Review by Frank Plowright

Good intentions are only rarely associated with John Constantine, so this volume being titled Good Intentions is surely some sardonic comment on the part of Brian Azzarello? Well, actually no, but it’s a long time before we reach the good intentions. Before then we’ve been taken on a tour of economic deprivation in the rural community of Doglick.

Azzarello sets his stall out early with a magnificent opening chapter displaying Constantine at his cocky best hitching rides to Doglick after being released from the prison he destroyed in Hard Time. Clever interlocking dialogue characterises scenes where Constantine comes ever nearer the back of beyond, along the way sorting out the sins of those giving him rides.

What Azzarello provides is very dependent on setting a scene and a strong atmosphere, requiring an artist able to convey the slight looks, conversational pauses and downbeat locations. Marcelo Frusin manages that with some style, creating the isolation of Doglick and the distressed properties it houses along with strong character designs and an expert’s use of light and shade. It brings to mind the similar quality fellow Argentinian artist Eduardo Risso applied to his collaborations with Azzarello on 100 Bullets. The people are cloaked in a visual darkness to accompany the metaphysical darkness Azzarello hangs over them.

Unlike Hard Time, Constantine barely uses any sorcery, as theoretically he’s among friends. It ensures a compelling strength to the narrative even before the introduction of relative innocence in the form of a young American tourist to London in the days when Constantine wanted to be a rock star. Not quite the virginal presence originally indicated, Rose is nonetheless a form of beacon among dark and disturbing deeds. Some of those deeds are merely implied, Azzarello confident your imagination is set to filthier levels than even he intends.

Amid a complex stew of contradictory relationships that imagination will head toward overdrive attempting to figure out what’s going, and it’s just as well the revelations are reserved for the final chapter. They don’t live up to the remainder. The idea of community being the most important aspect of life to be preserved at a terrible cost just doesn’t convince. Still, getting to that point is the real deal.

Azzarello continues to challenge Constantine with Freezes Over, a chapter of which is merged with this material for the bulkier 2016 Hellblazer Vol. 14: Good Intentions.