Hellblazer: Joyride by Andy Diggle

Hellblazer: Joyride Reviews

• 
  Paul Briggs

  Andy Diggle takes over and returns Constantine to the early style of Jamie Delano and Alan Moore's. A man of mystery that some of which his tragic and horror filled past we do get a small glimpse of but ultimately comes back as a gigantic pain in the ass.
  
  Diggle wrote Constantine as someone we can empathize with even with trying to bring him back as sort of a mysterious wonderer that we can't gauge until the end of each stories. Tales of avenging death, gangland violence mixed in with dark magic and body hopping story where this collection get its name - Joy Ride.
  
  The art is amazing too. It fits perfectly with the grimy British horror tale.
• 
  Quentin Wallace

  Good volume. Starts out with good old ghost/zombie raising, then we see Constantine finally bury some of the badness from his past. Then we end up in the body switching story that gives this volume its title. A group of magicians (or one magician and his minions) are able to body hop and use the bodies of other people for revenge or other nefarious means. What looks at first like an altruistic but twisted offer to help a grieving family turns out to be something much darker. The ending of this volume also leaves things a little more open than I've come to expect from Hellblazer. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, but I hope it's something explored in further volumes. If that's the case, then it was an awesome ending. If not, I'd rather have seen a more satisfying conclusion.
  
  Still, this volume had the strong art I've come to expect from Leonardo Manco and was a very good read.
• 
  Joseph

  Borrowed from Karen.
  
  After all the crummy comics, I've read recently, it was nice to see that John Constantine is still putting together a solid run. I'm a little underwhelmed by the forces he's put up against in this book (and apparently the next as well), but it's just plain fun to see the biggest badass in comics strutting his stuff.
• 
  Derek

  This is one of those very few volumes where JC is outsmarted by his foe. It's fun to see what the rematch will look like. Great work Andy!
• 
  Xavi

  9/10
  Buen inicio para este autor. Deja muchas cosas en el aire, a ver que tal el siguiente volumen.
• 
  Kemper

  A return to the old school John Constantine as he decides to drop a lot of the self-pity and begins to reassert himself as a player in the occult.
• 
  Jayaprakash Satyamurthy

  Not bad at all. After all the angst of the Carey run and Mina's gloomy tales, Diggle brings back the kickass, Scouser Constantine.
• 
  Eric

  Interesting juxtaposition of people stealing a car and people skinriding other people.
• 
  Evette

  Excellent stuff from Andy Diggle, he captures both the darkness of the stories and the humour of Constantine perfectly. Enjoyed the first half of the book the most, but overall a great read. Suitably murky art complements the writing.
• 
  Myke Edwards

  Standard fare, going through all the motions. No real resolution though, and it just made John seem like a bystander throughout this storyline. If I read the next chapter, hopefully there's a finite ending to what was started here, or at least we learn the antagonists are recurring.
• 
  Arjun Rajkumar

  Two arcs in this volume. Both classic Constantine.
• 
  Sarah

  Wow! Andy diggle is following well into Ennis’ footsteps here. Ennis is still the master but Diggle rocks pretty hard
• 
  Indah Jamtani

  Okay can't wait for Constatine 2
• 
  Fantifica

  Reseña de Lorenzo Martínez · Nota: 7,7 ·
  Reseña en Fantífica
  
  John Constantine es uno de esos personajes de cómic que apenas necesitan presentación. Sin embargo, es casi obligatorio dejar caer que fue creado por el gran Alan Moore y por Stephen Bissete y que apareció por primera vez en el número 37 de la revista Swamp Thing, antes de que DC Comics tomara al personaje y lo convirtiera en la estrella de Hellblazer. Desde entonces Constantine ha tenido varios cameos en historias como Los libros de la magia o The Sandman, y pasaron varios escritores y dibujantes por los trescientos números que duró su serie propia hasta que se canceló, pese a las protestas del público. El personaje ha vuelto con aires renovados en el reboot del Universo DC, pero lo cierto es que no es lo mismo.
  
  Constantine es un mago, detective de lo oculto y conocedor de las fuerzas de este y otros planos, motivo de que sus historias estén salpicadas de magia negra, espíritus y gente de mal vivir como gángsters, capos de la magia, criminales y psicópatas. Aunque el tono de cada historia dependa en última instancia de los matices que aporte el guionista de turno, siempre está integrado con el personaje, su trayectoria pasada y los remordimientos que le atosigan. Un ejemplo perfecto podría ser el volumen que nos ocupa, Paseo en coche, que ha publicado hace poco Debolsillo en colaboración con ECC Ediciones.
  
