"I'm
scared. Yes, me, scared!
The thought of dying and never seeing Epiphany again...it actually
hurts. Like the phantom ache of a missing limb. And I thought I was
immune from that fear stuff. Untouchable... What's changed?"
If
you've ever read any of the previous adventures of John Constantine,
reading that little passage probably makes you ask the same question.
Phantom
Pains
is the fifth collection of comics in writer Peter Milligan's run on
Hellblazer,
and it nicely tells its own stories while advancing the larger plots
that have been running through the title for the last few years.
Phantom
Pains,
the five part story that takes up the bulk of the book, deals with
the fallout of Constantine's recent little crazy spell in which he
ripped off his own thumb and a doppelgänger was giving him trouble
(all covered in previous books). As the little stub really freaks out
his wife and (completely ruining a rather intimate moment that the
two are trying to share), John realizes that he needs to get this
sorted out quickly. Worse, Gemma Masters has a few big problems with
her Uncle John Constantine due to a misunderstanding regarding the
aforementioned doppelgänger, enlisting the services of some creepy
tatooed women who subsequently summon a demonic harpy.
In
the first Milligan/ Bisley tale, a certain number-cruncher named
Marcus has gotten exceptionally good at trading and investing his
money. His company has grown pretty large, but he doesn't know there
is a very old debt to be paid by those who use the algorithms he's
been using. Constantine is around when a demon who hasn't been seen
since the time of the ancient druids comes back to settle the score.
Inside
sends
Constantine to jail, where he takes care of a demon that has been
causing some problems with the prisoners. It gives Bisley a chance to
draw some demented characters and serves as a nice closing chapter
for the latest book in the
Hellblazer
series.
Not
enough writers get to really take their time in relating the
adventures of John Constantine, and it's nice to see what Peter
Milligan has been building throughout more than thirty issues of
Hellblazer.
His Constantine is pitch perfect, always stumbling into his next
predicament, always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, and
always making it by on about ten percent skill and ninety percent
luck. While you could just crack open Phantom
Pains
and be solidly entertained for an hour or two it would certainly be
worth it to read Milligan's work on the series in its entirety.
There
are no slouches in the art department: Giuseppe Camuncoli and
Stephano Landini handle the majority of the chores in Phantom
Pains
and their crisp linework tells the story nicely. Whenever Simon
Bisley is involved he does tend to take the spotlight though, and
it's a real joy to see his art on the two "bookends" of
this collection of comics, High
Frequency Man
and Inside.
Review
by Christopher Larochelle
Christopher
Larochelle is buried under a huge pile of comics. At least that's his
excuse for not updating his blog (where he used to write about them
from time to time): www.clarocomics.blogspot.com.
Visit it and encourage him to get back to updating.
1 comment:
i absolutely love the cover
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