Constantine #1 Review
“The Spark and the Flame Part 1: The Price We Pay.” Few, long title.
Constantine leaves his dark Vertigo roots and joins the brightly colored regions of the New 52. This book is an obviously toned down version of Constantine’s soon to be cancelled book, Hellblazer.
Constantine is met by an estranged acquaintance who’s cursed powers lead Constantine in search of a dangerous trinket known as, Groydon’s Compass. It’s location takes Constantine all the way to the icy hotels of Norway, where he’s met by some not so nice magic users. I’ll live the rest to your imagination.
The story moves extremely fast for a first issue. The characters aren’t technically introduced to you, they’re just aggressively thrown at you. I guess you could say it’s to set the hectic tone Constantine speaks of, when he speaks about the uncontrollable power of most magic.
The art from Renato Guedes is quite good, and really worth noting. I think when dealing with the supernatural, bright colors and unexplainable details are a must. Something Guedes did extremely well with.
I’m not a fanboy of Constantine or Hellblazer, but I must admit, I don’t understand DC’s move here. Why cancel Constantine’s long running title from Vertigo, just to move him over to DC? To tame him down? Appeal to a wider audience? It just seems, strange. But then again I’m just a lowly writer who reviews comic books for a local comic book shop, so, what do I know. Right?
Constantine #1 overall is a very strong book, I just felt I’d heard it all before in Justice League Dark, another book Constantine is thrown front and center in.
You can read more of Burke’s reviews at nerdfarmblog.com, and be sure to snag all of the newest New 52 books at Cosmic Comics! today!
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