Blogathon 25: Hellblazer: Highwater (Part Two)

[Discussed in this post: the second part of Hellblazer: Highwater, "A Fresh Coat of Red Paint" (#168) and "Chasing Demons" (#169).]

We've officially hit the halfway mark of the blogathon! Twelve hours down, twelve hours to go! If you haven't donated to the CBLDF, please do so. If you have, but haven't told me, please do so. It's all for a very good cause and I (and they) would appreciate it greatly.

Two one-off issues drawn by Giuseppe Camuncoli and inked by Cameron Stewart. The first is the other John/Turro issue I mentioned. I've never been entirely sure what to make of it. In it, John picks up a prostitute, wins the money to pay her playing bingo, and then takes her back to a hotel room where Turro is. John wants to doubleteam her with Turro, but Turro backs out and leaves, revealing that he knew who was behind Lucky's murder and that he needs John to act for him and that, officially, John died in the riot in prison. That's it. There's more stuff about Turro having sex with his sister. Now, the situation where Turro can't fuck the prostitute is akin to him not being able to go after Manor, but... I dunno.

Camuncoli is a great choice for the art on this issue. He does a skeevy/creepy John unlike anyone else. Frusin does a creepy/serial killer John, while Camo does a crazy/skeevy/psycho perv John.

It is somewhat shocking how open John is about what he wants to do. He hasn't been the type to be like this necessarily. While not a stranger to the fucked up shit of the world, he doesn't glorify in it like he does here. That could just be him trying to get at Turro, reminding him once again that he knows what's going on. He even does so at the bingo hall, acting that way in front of the old and middleaged... he just likes pissing people off, I guess.

"Chasing Demons" has John hanging out in a bar. And that's about it for him. There's a good bit where he and another guy he's never met discuss how it's good to see the other again, recognising that it doesn't matter who they are really, they're always those strangers in bars you drink with and chat with and sing songs with and they're all interchangeable.

The other part of the issue focuses on SW Manor. This matters. We learn that Father Sean, a priest, comes to Manor and tells him the confessions of others. He doesn't enjoy it, but it seems necessary. More than that, Father Sean has a photographic memory. One of the first thing we learn is that Manor doesn't like being called Stanley. Then we learned that a kid named Jason that worked for him died the previous night... by an accident caused by Manor (he's responsible). He died with a smile on his face, though. We also learn that Manor pays Father Sean a lot of money to operate an orphanage, which is why he does this -- but also because he thought that Manor was reaching out, also an orphan. Manor dismisses this out of hand.

In 30 minutes, the conclusion of Azzarello's run on the title as we get John Constantine vs. Batman... wait, what...?

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]