Mike Carey really ended his run with a bang. So Constantine journeys to Hell to bring back his sister's soul and confront his "children" along with the demon that seduced him. It's a great storyline but it doesn't end the way you'd expect. We also see that John's already dwindling circle of friends is still getting smaller. And then he decides to irritate every magician in London, leaving him with few allies as well. Constantine is probably the most hard luck character in comics, but also one of...

It’s probably because I read this under the needle and was quite focused on breathing through the pain, but I feel like I understood very little. Didn’t grab me like most of Carey’s run. I’m assuming it was good though! To me today, an odd, morbid, red-and-black picture book to flip.

I've been loving the cover art for a while now, but I just now thought to mention it. The interior art is more simplistic, but well matched to the dark tones of the story. The last major arc from Carey will take something away from John, showing us that he isn't without fail, even given his skill with magic.John must follow her sister's soul to hell and there is a bunch of stuff to do to get there, even with Nergal's willing help, though the latter has a nasty surprise in store. It's a dangerous...

Mike Carey's final arc might be my favorite of the Hellblazer series, outside of maybe Dangerous Habits.

Well, gee, do you think Mike Carey was a wee bit depressed when he wrote this one? Constantine does not seem to be entirely in character here. And the stories presented here rely on previous story arcs in the Hellblazer series, which I haven't been able to read and not sure I want to after reading this one. So this is more of a 2.55 stars than a three.Also, do NOT read the blurb on the back. That gives out way too many spoilers for the stories presented here. If I ever get to rule the world, blu...

Well, people are probably pretty sick of me writing reviews of Hellblazer books at this point. I don't really have anything to say about this one. It's pretty good, but then again I haven't read any other Hellblazer books from this timepoint so I had no idea what was really going on or who was who or what was what in the main story. The minor stories in the back were good, although their main fascination, mainly Constantine blaming himself for letting all his friends die, seems tired. It already...

"I never mentioned magic. But that was the first time, yeah. That was when I knew. That was when I knew I had a gift. And exactly what it was."Suitably dark, epic, and twisted. It's like LotR by way of Bosch.

Mike Carey writes the best Hellblazers! The young Constantine story is the best part

Brillante final del arco de Mike Carey. Una historia genial.

6,5/10

This was a great ending to Mike Carey's run in Hellblazer. Bringing it full circle to the council estates and bringing in the more human element was great. It was all about how messed up families are. How love tends to destroy everything and cause untold pain. How you can't save the ones you care about. Constantine going to hell to save his sister and then his treatment of his "children" could not be more different. For a comic that is mostly a trip through hell with hideous demons on every page...

Like Constantine will actually stick to his new magic-less lot in life, even if he did set his past on fire... But I'm getting ahead of myself.The conflict that Carey started chronicleing a few books ago comes to a bloody conclusion, with Constantine voluntarily going to Hell in search of the soul of his sister in the company of Nergal. While the journey is definitely physical, it has many metaphysical and spiritual themes that link it clearly with a similar journey through Hell in Dante's Infer...

"Blood is thicker than water, after all... and has a richer flavor."Hellblazer is a dark comic and The Gift stands as one of its darkest volumes. Unable or unwilling to strike at John Constantine directly, his foes tear apart John's family and friends instead. It's a tale that takes John down to Hell, where he must team up with a most unlikely ally.This is, I believe, the last or at least one of the last volumes written by Mike Carey. And I will miss him. Carey's Constantine tales are pitch blac...

John Constantine, Hellblazer: Red Sepulchre by Mike CareyJohn Constantine, Hellblazer: Black Flowers by Mike CareyJohn Constantine, Hellblazer: Staring at the Wall by Mike CareyJohn Constantine, Hellblazer: Stations of the Cross by Mike CareyJohn Constantine, Hellblazer: Reasons to be Cheerful by Mike CareyJohn Constantine, Hellblazer: The Gift by Mike CareyYeah, it would be just like me to start reading a writer's take on a character by reading the ending first.Ah well, this was a good series a...

It is ironic, but I think it is harder to write about a robust Dark Fantasy character like Constantine every month than a more 2-Dimensional superhero. Many good writers had tried their hand in Constatine with interesting tricks (lung cancer one being my favorite); Carey is not bad in this game either, but so much happened to Constantine that it is really hard to develop a story that has an emotional punch with him. The style of Manco is perfect for Hellblazer though.

Watch closely and it would appear that John Constantine isn't completely incapable of tears at the conclusion of "The Gift," and chances are, readers will also lament the exit of writer Mike Carey, whose run Vertigo's HELLBLAZER comes to its final and inevitable conclusion.But what a gift it was.To be quite clear, fans (and even detractors) of LUCIFER discovered that Mike Carey had very different designs when he signed on to write the adventures of the chain-smoking anti-hero. LUCIFER was a spra...

Borrowed from Karen.John Constantine is a survivor with a death wish, piling debt upon debt, until when it finally comes time to pay the piper, he pulls out a brand new credit card, transfers the balance, and starts the whole vicious little cycle over again. The Gift catches him right at the moment when he's desperately looking through his wallet to see if he can pull the same trick all over again.Tormented by his three demon children, and forced to work with the demon Nergal, one of his oldest

"Someone you loved is dead, and it seems as if the world should end. But it doesn't end. It doesn't even change. That's what's unbearable."After the death of his sister, John Constantine travels to Hell to get her soul back while Gemma and Angie guard her body. He's forced to team up with his oldest enemy, Nergal, who plays Virgil to his Dante on their voyage through Hell. Along the way, they cross a bridge of souls in purgatory, encounter Constantine's demonic doppelgänger, and face the devil h...

This volume brings Mike Carey's back-to-basics run on Hellblazer to a close. It's been a good, exciting sequence, and this set of stories in particular is very rewarding for long-time readers of the title, bringing threads together from all previous eras - in particular those of Delano, Ennis and the under-appreciated Paul Jenkins (rather unfairly, the only major Hellblazer writer whose work has yet to be collected in even a single trade paperback), with quite a few nods to his origins in Alan M...

The graphic novel features typical Hellblazer series artwork.Imagining the scene in reality is almost impossible due to the context being supernatural.Additionally it brings together various dark myth characters and presents a face-off between Constantine and his most dangerous enemy(personally).But it is in continuation from the one previous to it so please read that.Luckily I happened to read both in series and can't wait to lay m hands on the next.It also shows Constantine's human side as a d...