Blogathon 11: Hellblazer: Tainted Love

[Discussed in this post: Hellblazer: Tainted Love, "Last Night of the King of the Vampires" (#68-69), "Tainted Love" (from Vertigo Jam #1), "Finest Hour" (#71), and Confessional (Hellblazer Special #1).]

(Note: I decided to leave "Heartland" (#70) until the post where I discuss the special of the same name...)

Part of what Ennis here that makes it tolerable is that he doesn't spend that much time with the idea of John as a homeless man. After his break-up with Kit, he turns his back on everything and begins living on the streets. It's similar to what happened in Preacher where Jesse became sheriff of that small town. There's logic in the move, but it's something that doesn't necessarily play out as you'd want/expect. Because, I ask you, who wants to see John Constantine as a homeless man? It's fine for a few issues, but it gets old quickly. As a result, Tainted Love is probably my least favourite trade of the bunch.

The first storyarc, which is only titled "Last Night of the King of the Vampires" in the trade, sets up the idea of John on the street, turning his back on the world, because the woman he loved has left him. It also sets up a parallel story with the King of the Vampires and a couple of his subjects out having a good time, eating some food, and such. John finds a good spot to sleep that was someone else's, so they share it. The King of Vampires comes across them, kills the other man, and goes to kill John by sucking his blood... except it's demon blood, motherfucker! This happens near dawn and the King of the Vampires dies because of his grudge with John Constantine. This gives John a little bit of a boost, but not enough to get him off the streets just yet.

"Tainted Love" has him telling a story to another homeless man about a buddy of his who thought he found The One, but fucked around on her, so she fucked John to get access to his books and made a deal with the Third of Three, the shapechanger, who took her form and, while having sex with the buddy... squeezed. It's just a short lesson about the dangers of magic and such. A fine little tale.

"Finest Hour" is John crawling out of the gutters to become himself again thanks to the psychic impressions of a World War II pilot whose plane crashed on a beach and was never found. He experiences that life and it teaches him that he hasn't lost everything. Ennis brings in his love of war comics for this and it works alright. It's a little hokey, but it gets John to where he needs to be. I also love how he gets his life back: he just asks a rich man for money and is given it. Gotta love magic.

[And, right there, I ran out to 7-11 and a shawarma place nearby for slushy and lunch...]

"Confessional" fits into the run with the First of the Fallen making another appearance. We get an untold story about John when he was 16, bumming his way across England, sleeping with American chicks too dumb to know he's not anyone famous (or related to anyone famous) and he's picked up by a guy while hitchhiking. Things are going fine until the guy tries to force himself on John, John fights back, and winds up hitting him, causing the razorblade in his mouth to come out his cheek. This is all brought back by John seeing him now. He confronts the man in a church and the man explains how he was a priest once until the First of the Fallen came to him and made him hear his confession. That's when he lost his faith and became the sort of man who tries to go down on a 16-year old with a razor blade in his mouth. After his run-in with John, he was put in a mental hospital and had been recently released. When John asks what the confession was, he puts pencils in both eyeballs and headbutts the pew. It's a twisted little story that explains a little bit more why John is so fucked up, but also that something isn't entirely right with the First of the Fallen.

Steve Dillon is great throughout here, doing all of the stories. I don't know what to say about him. I love the mad glee on John's face when the King of the Vampires goes up in flames. It's a righteous fuck you look that hints at the first sign of happiness throughout his time on the streets. But even that isn't enough and, soon, he's back to being sullen.

In 30 minutes, Damnation's Flame, which features the brief return of William Simpson...

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