Constantine VOL 2

 

TITLE-Constatine VOL 2 Blight

PUBLISHER-DC Comics

While I have read a pile of Hellblazer,I have never read any of the John Constantine that came out after that long running ended.

This TPB collects the second batch of 6 issues from what is pretty much VOL 2 of Hellblazer.

JL Dark,the magic based JLA team,is all missing. Mister E is going and killing ever magic user on Earth. Absorbing their powers. And he is coming after Constantine next.

Being a Hellblazer comic of course while managing to survive this attack John also gets screwed. Now in debt to the daughter of Sargon the Sorcerer. Plus Constantine is no closer to finding where Zartana has disappeared too.

That is the first 2 issues of this trade. With the following 5 covering the Forever Evil event. 

John makes a backup JL Dark,which is Swamp thing,Nightmare Nurse and Phantom Stranger. They head to the outskirts of Heaven to maybe get help. 

The Spectre and Zurial stop John from entering Heaven. After meeting up with God,who appears as a Scotty Dog,John figured out what he has to do next.

Someone from John's past has been putting all this in motion. John now knows where Zartana is and what he has to do.

And while John and the rag tag team manage to defeat the evil mastermind it seems like once again John Constantine has to sacrifice to get the victory.

The writing was way better than I expected. This being connected to the proper DC universe I knew it might be toned down from what I got use to in the Hellblazer run. Really it didn't feel that much different than a story from that run.

The art,covers and interiors,were all nice to look at. Lots more bright colors than I am use to in a Constantine comic. And still it was good. 

Constantine Blight TPB gets a B+

Stormwatch Post Human Division Volume 3

 

Ahh Stormwatch the little Wildstorm comic that kept going for so long.

Been a Stormwatch fan for a bit now. Read the Ellis run. Read all of the DC NEW 52 run. So all I had left was Stormwatch Team Achilies and Stormwatch Post Human Division.

Months back I read the first 3 issues of the PHD run and enjoyed them. Then found the above pictured trade cheap. This trade collects issues 13 thru 19 of PHD.

The world has been almost destroyed by supers. Stormwatch is back in the sky,Jackson is back running it and trying to save as many people as he can. While using what is left of Stormwatch to protect what is left of mankind. 

This feels a lot like the run Warren Ellis had. Big huge threats that last at most 2 issues. Little hints early on for what will happen issues down the road. And  a few nice callbacks to previously mentioned minor things.

Nice art that is easy to digest while helping push forward the story. Not an overbundance of 2 page splashes.

And now I want to go get the rest  of the TPBs covering this era of the Wildstorm universe.

Stormwatch PHD vol 3 gets a A-.

Wetworks Volume 2 TPB 2

 

Ahh Wetworks. The Whilce Portacio series from Image. That cause of various events came out 2 years into Image's run instead of that first year. Also one where I had a huge chunk of hte first vol. But besides the sourcebook I have never read any of the issues.

Wasn't that long ago I was at the nearest Ollies. Saw this trade and it was cheap and took a chance. Cause the basic premise of Wetworks is a good one.

Military unit gets connected to this golden liquid metal. Which will cover them and they have to fight werewolves and vampires.

The TPB pictured above reprints issues 6,7,8,9,13,14,15 of vol 2. Yes it skips a pile of issues. No idea why. But it contains two full storylines.

Up first is The Scapegoat Effect. First issue penciled by Wetworks creator Whilce Portacio. Wish he had done more than one issue in the tpb. The leader of Wetworks,Dane,is rebuilding the team. And also we got a civil war in the vampire nation. All of which ends with a portal to another world being opened and more powerful vampires flooding Earth. 

Then the second storyline,Unholy War,brings to a head the civil war. Seems various factions in the Vampire Nation are trying to take over. 

After wiping out a small Europeon city and heading to a bigger one Mother One,the former member of Wetworks,gets changed into a cyborg/vampire/something else. Saves everyone. And all it costs the world is one nation of the world gets turned over to the Vampire Nation.

The art is good but having 6 different  artists across not many more issues than 6 isn't great. There is times where from one page to another the look totally changes. Yea I get it I am going from the end of one issue to another. Still it is jarring.

Writing it damn good. Reads a bit like a slightly more serious version of Larry Hama's run on GI Joe with a supernatural element added.

Wetworks Vol 2 TPB 2 gets  C.