"You see I've only just started"
What I love most of what Peter Milligan is doing with Hellblazer he is systematically defining the man: John Constantine. In the arc Scab, he defined the Flesh. In Hooked he explored John's addictive personality. In India John discovered more depth in his magick. In No Future he explored John's Teenage rebellion. In Sectioned, John's Sanity was pushed. Bloody Carnations was the Alchemy arc where John found his Anima. Phantom Pains, explored extension of the body with John getting back his thumb. Now with The Devil's Trench Coat, another form of extension is explored. John has lost his "security blanket" in his trench coat and the aftermath is interesting.
John Constantine mentions in the comic that his coat has been with him for years and with all the things that has happened to him, some sort of impression on it:
This sets up a neat dynamic. For once a writer personifies the coat. Explaining its relationship to John Constantine. A question some readers wondered if it has been the same coat for all these years? According to Peter Milligan, yes!"But I've worn that thing for ages. Just think what's happened to it, all these years with me./ The Demons, the spells, the bad luck magic. All those dark and terrible crimes against nature./ How can it not have left a mark on the coat?"
This issue is a weird blend of mundane horror and cliche' horror, such as the laundromat and what you really might take home and your father walking in on you showering, to bleeding walls and demons. The chaos the coat brings is a wide range according to this comic.
I'll be honest the art was a bit off on some parts for me, some of the faces were just ugly. No areola where there should be. When I revisited passed Camuncoli art in Azzarello's run, it looked drastically different. I have a feeling it is Landini who is letting me down, since it was Cameron Stewart who inked Camuncoli's work on Azz's run and Stewart is world-class.
I cannot wait to see what else happens to the coat. I haven't seen John Constantine this long without his coat since The Family Man arc. The build up is getting exciting.
Cheers
- Silkcuts
