bums's review
3.0
Hellblazer: The Fear Machine - 3.5/5
An awright epic from Jamie Delano's run on Hellblazer. The storie tak John Constantine awa from his usual surroundis of built-up England after been acussed iv murder sae does a runner tae the wild coontryside to hide oot wae a buncha hippies and Pagan goodness ensues.
Delano cotinues tae o'erwrite almaist every enternal monologue wae uneeded similes, metaphors, alliteration, adjectives, adverbs and mair; a canny figure oot why either. Half ah them didnae even mak sense, try tis yin on fir size "Constructing crazed geometries of terror in which to grow implaccable shiny-eyed beast of death and derangement". Wit? I unnerstan tha he's gittin hit wae a physic blast aw fear, bit the metaphors still hive tae be unnerstable. Sae long as he's no scribblin internal monologue hooever he's no half bad as a writer.
The storie itsel is pretty guid although it gits awfy... abstract it the end and leaves alot hangin tae be picked up later. Ah alsa didnae no if John's wanted fir murder anymair after then end aw the tale, it wis never made clear if that hid been dropped or naw.
The art be [a:Mark Buckingham], [a:Richard Piers Rayner] and [a:Alfredo Alcala] wisnae tha guid, although am feein a sorta attraction tae it from sum sorta nostalgia. The art be guest artist fir pirt four, [a:Mike Hoffman], wis beeter fir sure.
O'erall, a fine read, if tae much use aw the flowery language in waes tha didnae mak sense, wae sum dodgy art and a strange endin.
An awright epic from Jamie Delano's run on Hellblazer. The storie tak John Constantine awa from his usual surroundis of built-up England after been acussed iv murder sae does a runner tae the wild coontryside to hide oot wae a buncha hippies and Pagan goodness ensues.
Delano cotinues tae o'erwrite almaist every enternal monologue wae uneeded similes, metaphors, alliteration, adjectives, adverbs and mair; a canny figure oot why either. Half ah them didnae even mak sense, try tis yin on fir size "Constructing crazed geometries of terror in which to grow implaccable shiny-eyed beast of death and derangement". Wit? I unnerstan tha he's gittin hit wae a physic blast aw fear, bit the metaphors still hive tae be unnerstable. Sae long as he's no scribblin internal monologue hooever he's no half bad as a writer.
The storie itsel is pretty guid although it gits awfy... abstract it the end and leaves alot hangin tae be picked up later. Ah alsa didnae no if John's wanted fir murder anymair after then end aw the tale, it wis never made clear if that hid been dropped or naw.
The art be [a:Mark Buckingham], [a:Richard Piers Rayner] and [a:Alfredo Alcala] wisnae tha guid, although am feein a sorta attraction tae it from sum sorta nostalgia. The art be guest artist fir pirt four, [a:Mike Hoffman], wis beeter fir sure.
O'erall, a fine read, if tae much use aw the flowery language in waes tha didnae mak sense, wae sum dodgy art and a strange endin.
kdalach's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
devon_marie's review
2.0
Er... What. Was. That.
I mean, it had its moments. But I'll sum it up by saying I'm glad I'm done with that one. On to book 4 (which, I just noted, has NEIL GAIMAN'S name on it, so I'm super psyched).
I mean, it had its moments. But I'll sum it up by saying I'm glad I'm done with that one. On to book 4 (which, I just noted, has NEIL GAIMAN'S name on it, so I'm super psyched).
brookeaf's review
1.0
The only thing I can really say to sum up my thoughts on this third collected Hellblazer volume is, WTF was that? Volume 1, [b:Original Sins|133017|Hellblazer Original Sins|Jamie Delano|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172015794s/133017.jpg|128139], was really great. Volume 2, [b:The Devil You Know|320814|Hellblazer The Devil You Know|Jamie Delano|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1194196970s/320814.jpg|311550], finished up Original Sins' story line very well, but then got wobbly. That wobbliness continues for the next 9 issues here, and my mind is pretty much blown at how just ridiculous this was. It is overwritten, overwrought, and includes lines like, "Now it's time for FEMALENESS." The ending involves a threesome, after which one of the women immediately lays an egg (the other woman catches the egg, makes a sexyface and says, "Yes, oh yes"), and Constantine wants to watch the egg hatch because, as he says, "It's my egg, too."
Well, ALRIGHTY then. Okay. You go do that, Constantine. I'll just quickly make my way through the final two volumes of Jamie Delano's run and hope that he reverts to the excellence of Original Sins, because I'm stubborn and won't skip ahead to where Garth Ennis takes over.
Well, ALRIGHTY then. Okay. You go do that, Constantine. I'll just quickly make my way through the final two volumes of Jamie Delano's run and hope that he reverts to the excellence of Original Sins, because I'm stubborn and won't skip ahead to where Garth Ennis takes over.
krstrau's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
cemeterygates's review
1.0
bad art, bad writing. This was terrible. Whenever it would pick up, it would just get worse. Delano started Hellblazer well, but this stories look terrible now. Go ahead and skip it.
tin_squid's review
3.0
It started with a mullet and progressed to hippie-ville. Sort of a weird place for me to dive into the Hellblazer comics... but I've heard so much about how awesome they are I'm going to look past the hippies and focus on the giant fear and death fueled conspiracy machine. That was a little whacked out, but all in all pretty cool and definitely fun to read about.
strikingthirteen's review
2.0
This one is weird. It starts out promising - John is seemingly framed for the events of Original Sins - and while on the run ends up traveling with some hippies. THe fish out of water stuff was amusing and watching John try and find his place and get comfortable and just chill was interesting. We haven't really seen John hang out with this many people all at one time. Of course though his new world is attacked and he goes out to set things right. John being wanted isn't really addressed or properly fixed, there's a throwaway line in the last third of the volume but it doesn't solve anything, and this ending just gets crazy. The hippy stuff is all fine and then things just get really strange.
So, not sure how I'm meant to take it. Not sure I liked it either.
So, not sure how I'm meant to take it. Not sure I liked it either.
glennisleblanc's review
3.0
Constantine finds himself with a group of new age hippies and seems happy but of course that never lasts long. They stumble onto a group that is tapping the ley lines in order to create fear and change the political parties in charge. John is on the run from them and also trying to get to get one of them back from the group that is using her mental powers to charge the fear machine. While on the trail he enlists some nonmagical allies that bring everything into focus but as usual nothing good happens to anyone that helps out Constantine. An ok story but didn’t leave me wanting to pick up the next volume as soon as I can.
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