The Hellblazer (2016-2018) Vol. 1: Poison Truth

I went into this book with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised how good it was. The characterisation of Constantine is spot on except for one thing, since Matt Ryan played him in the series and voiced him in the justice league dark animated film in my mind he is now Welsh, the problem here is they make him a scouser and nobody likes a scouser except a scouser 😂. Jokes aside the story is interesting and flows well, the art ranges from just OK to good but I still enjoyed it enough that it didn't take me out of the story. Swamp thing gets in which is always a bonus. My only gripe with the book is the writer makes one too many remarks about current politics, most of them are funny but the last one had me thinking "again? Really??" for me comics are a form of escapism just like films, novel's and computer game's and I don't need the writer taking pop's at the American president or constantly talking of the current state of British politics, a couple of political jokes are great but just one too many for me. A must buy for Constantine fan's and a interesting starting point for new reader's. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Well this is definitely a fresh read when compared to the mainly 'super' books it runs along with. Sarcastic English Prick saves the day is the basic premise and you know what, I can dig that. Who cares if its a stereotype, it works. Not the most original opening arc but a good foundation for a greater story. Definitely one to check out if you want something a little different to break up the all American Feel of Every other book in rebirth except maybe Aquaman and New Superman. The most English comic I have read in a while.

Really enjoyed this one, good story and the art is brilliant. It's also great to see a scouse character (as a scouser myself) his personality is infectious and the art work was wonderful. Also I really enjoyed the piss taking of certain political pond scum lol

Book came with a slight bend in the bottom right hand corner of the cover page, but it doesn’t distract from the great writing or art

I really, really wanted to enjoy this. The Rebirth one-shot which serves as a prelude was fantastic. A clear highlight of the Rebirth titles, where we once again (after far too long) felt that John Constantine was in safe hands. The first couple of issues proper were also good, although you could begin to see the stretchmarks in the story. By the time the latter part of the arc had arrived, the story gets boring and has no real conclusion. This is a growing issue in comics due to "writing for the trade" every arc has to be a certain number of issues, even if the story does not and cannot warrant it. The first volume of Hellblazer was a fascinating journey when arcs could be told in 1 issue or 10, if the story made it necessary. Nowadays, we have to sit through comics like this- where a story is stretched beyond its means and becomes meandering and pointless. For most of this story, proceedings are difficult to follow, and there really isn't much in the way of revelation or anything interesting at the end.

Well worth reading having seen Matt Ryan in Constantine I Interested to read the original stories. really enjoyed the story and graphics.

Constantine is back on form as the DC Rebirth returns him to his home country and his old mates. The comic brings back all the humour and tone that the 2011 run was lacking and the 2015 run was starting to bring back. It's nice to see the old title return. It's not AS good as the classic runs of Hellblazer, partially because its lack of a mature rating requires that it can't be as adult-orientated as it was, but it's lovely to see John back where he belongs.

very good

While it portraits Constantine how he shuld be, the main storyline involving the Djinns isn't that exciting. The first issue The Hellblazer: Rebirth #1 is really great, but then the following issues become boring and the story evolves very slowly. Moritat art is great as well as most of the covers, but then the constant changes of artists becomes annoying. Overall the story is boring and not interesting, but the characters and their developments are enough to make you go through the book.

Please note that this is a continuation of the New 52. The last chapter and the first chapter of this comic is the same. That being said, this rebirth of Constantine is great. The story is easy to follow and the characters are dynamic. I highly recommend picking this book up!

Ich war wirklicher Fan der vorherigen Constatine-Reihe von Ming Doyle, die aus dem schroffen, abgewrackten Magier einen nicht minder narzistischen Dandy gemacht hat. Eingebettet in durchdachte Geschichten und belgeitet von tollem Art-Work war das eine spannende neue Facette und ein großartiger Kontrast zu dem vorherigem quasi-Superheld mit viel Effekthascherei am Beginn der New52. Im Rebirth nun wird die Hellblazer-Reihe wieder traditioneller, was nicht nur für das Setting gilt. (Ab jetzt ACHTUNG: kleine SPOILER!). John Constantine kehrt im ersten Heft nach London zurück und überwindet in einem grandiosen Bluff seine Verbannung aus der Stadt. Das ist richtig toll geschrieben, setzt den Charakter vielversprechend in Szene und so ist man freudiger Erwartung auf ein großes Comic-Abenteuer - das jedoch leider ausbleibt. In den folgenden Heften gibt es viel Klein-Klein, eine wirkliche Geschichte kommt kaum ins Rollen und Constatine wirkt merkwürdig deplatziert in der Story, deren unrühmlicher Höhepunkt sich in einer Szene findet, in der Constantine von Neo-Nazis an einen Stuhl gefesselt wird. Das wirkt alles völlig ziellos, aber da es neben dem fehlenden roten Faden auch keine wirklich ansprechenden 'Case-of-the-day'-Geschichten gibt, plätschert der Comic so vor sich hin und hat mich stellenweise tatsächlich gelangweilt. Nebenbei wird eine Storyline mit dem Swamp Thing aufgebaut, die - wenn auch nicht optisch zumindest inhaltlich vielversprechend scheint - aber noch nicht die ganz große Wirkung entfaltet. Das Art-Work hingegen ist teilweise wirklich grauenhaft. Moritat gelingt es nicht auch nur annähernd stilistische Kontinuität in die teilweise sehr detailarmen Panels zu bringen. Immerhin gibt es keine handwerklichen/zeichnerischen Fehler, aber das war's dann auch schon an Positivem. Stimmung kommt kaum auf, Mimiken irritieren oftmals eher, als dass sie Geschriebenes unterstreichen und sowohl bei der Geschichte von Constantine als auch vor allem dem parallelen Handlungsstrang des Swamp Thing wird viel zu viel optisches Potential verschenkt. Auch die ersten Cover von Moritat (danach sollte man einmal googlen, um einen Eindruck zu bekommen) sind völlig uninspiriert und wirklichen optischen Genuss bieten nur die (Variant-)Cover anderer Künstler sowie eine ganz nette Cover-Art-Galerie. Insgesamt ist das optisch jedoch eher mau. Ich werde der Reihe wegen des tollen Auftaktes und in Erwartung einer großen Zusammenführung der Geschichten zwar nochmal eine Chance geben, überzeugt, dass das lohnen wird, bin ich derzeit jedoch nicht.

I love the original Hellblazer series from Vertigo and since Constantine's entrance into the DC Universe, I haven't felt the same about his series. But THIS, this is Hellblazer. It's not over the top or full of non stop magic like previous incarnations. It is a slow burning story that is intelligent and has of great characters and is an absolute must read for true Hellblazer fans. Only wish it didn't end on such a cliffhanger. Overall, it's a great John Constantine tale and I look forward to where this series goes.

Prefer the hellblazer variety of art but once you get into it works ok. I think worth persevering into the other volumes