This may be the best Constantine storyline ever.

books:

	• John Constantine, Hellblazer: Stations of the Cross Mike Carey Vertigo, 2006 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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CONSTANTINE AT HIS MOST VULNERABLE

The latest Hellblazer trade paperback from Vertigo collects issues #194 - 200 of the Hellblazer comic series and finds John Constantine at perhaps his most vulnerable. He's suffered amnesia and doesn't know who, or what he is and his enemies are gathering to take advantage of his weakness. A depraved serial killer, who has the psychic ability to virtually know everybody, is intrigued by Constantine when he finds him in a hospital psyche ward. He's intrigued because for some reason he doesn't know this strange man and that simply can't be...Constantine wanders about the dark and dirty alleys and streets searing for his identity but only finds more trouble.

Constantine has also become the target of a Rosacarnis, a demon queen who is manipulating Constantine for her own evil intentions. John soon finds himself taken in and given comfort by a religious cult that is not so benevolent. The cult is being operated by one of Constantine's rival sorcerers, Ghant. Ghant plans to use the captured Constantine as his own bargaining chip with hell to have himself released from the torments of a spell gone horribly wrong. Constantine will have to make a truly unholy deal to regain his memories but at what price?

Even while suffering amnesia, Constantine remains ever resourceful, even if it is by having to talk his way out of trouble, often his strongest ability. Writer Mike Carey displays with blood-thirsty zest, the desire for the demons of hell to claim Constantine as their own. As Ghant gathers the demons, each states their own case as to how they plan to make him suffer, with one torment after another. Carey comes up with some pretty unnerving ideas for ol' John!

The Phantom Strange makes a brief cameo, threatening to intervene but then plays no other role and it does make me wonder why Carey chose to include him at all. The art team of Leonardo Manco, Chris Brunner, Marcelo Frustin and Steve Dillon is consistently strong throughout the whole story.

"Stations of the Cross" is a unique look at Constantine and Carey has delivered another outstanding story.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

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Mike Carey hits another home run

Throughout Mike Carey's entire run on Hellblazer, he managed to take everything that had been laid out by previous scribes of the series and inject enough attitude into it to make it his own. Stations of the Cross is no different, and as it begins John Constantine is a shell of the bad luck magician that he is. He's lost his memory and can't remember squat about who he is, and now he has a rather large, psychic, homicidal maniac on his trail to go along with the demoness who beckons him an offer he may not be able to refuse. Captivating and horiffic throughout (and there's appearances from the Phantom Stranger and even Lucifer himself), Stations of the Cross concludes with the landmark 200th issue in which past, present, and future artists (Steve Dillon, Marcelo Frusin, and Leonardo Manco) take the reigns as John regains his memories, but at a very steep price. All in all, Mike Carey hits another home run with Stations of the Cross, and it's an essential addition to your Hellblazer library.

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This may be the best Constantine storyline ever.

Mike Carey, John Constantine, Hellblazer: Stations of the Cross (Vertigo, 2004)

John Constantine is back, and in Carey's story arc, he's been better than ever. Stations of the Cross continues on where Staring at the Wall left off, with John back from his otherplanar trip and not remembering much of anything that happened to him in the previous book (and spotty recollection of what happened in the previous Carey work). This, of course, leads to one big problem for John: he's made some enemies that he has no memory of knowing, allowing them to get past his usual defenses.

Constantine is not usually a character for whom "vulnerable" comes to mind as an adjective, but Carey pulls it off quite nicely. We are given a number of different, and distinct, episodes within the larger storyline, but all are tied quite neatly into what Carey's been doing, and the end result is quite a coherent little look into Constantine's life. Another winner from the Carey camp, a high quality book in a high quality series. This is good stuff, it is, and well worth your time. ****

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John Constantine is an unconcerned, somewhat amoral occultist with a British working-class background. He's a hero of sorts, who manages to come out on top through a combination of luck, trickery and genuine magical skill.

This latest volume finds the hard-drinking master of bad-luck magic suffering alone in the aftermath of the near-apocalypse he unwittingly caused, with no memory of his identity or history. However, he still has his usual luck, and soon enough he's being hunted by man and demon alike ? and about to make the worst mistake of his long, blood-soaked life.

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