Hellblazer Annual 2011:
What Happened: Alright, this is an annual, so obviously I'm not going to cover this one in great detail, because, you know, that would lead to me taking forever to type this one up. So I'll just be hitting on the broad strokes. Back when John Constantine was 16 he had a friend by the name of Tim McCabe. It seems young Constantine received a magical picture of a bridge in the mail and Tim became enamored by the picture, eventually asking for and getting the picture from Constantine. Three days later little Timmy disappeared, never to be seen again... Fast forward to today, where Tim's mother is dying and asks if Constantine could look for her son since they were such close friends. Constantine does as asked, and discovers the picture in Tim's room, sensing there was more to it than meets the eye. After some research, he learns the bridge didn't exist anymore(it was torn down in the 1920's or thereabout after a mess of suicides) and heads to the site. Some magic reveals the name of a recently missing boy, and after lying to the missing boy's mother, he discovers that the boy had a picture of the bridge on his Facebook page. Constantine rushes back to the site of the bridge, but is too late to stop the boy from hurling himself into the abyss and vanishing. After that, Constantine does some more research and finds a list of names of teenagers who vanished, probably due to the Suicide Bridge. Constantine heads back to the site of the bridge again and recites the names, causing the Suicide Bridge to appear before him. While walking on the bridge, Tim appears before Constantine and blames him for the fate he wound up suffering. Constantine tells Tim that he could help him move on to the afterlife and out of the limbo the bridge had placed him in if Tim stopped hating Constantine, but Tim refuses, and the bridge begins to vanish under Constantine. Constantine ends up reaching the end of the bridge and safety, finding a teenage girl who was about to take a walk on the Suicide Bridge due to her father. Constantine manages to convince the girl not to jump, and then puts a spell on her father, changing him into a nicer guy. From there, Constantine returns to Tim's mother, who mistakes Constantine for Tim. Constantine plays along, giving the old woman her heart's desire, a final talk with Tim, before using a spell to have her peacefully die, which basically ends this one.
The Good: I enjoyed the story here. It was a strong one-and-done type deal, and I really like reading those types of stories every now and then. The art and coloring matched the mood of this one, dark and gloomy. I like Constantine, and this comic gave me Constantine... That's definitely a good thing.
The Bad: $5 is kind of a steep price to pay for an annual, especially a Vertigo one... I'd think it would be way more palatable at around $4. Um... That's all I can think up...
The Verdict: Obviously, just by looking at the Good and Bad sections of this post, you can see that I was pleased with this comic book. Was it perfect? No, it wasn't, but it was a very good story that I'm glad I read.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Good old John Constantine...
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