Hellblazer: City Of Demons

This is the first post in a series that will amount to a lot of gushing about how great Vertigo comics are. I must have already said by now how I think it’s one of the most important little branches in the comics publishing industry. They tell all kinds of stories, sometimes even the stories that anyone else would be afraid to publish.

So here’s part one of four in “Thoughts About Vertigo in August.” Hellblazer: City of Demons is a great place to start, since John Constantine’s adventures have been the one constant running throughout the entire history of Vertigo since it was officially started in 1993. It’s curious to me that this story was published as a separate miniseries rather than as part of the nearly 300 issue long saga that has been running since the 80s. I guess it’s nothing to complain about...extra Constantine is a very good thing.

City of Demons is a really top-notch Hellblazer comic. I had never heard of Si Spencer, the writer. He did a Vertigo series called The Vinyl Underground a few years ago which was completely under my radar. And apparently in the 90s, being a good British comic book writer, he lent a hand in telling some Judge Dredd stories. So it’s always a little strange wandering into the writings of someone you’ve never before encountered, but Spencer proved himself to me.

Moving onto the art, Sean Murphy really made City of Demons into an incredible comic. I can now say that I believe the hype that this guy generates. The only book I ever read by him before this was a Batman/Scarecrow Year One story that was put out in 2005 to sort of tie in with Batman Begins. Looking between the pages of that comic and City of Demons was amazing. He’s come a long and way and has certainly deserved all of the praise that he is getting. Everything is very stylized and powerful.

Let’s not forget to mention that Dave Stewart is the colorist. As usual, he has developed a unique coloring style for yet another project. Here’s another guy who is much lauded, and deservedly so. He does so much for all of the comics he contributes to.

John Constantine gets hit by an SUV in the first few pages of City of Demons. This results in him being carted to a hospital for brain surgery while his disembodied spirit wanders around the hospital. What he doesn’t realize right away is that some of his blood is taken to be used for other patients, and this is some very, very bad news. Constantine kind of sort of has a lot of demon blood in him after a certain transfusion he took from Nergal some years back. So if a pint of his blood was used for plasma and distributed to a bunch of people who needed it at the hospital, well...there’s going to be trouble. Hence the title City of Demons. 

There are several people who start acting crazy and bloodthirsty and downright demonic. And it’s all because Constantine went to the hospital. Sure enough, the Hellblazer gets to the bottom of it all and the evil doctors who are all too aware of what they are doing are cast into the gaping maw of the infernal regions. But even when he thinks he’s safe again he is dead wrong.

John Constantine is a character whom a lot of people have grown attached to over the years. He isn’t a pleasant type of person, and in fact he’s usually being a cranky asshole. Si Spencer had the characterization down perfectly, which was great to see from someone who was new to the character. His story was fast paced and always exciting, and yes, frequently gory. Murphy in turn was only too happy to indulge in Spencer’s scripts, bringing everything into perfect detail. 

This was really an A+ Hellblazer story. If you’ve been too afraid to jump into the collections of the regular series, check this out. All of the Constantine books are fairly self-contained, but this is a book that seems especially designed for someone who doesn’t know a thing about the character and wants to dive in headfirst. 

As a bonus, the end of this book features a prose story by Dave Gibbons which he also provided spot illustrations for.

Judge Dredd: Mega-City Masters Volume One

Mega-City One sure does sound like an awful place to live. With a population of 800 million and an unemployment rate of 87%, well, it’s easy to see that things might get a little out of control there. This is the grim future in which Judge Dredd lives. Crime and chaos call for some harsh justice, and Dredd and company are there to make sure that citizens abide the law at all times. 

Running through the streets when you should really only be walking? Say goodbye to your kneecaps.

Holding down multiple jobs when nine out of ten people can’t even get one? You’re holding society back, citizen.

Judge Dredd is just a guy doing his job. He’s great with his gun, maybe a little less great with his people skills. But after reading Mega-City Masters Volume One, I got hooked on  the world that is presented in the 2000 AD stories.

This collection was made to showcase how great these British comics are to an American audience. I’m really glad that 2000 AD is expanding and bringing their stuff across the pond in a more direct fashion than they have in the past. This is just one book out of many that have only recently been printed up for people who might otherwise not have the chance to experience them.

