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Everybody has regrets - hearts broken, chances missed, mistakes
made. For John Constantine, those regrets usually come with
bodies attached - a long line of the dead, friends and enemies
alike, stretching back in time. As one of the world's greatest
sorcerers, someone who has walked into Hell itself and returned
alive and unbroken, Constantine knows better than anyone still
drawing breath just how costly mistakes can be...
Rare
Cuts gives Hellblazer fans an insight into what
led a poor boy from Liverpool to become a magus powerful enough
to take on the Devil and emerge triumphant. This graphic novel
collects six never-before-reprinted issues Vertigo's popular
series.
Before
I start to review this collection I want to get something
off my chest.
Sadly,
thanks in whole to the Keanu Reeves movie, Hellblazer
fans are starting to wander what this series is called. Those
of use who have followed Constantine's exploits prior to the
movies release will know the series as Hellblazer.
However, since the film's release all graphic novels that
have been published are now marketed as John Constantine:
Hellblazer. Just why this is is a bit of a mystery. If
Vertigo is using this as a marketing ploy to suck in all those
stupid cinema goers who are too thick to workout for themselves
that Constantine is based on the Hellblazer
series then why not call the graphic novels: "Constantine:
Hellblazer"? By adding the "John" before
"Constantine" those self same stupid cinema goers
are going to be looking under the "C" section of
their comic stores and not "J" or "H".
This
is a trend that was started back in August 2004 (when it was
obvious that the new movie was going to be called Constantine)
with the release of Highwater.
And I am still at a loss to explain what the point it...
Anyway...
Rare Cuts is comprised of several stories about the
young Constantine. My favourite was the childhood tale Dead-Boy's
Heart - illustrated by the great Sean Phillips. This shows
Constantine's dark childhood and how sick he was before he
became a man.
Another
great story is In Another Part of Hell. Here (another
Phillips story) Constantine remembers his youth and his friends
sick mother Queenie and her pet Slag (an ape dressed in woman's
clothing and wearing a long blonde wig). If this story doesn't
give you nightmares then Satan has already acquired your soul.
But
to be honest the other tales in this collection (a man possessed
by his diary, a girl who is possessed by a demonic entity
and a village whose occupants go a little crazy) all well
above average.
This
volume also includes a special updated character timeline
and a guide to Constantine's London.
This
is one of the best Hellblazer collections I've read
to date.
Nick
Smithson
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