A review by magicalmartha
Hellblazer, Vol. 9: Critical Mass, by Eddie Campbell, Paul Jenkins, Jamie Delano

3.0

I took a pretty long hiatus from reading Hellblazer after I finished Garth Ennis' run - I'm not a fan of Ennis and his Hellblazer was pretty much everything about his storytelling conceits that I dislike. I was finally ready to come back and I'm glad that, when I did, Paul Jenkins was ready to bring back everything about John Constantine that I love. The first half of the book is a pretty ephemeral story set in the Australian outback against Aboriginal myth, which I found a little too mysterious; the second half, however, was a return to classic Constantine (but with the wisdom and cunning he's gained over the course of the series). It's dark, frightening, tense, and ultimately victorious - in that way that makes you wonder if Constantine has really thought through the consequences of his actions. I'm finally excited to get to volume 10.