The Royal Wedding of the Century!
Dearly beloved we are gathered here to day to join a man and a woman in "un"holy matrimony. This issue marks the biggest plot twist in the history of Hellblazer. From the creator Alan Moore and/or the man who fleshed him out Jamie Delano to Andy Diggle, none would dare make John half to a whole. Peter Milligan serves as the priest in this union to change Hellblazer for better or worst. 275 issues in the making and with 25 years of real time history, our mate John Constantine has become an old man looking for love. And it looks like he found it in the lovely Epiphany Greaves, making the lone wolf John of Bad Blood nothing but an elseworlds.
When Peter Milligan set off to this task, he sent us on a red herring with Phoebe Clifton-Avery and he has sent us on a ride of /\/\@D/\/3$$ with our old friend Shade, The Changing Man. 24 issues of plot development, 2 years of ground work, Peter Milligan has no just married John Constantine to Epiphany Greaves, but has also married so much of John's history so to speak. Issues with Nergal now makes sense. The chapter to Kit Ryan (the loose end for Ennis' run) is now closed. Even Thomas Constantine joined the ceremony. Demon John from Paul Jenkin's run even shows us again thin this issue after being reintroduced last issue. It looks like Angie Spatchcock from Mike Carey's run even showed up.
There were a few no shows of course. I wonder what happened to Swamp Thing, Abby, Tefe (John's first daughter) and John's other daughter Maria.... I guess Dan Didio did not let the Swamp family come back to Vertigo for even an issue and maybe Maria was a toy left for Carey to play with. All I know it would of been nice to see at least a pot or something to represent the Swamp Thing in the crowd and at least one of John's daughters would of been great. Tefe should of been the flower girl.
The creative team expands a little. Shawn Martinbrough helps Stefano Landini with the inking and our old friend Lee Loughridge helps Trish Mulvihill with colors. Not sure if it is because of the oversized nature of the book extra hands needed to help out, but it was nice to see Lee back on the book even if its a guest.
I talked so much about the other guests at the party I forgot to explain if this issue is accessible or not. I would love if everyone got this comic, since it should be the highest selling Vertigo issue of the year, for the shear reason of it being the wedding issue of the flagship character. Like how Superman's wedding was a big thing for the DCU, any true Vertigo fan should celebrate this issue's release. Since that is a pipe dream and I likely have not caused a spike in the sales, I will tell you all that you are missing out. This issue is enjoyable with little knowledge of the Hellblazer history, I tested it out at a coffee shop. I asked a few random people if they could read this comic, tell me what they think and I'll buy them a coffee. May be it was the synchronicity of the day, but it worked. It is amazing what a Canadian will do for Tim Horton's coffee. One person knew John from Sandman, so that was nice. Most had little or no clue who he was. Yes I had to explain back history to those who wanted to know more, but what I did is no different then a wiki search. All but one person said it was a good comic, some were confused because they never read anything that mature before, thinking comics were only Superheroes, but still enjoyed it. If you are wondering why I would cough up coffee money, well the local store I go to, The labyrinth has a reward program of buy 10 comics, get 20% back in value. My credit happened to be due, so I saved my money for this comic and I didn't pay more then 10 cents for the bag and board. So $5 in coffee money gets me outsiders opinions. The Book may not be a 5 Star if you are not up to date, but that is with any random jump into a series. For a guy like me who has been reading what Peter Milligan and co have been doing, this might just be the single most entertaining and emotional issue in Hellblazer in a long time.
With all my heart, I was happiest attending this Wedding over, Superman's, Spider-man's and the Green Arrow's. I wish the married couple a happy life together. Death do us part is not that scary of a Life sentence when Life can be short and that is what tends to happen if your not Chas in a Hellblazer book.
Cheers
- Silkcuts