  Paseo en coche (o Joyride en el original) recopila los números 230 a 237 de Hellblazer, la primera aportación al conjunto de la serie del guionista Andy Diggle, que parece tener un propósito claro aparte de ofrecernos una historia interesante protagonizada por el mago más famoso de Vertigo. Ese propósito no es otro que el de iniciar a nuevos lectores. A quien haya visto la serie de televisión Constantine —con un Matt Ryan sobresaliente en mi opinión, y la mejor interpretación en imagen real que veremos del personaje— este cómic puede venirle muy bien, ya que no requiere información previa para entrar en el mundo de John Constantine. Empieza con la típica de escena del protagonista en apuros y poco a poco va mostrando cómo ha llegado a esa situación donde está a punto de morir ahogado (algo casi normal en su día a día).
  
  No quiero contar mucho del argumento, pero sí puedo decir que los elementos están muy bien conjugados y la trama se complica por momentos, con varios puntos de unión con el pasado de Constantine que me parecen muy bien resueltos. Es cierto que este arco argumental no es la repera y que en trescientos números los hay mejores, pero la entrada de Diggle fue bastante buena y transmite lo que es Hellblazer: caos, magia, locura, desesperación, violencia, injusticia, acidez, crítica y mucha mala baba (aunque ese tono de crítica social y al sistema de las primeras etapas está algo diluido). Todo eso, junto y revuelto, deja a las claras que en los asuntos mágicos no tiene por qué haber elfos, flores y chispas de colores. Esto es el mundo de Constantine, con sus crudezas y sus porquerías.
  
  El formato escogido por ECC y Debolsillo es reducido (como casi todos los cómics americanos que publica el sello de Penguin Random House), pero aun así se aprecia el trabajo que hace Leonardo Manco en el apartado artístico, con un Constantine expresivo y mucho dinamismo en las composiciones. Si bien es cierto que hay momentos algo más flojos que otros en cuanto al aspecto visual se refiere (a veces parece que otro dibujante ha metido mano), en general estamos ante un apartado artístico notable.
  
  Si quieres empezar a leer Hellblazer sin gastarte mucho dinero en volúmenes recopilatorios puedes empezar por aquí, pero si te gusta debes saber que querrás más de los círculos mágicos improvisados en el suelo, de gente que lo pasa mal, de las respuestas ácidas de Constantine, de Hellblazer en general. Para eso no tendrás que buscar en el catálogo de Debolsillo, sino en el de ECC, quien tiene todos los derechos de publicación de la serie y del Universo DC.
• 
  Drizztl

  6/10
• 
  Justin

  Writer Andy Diggle, who, at the time of this writing, is tackling Marvel's DAREDEVIL and brought THE LOSERS to Vertigo and the big screen, takes a shot at HELLBLAZER and in inimitable fashion, continues to develop the mythology and potential of Vertigo's longest-running series.
  
  Aided by artist Leonardo Manco, Diggle undertakes a small handful of tasks that immediately set his run on the series as unique.
  
  The first of which is the two-chapter story that marries a crime noir-ish approach to Constantine with the blood & guts that HELLBLAZER has become known for. The storytelling is taut and concise and fans will immediately accept that our anti-hero has backed himself into a corner with London's organized mobsters holding the noose.
  
  Diggle's run transforms immediately, though, and seemingly disparately, as Diggle's introduction of London's baddies is melded with Constantine's own long-time backstory. Specifically, Diggle takes great strides in re-establishing Constantine as the confident, indestructible mage, by returning him to the roots of his once-mentally disturbed days at Ravenscar. This is the unexpected treat in Diggle's storytelling, for instead of simply re-imagining Constantine, Diggle makes liberal use of the history that's brought him to the present day, all the while stripping away carefully the long road that writer Mike Carey forced Constantine to walk.
  
  From there, Constantine's ongoing adventures with the occult allow Diggle to exercise his own politics, making bold and rather dark statements about the hierarchy within the UK and how the working class is exploited by it. Yet the social commentary isn't heavy-handed. Rather, it's disturbing and poignant, and could be evidence that Diggle will take HELLBLAZER into even more moments seasoned liberally by current events.
  
  For the time being, the immediate transformation of Constantine from the vulnerable hero of his "Black Flowers" days might read as a little hurried. Another chapter or two would suffice to most readers in getting Constantine back up to speed...but interrogate any long-time reader, and she or he will be hard-pressed to identify how the story could have been better developed. There seems to be little wasted space in Diggle's storytelling, which is a marked contrast from previous writers, who constructed conflicts and maintained the tension...at times...for longer than was absolutely necessary.
  
  Readers will simply have to accept Diggle's no-nonsense approach as the prologue to what he explores in "Joyride," the longest-running storyline within this collection.
  
