The Hellblazer Vol 1: The Poison Truth by Simon Oliver

I haven’t read much of Constantine.I liked the movie with Keanu Reeves, and I loved the Shoe with Matt Ryan when it was on. I think that was cancelled way to soon. Anyway, the tv show really got me interested in the darker more adult titles from Vertigo. So I started to read the Hellblazer seires but didn’t get very far. When this came up on Netgalley from DC Comics I knew I had to request this book. 

This is definitely a dark book with a lot going on that seem small but I’m sure will tie into a bigger story. Not going to lie at times I had no idea what was going on and felt a little out of the loop. This may be because I wasn’t reading this book before Rebirth but I don’t know. This book opens up John Constantine leaving the US and heading back to his home in London. Constantine then tries to defeat a demon but unleashing a deadly curse on London which will collect all of the souls of the people and shoot them into the demon all at once. It would wipe it out but also kill a lot of people. It is a dangerous bluff. This is a nice little warm up to sort of reintroduce this character to new readers and veteran readers since Rebirth began.

Next we get a collaboration story with Swamp Thing. I have always been intrigued by Swamp Thing but never intersted enough to read his books so I really enjoyed the fact he is in this book and that the story kind of ties to him. Swamp Thing is trying to find his counterpart in the scheme of things and he needs John’s help. John has his own things going on so the story bounces between the two characters but it meshed well for the most part.

I did enjoy this book quite a bit. The only issues I had with it is the fact I had moments where I didn’t understand what was going on and even after a re-read of that section I still felt lost. Also, the artwork could be a little better. I know the original books had that gritty low detail kind of artwork so this kind of sticks with the formula, but I know this could be so much more. It could be creepier and darker with more detail. The covers like the one I included with this post are the best pieces of artwork in the book. I will give this 3 out of 5 stars.