HELLBLAZER - ALL HIS ENGINES takes readers to hell and back
“Nor aught availed him now
To have built in Heaven’s high towers, nor did he ‘scape
With all his engines, but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew to build in Hell”
By Taylor Pechter — ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions’ … is a phrase that encapsulates the character of John Constantine, also known as DC Comics Hellblazer. Constantine is mysterious and cunning, but also his full oh heart. Many, including his friends, call him a bastard and their accusations are not be invalid. However, he’s not always awful.
For example, when the granddaughter of his close partner and personal driver Chas Chandler is stricken by a mysterious coma bug, John will do anything to get her back, to save her. This is the plot of the 2006 original graphic novel, John Constantine: All His Engines, written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Leonardo Manco, and colored by Lee Loughridge. It is a tale that explores themes of friendship, corruption, and family, with John Constantine at its center.
John Constantine, Hellblazer: All His Engines
John Constantine, Hellblazer: All His Engines was published in July of 2006.
When he was young, John Constantine was approached by a mysterious apparition. Cloaked in red smoke and brandishing a skull for a head, the spirit exclaimed, “You must offer something better — fresher — a little less soiled.” Cut to present day. It’s a normal, sunny summer day in South London. Brian, ex-husband of Geraldine Chandler, daughter of Chas, is picking up their daughter Trish to come stay with him. As time passes, Trish is unresponsive, so Brian takes the initiative. As he approaches Trish’s room, a red light emanates from it. She is motionless on the ground. As Trish is hauled off to the hospital, Chas calls on John for help. A mysterious coma bug has infiltrated London, but where is its source? How will Chas get his granddaughter back? It is with this dilemma that Carey starts to explore the closer bond between Chas and John.
See, Chas has always been John’s personal driver. He literally gets him around, and once in a while, helps him if he gets into scrapes he can’t handle. Through the years, they have forged a close bond, but their motives never truly aligned. With both the source coma bug and the reviving of Trish being connective tissue, the story explores their different approaches to dealing with the situation. Chas is more impulsive. Since this has hit so close to home for him, he wants to get his granddaughter back. This impulsiveness is contrasted with John’s more methodical methods, and as such, their friendship is tested as they have to make a trip to the City of Angles together.
Hellblazer in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, a touchstone of American culture. It’s a place that is both a beacon for stars and also a haven for corruption, or at least that is its most common depiction in media. It is, essentially, Tthe perfect cover for a demon. This demon, by the name of Beroul, is harvesting souls with the ultimate goal of raising hell on earth. He also holds Trish’s soul. This physical and psychological conflict gets us to a turning point in the book. Constantine knows Beroul, being a demon, is not to be trusted. Beroul also notes how Constantine is clever and will most likely pull a fast one on him. In the middle is Chas. Now knowing where his granddaughter is being held, his determination has reached a fever pitch. John needs to make sure he keeps a level head, lest he lose Trish forever to the void.
The clock ticks down. Constantine has to make a grave decision. While his deal with Beroul has played out, the spirit that pulls the strings is the Aztec death god, Mictlantecuhtli, the same spirit that haunted John as a child. This child, however, is fresher—a little less soiled, something the God promised he would take. Standing in the face of death, Constantine is unphased. He has outsmarted the devil before, he can outsmart a god. So, he pulls his trump card. As Trish becomes fully enveloped by the corruption, her soul almost trapped forever, Constantine pulls a lock of her hair. With this, Constantine plays his final trick. With Trish back in the mortal plane, and the source of the coma bug neutralized, John convenes with Chas and Trish at a diner. As they leave, he contemplates the nature of family, “You surround yourself other people so the night doesn’t seem so dark. Shout down the sound of the wind with arguments about whose turn it is to wash the dishes. Best not kid yourself. Best not give any hostages to fortune. You’re on your own in the end. Always. Where the hell else would you want to be?”. This is also the nature on John Constantine.
The Art
On art duties is horror specialist Leonardo Manco. His gritty pencils and deep inks help bring an eerie sense of dread and atmosphere to the book. The grittiness also adds an ugliness to the world. With a shadow looming over the city of Los Angeles, it brings the world down to Constantine’s level. Lee Loughridge’s muted colors add to the sense of dread. Most of the pages are doused in blazing reds and lucid greens. These pile on to the deep blacks of the inks to hit home the hellish atmosphere. The layouts add both a cinematic quality with the combination of establishing splash pages and long, wide panels that help the story move along and a breakneck pace.
In closing, All His Engines is one of the finest Hellblazer stories there is. It combines high stakes, emotional character moments, and foreboding atmosphere, to tell the story of two men — both well-meaning — who are trying to preserve innocence in a corrupt world. With focusing on the bond between John and Chas, the creators crafted a fantastic narrative about friendship and the lengths a man would go to save a loved one. They also touched on the corruption of the system by using the dichotomy of the shining city of Los Angeles as a hive for demons and death gods. With the moody art by Leonardo Manco and colors by Lee Loughridge, you feel like you are being dragged down to hell. It all comes back to the Milton quote that gives the story its name, “with all his engines” Constantine was sent, but instead of building those towers in Heaven, he built them in hell. That leaves him alone, the tragedy of a man trying to do the right thing, but driving everyone away.
John Constantine, Hellblazer - All His Engines
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Leonardo Manco
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Publisher: DC Comics - Vertigo
When a mysterious worldwide plague puts millions of people into deadly comas — including Chas Chadler’s granddaughter, Tricia — Earth’s foremost expert on the bizarre, John Constantine, steps in with the “cure.”
Release Date: July 26, 2020
Read Hellblazer Comics Online: Click here!
Taylor Pechter is a passionate comic book fan and nerd. Find him on Twitter @TheInspecter.