  So long as readers can come to terms with Diggle's style of narrative, this first volume in the writer's run promises that Constantine...and the readers...could be in for a very fun ride.
• 
  Meepelous

  Reading this I couldn't help but draw some comparisons between it and my brief (very disappointing) foray into the Madam Xanadu comics. Both following similar dark occult plot lines.
  
  Where John Constantine, for all his crusty edges, is a joy to read. The same cannot be said of the otherwise rather beautiful Madam Xanadu comics. I think one of the biggest (and least political) differences between them is that while Constantin's mythos is made up of all traditional parts - his story is original. Madam Xanadu's back story on the other hand wreaks of cliches.
  
  But to go back to the comic at hand. I would commend Andy Diggle (as many other have done so) on a fantastic set of stories. Not only do they portray Constantine in all his anti-hero glory, but they are also original and interesting. Hard hitting and antisocial. I'll certainly be coming back to read the rest in this arc.
  
  The art is also pretty fantastic. A great update on the classic style of the original comics. Just detailed enough to fill the space, with a color scheme that really complemented the mood of the stories.
• 
  Abhishek Dafria

  Ah, what a treat! My second one of the Hellblazer series and I am simply loving John Constantine. An unconventional hero, his actions, his dialogues, his thought process, everything is a delight to observe. Andy Diggle has pulled off a marvelous story in Hellblazer: Joyride, where each action is delicately connected to the other such that it makes the reader pause for a moment to frame the whole scenario again. There is the whole angle of "an occult at work" ingrained in the story but it raises its head quite later in the plot. Early on it is all about Constantine fighting his own demons while at the same time trying to be of some use to an old acquaintance. With each page, the plot thickens, the intensity increases, and before you know it, you would have reached the final page, still grappling with the pace of the story-telling. The whole story starts on a high and ends on a high... a must read for comic book lovers!
• 
  Jaimie

  Not a joyride in the traditional sense, but a spiritual one for the Constantine storyline. Constantine runs into a group of absolute butters who seem to think that it's a good idea t take revenge for people by putting their conscious' into the perpetrators' bodies (basic astral projection with body-occupying capabilities) and making them commit attrocious crimes that harm themselves. Taking vigilante justice is one thing, but wouldn't it just be easier to possess the bad guys and make them confess? This is exactly what Constantine gets uptight with, and his concerns are amplified when he discovers that they also have plans to use their negative energy to kill the Earth. Very odd, for sure, so I'm pretty sure that their story isn't quite over yet.
• 
  Frank

  Really captures the inate coolness of John Constantine as he regains his mojo and gets back to work. Still hoping for a true Constantine movie. The one we got wasn't bad, but it was more of an occult Keanu Reeves movie and not all that true to the character at all. Once againn makes you wonder why studios spend all that money to buy the rights to a an established character only to NOT make a movie about that character.
• 
  Darrell

  Investigating the death of a fellow magician leads Constantine to a man who has the ability to possess other people's bodies. Despite making Constantine more powerful than he's ever been before, Andy Diggle's version of Constantine comes off as more ineffectual than previous writers' treatments. This volume is somewhat political as it deals with class warfare. The ending isn't entirely satisfying, but I get the impression Diggle is building up to something.
• 
  Jack

  Gives you everything you want from Hellblazer: weird horror, nonsensical but creepy curses, and snarky humor. This book was better than some of the other Hellblazer I've been reading lately in that over the course of one loose story arc it managed to tell several interesting and very different stories. Good horror fun.
• 
  Jay Bullman

  I have little background with this character. I've read a smattering of issues here and there and had very up and down reactions to them. This was fun and creative. There were moments when I felt like there was a whole lot of history that I just wasn't aware of but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the present story. I'm definitley ready to read more of this from Mr. Diggle.
• 
  Laura

  Hellblazer is my kind of dark. I laughed at his side comments (which means it's a good one). Constantine gets his head straight (well his straight) a kind of turning a new leaf or old. This book has murderers, ghosts, body changing, a look into his past at a psych ward and a creepy cult. The every kind of situation Mr. Constantine gets involved with.
• 
  Guy Robinson

  It is rare to find a Hellblazer I've yet to read and this one was worthwhile finding.
  
  Constantine suffers, often burdened by what he discoverers and what he is asked to do. In this one he confronts his past troubles in his usual low-key (and often brutal) way as a kind of anti-hero Doctor Who.
  
  Not recommended to anyone of a sensitive disposition.
• 
  Rena Sherwood

  This graphic novel contained all of the things that I loved about Hellblazer in the first place: attitude, great art and even greater dialogue -- with a British twist. I loved the way Diggle dug into the basic drives of Constantine and dealt with all the dirt found. Also good to see Constantine up against a clever real-world (sorta) adversary. Almost makes me wish I smoked.