John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dead in America #7: Funny Thing About Sacrifice, Mate

John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dead in America #7 is nearly flawless on all fronts. With every issue released it becomes clearer that Si Spurrier was born to write this series as was Aaron Campbell to draw it. Dead in America is one of the quintessential Hellblazer series and captures everything that makes John Constantine and Hellblazer great and modernizes it most naturally. This issue in particular does an incredible job moving the story forward while having a focus on the past. John needs information from Elliot Garner and needs to bring him to a certain place but it’s Garner’s recollection of his past that takes up the bulk of this issue. Campbell and Jordie Bellaire do such a fantastic job depicting the past and the present with such subtleness that the pacing feels perfect. Another creative team might have struggled to cover this much ground without feeling choppy. Bellaire’s use of color in this issue especially sticks out thanks to these flashbacks which use a sepia tone, so moments in the present pop. This issue deals with magic and the occult but a moment where Dream appears reminds readers that this is a horror story.

John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dead in America #7 does such an excellent job building up to the climax of the issue, and it still feels like a surprise even with such effective pacing. Spurrier and Campbell force the reader to slow down and let their guard down by showing John remember his former partner’s fate in Sandman #3 but with the turn of the page, everything changes. Campbell’s pencils with Bellaire’s colors shine in the closing pages and Wands’ lettering is the cherry on top. The climax of the issue is unexpected and powerful, but where it leads John is the true surprise. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens in the coming issues.