Constantine 9
Ray Fawkes, Aco, Beni Lobel
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
With the announcement of Forever Evil splitting off into two separate (but related) storylines a little while back, I was pretty excited to hear that the supernatural and magical characters were finally going to get to do something, well, different. But I have to say, as interesting as the premise is, I’m starting to doubt the necessity for this to be as many parts as it is going to be. Forever Evil: Blight is good in concept, but is starting to drag. Big time. And though I do enjoy J. M. DeMatteis quite a bit, I’m starting to get a little tired of Ray Fawkes on these characters. Add the fact that this issue features some of the worst superhero artwork I have seen in decades, and you have a recipe for a very “blah” issue. It might be time for a new creative team at the end of this storyline.
The issue, much like every other single issue of this series thus far, starts and ends relatively the same as the issues that have come before it. With an award for “Most Misleading Cover of the Year,” this comic, unfortunately, doesn’t even acknowledge, let alone feature the Crime Syndicate in any way shape or form. It is just a pointless and confusing battle with Blight. The artwork is terrible. The script is lazy. And it is the epitome of a filler issue. And, like almost every other issue of this soon-to-be short-lived John Constantine solo series, it ends with a cliffhanger “death” of its main character at the end. The only saving grace of this issue is that the Phantom Stranger and Swamp Thing were written very well. Perhaps Fawkes should be on a different book. After all, he has proven that he can write well. Maybe he’s just getting bored. Or overworked. After all, he is doing Pandora as well, which is an equally boring premise (although he has somehow made that book entertaining for several months in a row now).
So here are my hopes for this series (and the sub-event): First, I would absolutely love to see the characters get new creative teams after all of this is said and done. Second, if that one’s not possible, I’d like to see a “Trinity of Sin” or just a new take on Justice League Dark, maybe even a magic/supernatural team-up series. This could be written by J. M. DeMatteis with backup stories by Ray Fawkes and a series of rotating artists. With the announcement of Animal Man ending early next year, the New 52’s “The Dark” imprint is pretty much gone entirely. If these characters are going to stay in the DC Universe, they need to be used. But perhaps they are being overused. And their creators are over-saturating the stories. These are my hopes. Or, ideally, something altogether and entirely different and unexpected will happen at the end of this event. Either way, I’m going to say I’m not mad that I bought this issue, but I’m not exactly impressed. Nor will I ever be reading it again. So here’s to the next part. And the next story. Hopefully it redeems this one.
My Rating: 2.5/5
