"I'm not the marrying kind. Never will be."
The road to the alter splits into a fork. (1) Epiphany Graves is shunted off to London in 1979 where John Constantine is closer to her current age. (2) John Constantine is in the present day and the succubus are out to send his love a stray. Between issues #271 and #272 there was a mini story in the House of Mystery: Halloween Annual #2. No reading the mini will not effect your enjoyment of the issue, it is just further character development of this current John Constantine, a Constantine who can love.
Every month one thing I like to point out is that Peter Milligan knows how to use his creative team. It is nice to see Simon Bisley (Biz) doing more interiors, even it it is penciled work instead of his trademarked painting. Biz is responsible for the 1979 tone that was established in the "No Future" arc where we saw Biz illustrated both issues. In this half of the comic we see a young John Constantine and we see Epiphany grow up fast. She confronts young versions of her parents and also this young Constantine.
Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini stay on for the core interior chores. The remaining half of the comic is Constantine still battling with the Madness caused by Shade and to make things worst a succubus named Gloria, who was introduced in the last issue, is trying to ruin John's desire to marry Epiphany. It is refreshing to see this lovestruck Constantine, even drunk and/or a sleep he can make magic protection circles. The cliff-hanger of this issue is one of the best ones I've read in a Hellblazer comic... the next issue will not come fast enough. Thank God October of 2010 is a good Constantine month, where Shoot and City of Demons can fill my time till I find out what happens next.
If you haven't been reading Hellblazer, shame on you if you call yourself a "Vertigo" fan. Hellblazer is the longest running Vertigo series for a reason and Peter Milligan has been keeping us Hellblazer fans happy.
Cheers!
- Silkcuts