Hellblazer: All His Engines

By Alex De-Gruchy
February 08, 2006

Hellblazer: All His Engines is an original graphic novel from British writer Mike Carey, who recently concluded his run on the regular ongoing Hellblazer series. The long-running title from DC/Vertigo stars everyone's favourite chain-smoking magician from Liverpool, John Constantine. Constantine is a magician who has been involved with Heaven, Hell and just about every possible aspect of the occult and the supernatural over the years, facing demons, vampires and the devil himself. Away from his usual haunting grounds of the streets of London, All His Engines finds Constantine having to travel Los Angeles, as he tries to help out a friend and save the life of a child.

Plot

All His Engines begins with a strange sickness sweeping London - over the past several days, dozens of people have fallen into comas for no obvious reason, and the doctors have no answers. The latest victim is a young girl named Tricia, who happens to be the granddaughter of Chas Chandler, one of John Constantine's oldest friends. In desperation, Chas calls Constantine to see if he can do anything to help Tricia.

By blackmailing an old acquaintance, Constantine is able to discover a trail that leads to Los Angeles. With Chas in tow, Constantine gets a flight to LA, where he learns that the so-called "coma bug" has claimed nearly two dozen people in this city too. He meets Beroul, a demon who is working on creating his own small-scale Hell on Earth, a "local branch" away from the million demons all trying to make their mark in the real Hell. We learn that Beroul is the one behind the comas, and he has Tricia's soul imprisoned inside his own grotesque body. With the girl's life as leverage, the demon blackmails Constantine into assisting him with his plan.

However, even as Constantine has to deal with the other demons present in LA who are Beroul's competition, there is another major player in the form of Mictlantecuhtli, an ancient Aztec Death God whose power and influence have been usurped over time. But Mictlantecuhtli is too weak to claim this land back as his own, now that the other demons have moved into his territory. And so, Constantine sets out to do what he does best - lie, screw people over and play one side against the other for his own ends, but ultimately in the hope of saving the life of a little girl.

Although the plot can be a little difficult to follow at times, particularly near the beginning of the story, events move at a good pace, keeping the reader interested in how things will unravel and how Constantine will emerge victorious against Beroul and the Death God. However, the story definitely deserves a second sitting, as motivations of certain characters and reasons behind events become clearer.

Characterisation

John Constantine has been around for just over twenty years, after debuting in Saga of the Swamp Thing #37. Perhaps part of the reason for the character's long-running popularity is that Constantine is a complicated man - you wouldn't call him a villain, but he's certainly no hero. He's cocky, selfish, arrogant and his actions have often caused innocent people to suffer over the years. In his own words in this story - "I'm John - and I'm a bastard." Even so, Constantine knows the difference between right and wrong, as this story demonstrates when he puts himself in harm's way more than once to try to help Chas and save Tricia's life. In the end, Constantine is just another flawed human being, but one who is fascinating and entertaining to read about.

On the more normal side of the supporting cast there is Chas, a man who, for most of this story, has just one thing on his mind - saving his granddaughter. He often lets his emotions get the better of him out of anger and concern for Tricia, and this works well as a counterpoint to Constantine's cool, focused approach. We are also introduced to Melosa, a woman who wants to help Chas, but doesn't trust Constantine.

On the darker side, we have Beroul - a repellent, misshapen individual who spends some of his time at his large home, wallowing in a swimming pool filled with human corpses. As well as being physically strong, Beroul also has several demonic abilities, such as teleporting Chas halfway across Hollywood and keeping Tricia's soul imprisoned inside his own body. As the main antagonist, Beroul is grotesque and cruel, but also intelligent enough to be an interesting adversary for Constantine. And then there is Mictlantecuhtli, the weakened Aztec Death God who, when offered a deal by Constantine, may not be powerless for much longer...

Art

Hellblazer: All His Engines is the first time I have seen the art of Leonardo Manco, and his work is quite impressive as it helps greatly in bringing the story and its characters to life. He has his own distinctive style that perfectly suits Hellblazer, with it being a title that deals with dark subject matter such as the occult and the supernatural. Constantine is drawn with his trademark trenchcoat, shirt and tie, but Manco also captures the swagger and body language that make up part of his character. His rendition of Beroul is a perfect visual indicator of what kind of character the demon is, and Mictlantecuhtli is a giant skeletal figure whose striking image is used to good effect, particularly in splash pages and larger panels. As well as his impressive pencils, Manco's inking has a style that is both slightly gritty in some places and slick and sharp in others. In addition, the inks always manage to compliment the atmosphere and action of any particular scene.

Overall

In my opinion, Hellblazer has always been a hit-and-miss title, one that I have read intermittently over the past ten years or so - I have enjoyed certain stories and creative teams who have worked on the book, but I usually find my interest waning after a few issues. I'm glad to say that All His Engines is one of the better Hellblazer stories that I have read. Mike Carey has captured the character of Constantine and the world he lives in well, and although certain aspects of his character differ from previous writers' interpretations, each writer has always brought something of their own to the title. If you have read Hellblazer before and had absolutely no interest in the title or Constantine as a character, then this collection is probably unlikely to change your mind. But it stands well on its own as an entertaining horror story and another eventful chapter in the life of John Constantine.

Publisher: DC/Vertigo
Writing: Mike Carey
Art: Leonardo Manco
Original Graphic Novel