#graphic

Review: Hellblazer, Vol. 3 – The Fear Machine

I started reading the 1980s Hellblazer run because I really liked the Keanu Reeves movie Constantine (2005). Needless to say, things are much different in the original comics than they are in the film. In fact, I’m not even to the story arc yet where the plot that inspired the movie came from. I say “inspired” because from what I understand, the story arc in the comics has very little to do with what actually happened on screen. Yes, there’s a bit of story crossover, but it’s not huge. The original John Constantine is English. Keep in mind I’m relaying this because I wasn’t familiar with the character before I saw the movie. And yes, I have read the previous volumes leading up to this one, but as stated, that was all after I saw the film. This specific volume ran from December of 1988 to September of 1989. From the research that I’ve done on the series, this story arc by writer Jamie Delano was considered one of the most deeply political storylines of the entire run. I’m someone who tries my best to stay out of politics and keep my opinions to myself, but it was easy to see the social commentary of the time bleeding through as I was reading. Even though this was set in the late '80s, I felt the social commentary was very relevant to today’s political climate as well.

A Brief Summary of the Plot Constantine is on the run from the chaotic events that happened prior to this story. He gets out of London and heads into the surrounding rural areas. There, he meets a young girl named Mercury, who takes a liking to John and invites him to the eco-commune she and her mother, Marj, belong to. Mercury has powerful psychic abilities, and she and John eventually stumble into a massive government conspiracy. A high-tech shadow branch is harvesting fear, anxiety, and other psychological trauma from the British populace, using machinery to channel and weaponize it through ancient ley lines. When Mercury gets kidnapped, it spurs Constantine into action. The story takes on a very detective-noir feel as John falls down a rabbit hole that leads straight to a sinister group trying to awaken an ancient eldritch monster.

The Art and Reading Experience This volume was about 200 pages. Comics are usually fast reads for me, but I found the text here very dense to get through, so it took me a little over a week to finish. Along with the story, one of my favorite parts of any comic is the art, and this one hit a little differently than my usual forays. The principal artist on this arc was Mark Buckingham, with inking done by Alfredo Alcala. At first, the artwork had an almost airy, ethereal quality to it, and I wasn’t really digging it. But the more I read and got into the story, the more the style fit. The horror scenes were really good; there were many horrific—and psychologically horrific—parts where the art style totally clicked. While the first part of the book and the initial setup were hard to get into, the last half flew by once you finally knew what was going on.

Final Thoughts I can’t say that this was my favorite Constantine story I’ve read so far, but I did really love the twist. I’m a big fan of cosmic horror, ancient cults, and Lovecraft, and this tapped into those exact vibes very well for me. I’m looking forward to getting to Volume 5 of this series, which is when Garth Ennis takes over and I finally get to read the story arc that inspired the movie. The Final Cut: If you can push through the dense setup in the first part of the book, you’ll be well rewarded with a great final half.