It’s quite the “who’s who” in the credits on this book. That was, of course, a major selling point for Mega-City Masters: it’s an effort to get people in the US to realize “hey, this guy worked on Judge Dredd? And so did this person? Cool.” So it’s tons of fun to see that Steve Dillon drew a story in this collection, as did Alan Davis and Charlie Adlard.

Another thing that I really appreciated about this book was that it took stories from across the different eras of 2000 AD. Dredd has been filling pages for over 30 years now, and it’s amazing that John Wagner, one of the Judge’s creators, is still involved with the writing. Sure, he’s had a lot of help from Alan Grant, but you can tell that there’s a unity to the Judge Dredd saga that’s really lacking in, say, the American superheroes.

I found it interesting that in the older stories, there are two pages in color while the rest is in black and white. I think that manga does this a lot too. I’m on the fence about whether it’s neat or if it’s simply jarring.

The last bullet point I want to touch upon while I’m extolling the virtues of this collection is that I loved the format for the stories. 2000 AD is a weekly anthology and Judge Dredd only makes up a part of it every issue. So the stories in here typically run to 6 or 7 pages. It makes for some tight-paced stories. I remember reading an Alan Moore interview where he said that it was such a great challenge to write concise stories for 2000 AD (sadly I don’t know of any Dredd stories he worked on). There is so much that can be done in such a small amount of page space, and Wagner, Grant, and company prove it over and over throughout Mega-City Masters.

Onwards to a few standout stories:

Steve Dillon draws “The Wreckers,” and it’s a story that is genuinely creepy. A bunch of people hang out around an abandoned war zone. The highway goes right through it, and drivers know that they are taking their lives into their own hands as soon as they enter. A sign reads “MAINTAIN SPEED. CLOSE ALL WINDOWS. DO NOT STOP FOR ANY REASON.” Breaking any of those commandments is like saying that you want to be killed by the wreckers. They’ll have no problem with beating your windows until they break and throwing you out of the car and driving off. It comes to a point where the wreckers are just causing so much damage that the judges can’t afford to ignore the problem any longer. Judge Dredd gets called in with a few of his pals and everything gets cleared up, at least for now.

“The Law According to Dredd”: Kevin O’Neill is the artist here, and he is absolutely perfect for it. An ugly, brutish monster guy claims to be Judge Dredd. He’s ruling a little town all by himself. When the real Dredd comes to pay a visit, he is surprised to be accused of being an impostor. The fake Dredd really, really annoys the Judge. Take a guess who walks away from this fight.

“A Mega-City Primer”: This one really stands out because it is painted by Simon Bisley. The text is almost entirely reprinted from another story in the collection (“Joe Dredd’s Blues”), which is a little strange, but I enjoyed the comparison between this version and the original, which was drawn by John Higgins of Watchmen fame. If only comics could have sound to go with them...the “Primer” is a song about Judge Dredd and his typical day. It’s quite humorous.

“The Rise & Fall of Chair Man Dilbert”: Trevor Hairsine draws what is probably the most messed up tale in Mega-City Masters. A big part of the appeal of the Judge Dredd shorts is their emphasis on satire, and this one is really taking it to the extreme. Dilbert Bowels inadvertently becomes the world’s first-ever human object d’art. He poses as a chair for people to sit on. Famous people are calling him up for his services, he gets his own exhibit in which he poses as a different piece of furniture every day...things are looking pretty good for him. He’s not used to success. Now what happens to priceless works of art? Well, sometimes lowlifes like to steal them. And this is what happens to Dilbert Bowels...he winds up hidden away in a cell forever because he was such a great piece of art.

“Block Out at the Crater Bowl”: John Byrne must have pulled some strings to get to work for 2000 AD at the peak of his career. Dredd is called in to do some crowd control at a riotous sporting event. Thousands of people are all crammed into one place, and the wacky game of Block Out gets their collective blood boiling. Dredd’s final line in this story: “Next year, we use the riot foam before the game starts!” Just classic.

Mega-City Masters Volume One gets the praise that 2000 AD would be pleased to hear: I’m already looking for Volume Two. Consider me the latest person to become a fan of Judge Dredd.

To close things out, a really nice Alan Davis cover.