spurrier/Campbell Hellblazer trilogy. It's visceral, profound, challenging and captivating throughout. If Si Spurrier could write John Constantine forever then we'd be in for a brilliant eternity. He has a grasp on the complexity of not only John's character, but that of everyone else in the story. Each one feels nuanced and alive, even those that are clearly brought in as caricature. The book plays with the horror of the situation the trio face together, flitting between genres deftly, and portraying the beauty and the beast of America as she is today with a precision that feels so poignant in the world we're living in. 

Places, systems and people may be broken, but everyone has the right to try to be better, even if their soul is more IOU than spirit.  
challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Spurrier and Co. are not pulling any punches right up until the very end. This issue (this entire series actually) is not pretending to be subtle, oh no: Constantine looks the reader straight in the eye and lays it all down when it comes to how f-ed up American politics and the American dream are. I love Hellblazer for being so unashamedly political and clear in its messaging.

Constantine remains a clever bastard through and through. We get all the snarky comments, the sh*t eating grin, and the last-minute cons; it's all here. The characterisation is fantastic, and it was great to see John play off all the important players of the series (Dream, Swamp Thing, and Death being highlights).

The art is good, very gritty and dark, and even downright creepy and almost disgusting (in a good way) to a certain degree. Sometimes, the panelling was a little too confusing for my liking, and overall presentation of the story and info dumping felt a bit too convoluted and vague at times. I feel like you very much need to read this issue and the previous ones back to back to have a better reading experience.

A solid conclusion to an overall good series that, despite some minor flaws, managed to hit all the highlights of a classic Hellblazer story. Great characterisation of John Constantine and no holding back on the politics. I had a lot of fun with this series and can't wait to see how Hellblazer will continue in the future!
adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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atnow's review

3.5
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes