Hellblazer: Joyride

Having been downright depressed with some of the post-Ennis writing for Hellblazer, I was pleasantly surprised with Joyride. If you enjoyed some of the earlier Hellblazer where demons and dark magic were used allegorically to comment on social issues, Diggle's sharp but fair dig at both the British class divide and the demonization of youth shouldn't fail to resonate.

Joyride is a little slow and the ideas behind the last story arc is lifted straight out of Morrison's Invisibles. However, now that I have read the next book in the series "the laughing magician" I am re-reading these stories with renewed appreciation. This is a buildup to what looks like a three-book epic. I still give it only a four as the stories in this book don't stand well on their own, but if you want to fully enjoy the five-star sequel, get this book first!

Andy Diggle's much anticipated debut on Hellblazer is a mixed bag. This collection is a compilation of 3 shorter stories. Unfortunately, when trades use this approach instead of one complete arc, inconsistencies in quality can occur, and that is somewhat the case here. The first half of the book is the better of the two, with the closing 4 issue story being a bit too earthbound for an Hellblazer tale and thus lacking the supernatural thrills and chills that we have come to expect from it. At its' best, Hellblazer takes one on a ghoulish journey through the bowels of Hell itself, a hair raising, gut wrenching, fist clenching, edge of your seat roller coaster ride from which one may never return. Diggle is certainly a top notch talent and a welcome and qualified addition to the impressive pantheon of writers that have worked on this character. His "voice" for Constantine was slightly different from Mike Carey's, whose recent lengthy run was one of my favorites, and took a while to adjust to, but that is to be expected. In contrast to Carey's and other writers' runs, this take may be a bit too staid, lacking the over the top mayhem and madness that is a feature of this book. With Diggle I expected magic, with a bit of sorcery and necromancy thrown in for good measure, and while this is still a quality read, it does not quite compare to previous volumes.