A review by crookedtreehouse
Hellblazer, Vol. 3: The Fear Machine by Jamie Delano

4.0

This volume started out as a potential five star book, with a focus on characters rather than magic or continuity, and giving us a more human glimpse at who John Constantine is. As the volume gathers momentum, we do get a bit of continuity, and definitely some magic. But then the volume comes to a screeching nonsensical stop at the end. Where, for some reason, there has to be a sex ritual, and then ... and then everything is somehow solved in an incredible anti-climax, and we are led to believe that the next volume might feature an amnesiac Constantine (that is, fortunately, not the case). The ending was such a letdown that I considered dropping it down to three stars, but I am mostly glad that I read this volume.

The political statements are much more subdued in this volume as they serve the story rather than the story serving the politics. But it's still a bit messy and a bit much if you don't enjoy politics in your comics.