John Constantine has been to hell and back, but this is a new low for the magical world’s greatest conman. His heart hasn’t beaten in weeks, his flesh is beginning to rot, and he’s in a land that hasn’t always welcomed him with open arms: the United States of America. With this setup, Si Spurrier, Aaron Campbell, and Jordie Bellaire return to The Sandman Universe and their acclaimed vision of Hellblazer — and I’m thrilled to say that this creative team hasn’t missed a beat.
I never expected to be able to write this review. I joined AIPT right around the time that Vertigo was seeing its big relaunch, and getting a new issue of Hellblazer every month was one of the things that I most looked forward to during the lockdown days of COVID-19. Sadly, Spurrier & co.’s series did not last through some of the cutbacks that DC had to make in those days, bringing the series to a sudden end with one hell of a cliffhanger. Now, we’re finally getting the next chapter to a series that I have near-perfect marks through its entire run, and it was well worth the wait.
We open with a darkly comedic beat, as a decaying husk that I’m assuming used to be John Constantine tumbles down a hill just out of sight of an adult film shoot. It’s an undignified way to catch up with our “hero,” but it’s also a pitch-perfect encapsulation of how far John will sink in his struggle to regain a foothold in the land of the living. I’m already in, and I can’t wait to see what has to happen for him to get to this point. It also lets the reader know that this miniseries won’t be all existential crises and dark communes with evil spirits. John’s still got a spiteful sense of humor about himself, even as he’s withered away to almost nothing. This perfect balance of tone carries through the rest of the book. As John grows more desperate and his options dwindle away, his quips become more biting, quickly losing their comedic effect and revealing him for the scared thing he is.
This first issue is already making great use of the United States setting, proving that the change in locale is more than just a gimmick or an excuse for fish-out-of-water gags with John and his crew. One tense scene touches on the systemic racial violence that permeates the country, as Noah gets pulled over by a J.W. Pepper type for the “crime” of driving a bus while Black. The dangers here come from more than just demons and decay; they’re smack-dab in the deep south, with all of the ugliness that implies for outsiders. It also speaks volumes about John’s state of mind that he resolves the situation and just wants to get moving, rather than check in with any of his shaken compatriots. These alliances are already tearing at the seams, just like his body is falling apart. One can’t help but think about how timely this issue would have been if it had been released back in 2020 as the 13th issue of Hellblazer (which it is, for all intents and purposes).
The page layouts here are a thing of beauty, calling to mind some of the more experimental issues of the original Sandman run. A particularly memorable sequence sees Dream growing larger and larger until he envelops the entire page, showing us just how small John is amidst the kinds of cosmic forces he routinely enjoys mocking. And as they got to do with pretty much every issue of the previous Hellblazer volume, Spurrier, Campbell, and Bellaire give us at least three magical images that will stick in the reader’s brain for quite some time.
The scenes with Dream also show us that Bellaire and Spurrier will always have one foot firmly in the Dreaming. The sudden joyous burst of color contrast splendidly with the more gothic flashbacks and dank swamps of the American south. Every panel in this book looks astonishing, immediately rooting us in places that are both familiar and haunted. It’s easy to keep up with the jumps in time and the sudden slides into dreamland, making the narrative feel consistently surprising and rewarding.
In many ways, this issue feels like a tribute to old school Vertigo, from knowing lines of dialogue to clever tie-ins to classic stories. This issue asks you to re-examine an issue from nearly four decades ago, keeping in mind everything we’ve learned since then about what kind of a man John Constantine really is. One of the things that was so thrilling about the previous volume of Hellblazer is how it took the “everything happened” approach, tying in elements of the original Vertigo series, The Books of Magic, various DC relaunches, and even the 2005 film adaptation into a narrative that painted John Constantine as a dastardly absolute in the cosmos.
Dead in America continues that trend, but also asks us to reexamine stories that have been close to our hearts for years and years. It’s a ballsy move, recontextualizing one of the most-loved issues of early Sandman, but I think it’s already paying off beautifully. This isn’t just a sequel to John Constantine, Hellblazer or The Sandman; it’s also a spiritual companion to Alan Moore’s classic “American Gothic” storyline from Swamp Thing. This book is promising to be quite literally everything I want from a Hellblazer comic, and I cannot believe it exists. Parts of this issue will make longtime Hellblazer fans feel nostalgic, but that’s not the sole purpose of the flashbacks and references. It feels like every Constantine story ever has led us to this point, and it’s darkly thrilling to realize that.
The book also provides a fun recap of the important bits from the previous volume, told with John’s signature snark. If you’re hazy on the details or you missed the previous series, you can definitely get caught up pretty well with this intro. Still, I’d recommend going back and checking out the previous 12 issues. Not only are they an exceptionally good read, but they’ll certainly aid in picking up some of the nuances of the story and the dynamics between our misfit gang. What I’m saying is, go read Hellblazer. There’s never been a better time to get acquainted with John Constantine — especially now that he’s in his last days.
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