Hellblazer: Rise and Fall #2: In Bed With The Devil

Tom Taylor is one of the best writers currently operating in comics. Few writers have such a knack for jerking a reader’s heart around. An element of sincerity is required, if you want to effectively manipulate your audience — like the kernel of truth at the centre of a lie. The devil knows this truck well enough, and Taylor is familiar enough with his work to write him effectively.

This issue slid (slickly) from the delightful trick that Satan played on our old friend John (I love, deeply and sincerely, that Taylor is leaning into Constantine’s bisexuality) to the pathos of a dead old friend, and onto the palpable horror of child endangerment. There were a few timely stops at the Bureau of Healthy and Supportive Marriage and the village of Painful Quips (as well as some impromptu abdominal surgery) and all of this served to tick the plot over the tracks until it landed exactly where the story needed to go. 

The writing was a delight, is what I’m saying. 

Darick Robertson’s art was an absolute pleasure to see. Constantine looks like a crumpled drunk, clinging to the tattered edge of his charm. Aisha looks like an attractive, hard worn woman at the end of her thirties. The devil is, frankly, delicious. The streets are grimy and true to their real life counterparts. There’s stubble, dirt, creases at the edge of eyes, and a realistic patina on that kidney I mentioned. Even if the writing were somehow less than perfect, this issue would remain a pleasure to look at. As it is, Taylor’s usual themes of compassion and regret are there to support Robertson’s exquisite lines. 

This miniseries is something very special indeed. It’s well worth picking up.