Constantine #3 – Review

By: Ray Fawkes & Jeff Lemire (story), Renato Guedes (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: Constantine has always had an eye for choice magical relics—unlike some people.

The Review: Never having written any serial fiction, I can’t say I have any firsthand insight into the medium, but from the outside looking in, I’ve noticed one thing: once you get locked into certain habits, it’s very hard to course correct afterwards.  I imagine it’s a little embarrassing to do so, too.  Making radical changes early on clearly signals poor initial choices, and who would ever want to admit that?

Fawkes-Lemire better be careful, because they can easily fall into the same trap with these opening-page monologues of theirs.  Besides serving as less than subtle mini-recaps of previous events, they’re also strangely preachy.  This is John Constantine, after all; broodiness doesn’t suit him much: “Every single one of us is stupid enough to think we’re smarter than everyone else.  And how d’you think that works out for us?  On average.”

Constantine #2 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire & Ray Fawkes (story), Renato Guedes (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: This is just a day for awkward encounters with old enemies, huh?

The Review: A lot of people heaved a little groan when they heard that Constantine would be shifting completely from the Vertigo universe over to the DCU proper, and as we’ve been seeing, that groan was mostly justified (more on that in a bit).  I don’t understand why going mainstream means having to dumb down a character; it’s not as if the mainstream audience has an aversion to smart, well-crafted stories.

But that’s exactly what’s happened to Constantine in the last year or so.  While Lemire-Fawkes’ portrayal of the mage isn’t offensive, it reeks of oversimplification, taking away every subtlety and nuance of his character and reducing him to little more than a tagline: “Tricky chap.  Quite a bastard.  Works magic.”  In essence, they’ve emphasized only his superficial appeal, and gotten rid of everything that actually made him compelling and popular.

Constantine #1 – Review

By: Ray Fawkes & Jeff Lemire (story), Renato Guedes (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: Never make friends with a man who wears a trenchcoat indoors.

The Review: When you hear discussion about John Constantine as reintroduced into the mainstream DCU, the word you most often hear to describe him is “neutered.”  I confess that I’m probably the least appropriate to make a judgment on this point.  I’ve barely read Hellblazer and my knowledge of Constantine lore is minimal at best.  But I do know that in the Vertigo universe, he’s a much more cunning, canny, witty, and biting character than he is now.

Given the general dissatisfaction with Constantine’s portrayal in Justice League Dark, I’m not sure exactly what the people in charge at DC were thinking in choosing to release a solo ongoing featuring the antihero, especially written by the same duo responsible for the “neutered” image he has in his team book.  That said, Fawkes-Lemire do bring a fairly different side of John to this title, one that provides a bridge between his Vertigo and JLD sides.