Earn Constantine, Volume 1: The Spark And The Flame Originated By Ray Fawkes Offered As Audio Books

been a lot of apprehension about the decision to move Constantine as a character from the realm of Vertigo into the DCU proper, Hellblazer, as a property, had been a solidly and proudly "mature" title, and was beloved in no small part for being so, Obviously, the move would mean that the cursing, sex, and violence of the original would have to be downplayed, or at least be less explicitly drawn on the page.
I imagine that, if you dearly loved the original, it felt like quite a blow, like it would be impossible to truly tell a Constantine story under those restrictions.
Is it actually Well, that depends on your point of view,

The truth is, it's only the presentation that's been sanitized, and even that isn't by much, This is PGConstantine, which gives the writers some leeway, And Constantine's personality hasn't exactly been scrubbed, either, Very early in this book, he turns his back on a good friend, and the consequences for his friend are deadly, So not terribly far from his Vertigo origins, However, planting him in the DCU does have the unfortunate side effect of making him a party to whatever major thing is going on in the greater DCU at the moment.
Here, it's Trinity War, and it leads to the single least interesting issue in the entire collection,

Not that the collection as a whole is terribly compelling, Constantine is basically putting on an Indiana Jones act for most of it, traveling the world in search of magical artifacts and encountering a laundry list of magical antagonists.
That part is decently told, but not terribly original, There are too many newly introduced characters, with little background and meaning given to each, and I felt like the artifact hunt was lacking in urgency, And then the Trinity War issue seriously breaks any flow this book might have had,

I doubt I'll continue with this series, It's decent, and it could be really good, but it isn't there yet, Nice art, but weak on plot, Maybe they're just trying to get their footing in the larger DC universe, but I hope some depth is established, Also, not a big fan of how they Ziggy Stardusted out Papa Midnite, I will try to keep this review as spoilerfree as possible, since I know some people out there are waiting for the graphic novel before reading, But, be warned, that may not happen,

Im going to start by saying this, because it needs to be said: for most of my comicreading life, Ive stayed away from the powerhouses of Marvel and DC.
I didnt care for the concept of reboots and multiverses and why does the world needdifferent versions of Batman and the XMen and what the hell is continuity, where do I even start reading And it seemed like for every character I was interested in, there wereortitles starring that character and another handful where that character was a vital part of some team or another, and there were companywide crossover events every other Wednesday.
It was too much of a huge, intimidating juggernaut for me to ever want to begin to figure out,

Which was why I liked Vertigo Comics, and why they became my first and favorite publishing house, Though series such as The Sandman and Hellblazer occasionally ventured into other territory, it was rarely, and never often enough to be a distraction or require indepth research about series I knew I would never want to start reading.
Vertigo was selfcontained. Vertigo told damngood stories and mostly each title kept to itself, And, when when my favorite titles were only mediocre, I knew they would eventually get better again,

So when Hellblazer ended its run with Vertigo, and it was announced that John was being reborn into the mainstream DC Universe, I was wary.
Very, very wary. With good reason, as it turns out,

With Constantine Londons favorite mage says goodbye to London and to Vertigo comics, and becomes a transplanted New Yorker and a resident of DCs Newuniverse.
He also becomes less of a Hellblazer, and more of a dogooder, It even says so in the title credits every issue, In short, John Constantine remains John Constantine in name, appearance, and the fact that he can work magic,issues of backstory has been more or less wiped out to make way for the new John Constantine,

John is living in New York because he's cursedin the most literal sensefrom reentering London, which seems like a cheap shot and a desperate

ploy to drag him away from his origins and the heart of his story and force him to integrate into the Newverse.
But it's the core of his character that's undergone the greatest shift,

Here's that opening credits blurb I mentioned earlier:

Nearly destroyed by its temptations in his youth, John Constantine knows the price of magics corrupting influence all too well.

Yes, fine. So far, so good. But then

Now, he fights the battle to maintain balance and prevent anyone from becoming too powerful, . .

Wait

What

So Johns a crusader now, An active participant in an underground magic war, working more or less for the forces of good, He's only as British as the occasional “Oi!” when he hails a taxi, Hes younger. Hes prettier. Hes apparently never met Kit or Angie or Epiphany or Ric the Vic or Astra, Because, in an issue titled “Everyone hes ever sacrificed,” which heavily implies that said people will be confronting John, thered damn well better be some Astra,

What we get is Chris, a troubled young man who comes to John for help with, to the series credit, predictable results, I liked Chris. He was a good kid, I wouldve liked to see him stick around longer, He wouldve made an interesting counterweight to John, and an even more interesting pawn, But Chris, like John's history, is a throwaway character, forgotten as soon as he's no longer convenient,

What follows is a highlyepisodic quest to regain a magical artifact you know the kind, . . three issues, three different cities, . . very little in common except for the main character in between, And, by the fifth damn issue John is caught up in, . . wait for it. . a companywide crossover event! Though his part is largely selfcontained, it served as a reminder of exactly why I avoid titles from major companies,

If I didnt haveissues of history with John and his world, Id probably go a little lighter on my opinions of Constantine.
The creative team does the best they can with what theyre given, and what theyve been tasked with accomplishing, But its not a series I will ever fall in love with the way I did with Hellblazer, Ill spend too long comparing it to what it once was, and lamenting what Ive lost,

I told myself I would give the series to the end of its first major arc, and the end of this collection leaves a few things unresolved.
So, after around issueor, it will most likely no longer be a part of my monthly pull, Im saddened, but I cant say Im surprised, .