Hellblazer 180

Red Sepulchre (Part 4)
By Mike Carey and Macelo Frusin
Mar 2003

- John breaks free from his handlers, whom he has tricked into believing that they have killed Clarice and Albert
- John makes his way back to Domine Fredericks home; he has figured out the secret behind the RS
- back at DF's home he unleashes the RS on the one guard standing in his way; the RS is a garrote, it was disguised as the drawstring for a duffle bag; it turns the guard into a murderous rage; he attacks and kills two of his mates before turning on DF
- DF still has sway over Gemma but Clarice and Albert work some magic to push Gemma into a trance so that DF can't kill her
- John disables the spell that the RS is using to control the guard who killed his 2 mates plus DF
- the RS was originally a treasure of the the death cult of the phansigars as John explained in chapter 3 to Gemma and DF, who worship Kali
- the story ends with Kohn and Clarice wondering why DF wanted the RS; something about DF wanting it to open 3 doors, one of those being the door between the living and the dead

- when I bought it, based on the description on the back I thought that the girl on the cover to the trade was Gemma but once I got into it I started thinking it was supposed to Angie; the only problem with that is that It was also the cover to Hellblazer 180 and Angie isn't in that chapter but the cover artist doesn't do the interiors and who knows what sort of instructions he was getting or if he knew what the content of the issue was going to be or if he even has any say in choosing which image goes on which issue
- this was my first time reading Hellblazer and based on reading this I want to continue reading Mike Carey's run on the book

- thugees
- phansigars

Hellblazer 179

Red Sepulchre (Part 3)
By Mike Carey and Macelo Frusin
Feb 2003

- John tells Gemma (and Domine Fredericks) about some of their family's history; Gemma loves the story but doesn't love what her uncle wants her to do, leave DF
- Clarice Sackville sends the demon she summoned to DF's place to retrieve the RS; the demon wrecks a lot of havoc but in the end is stopped
- the demon's attack gives John a chance to contact Map but doesn't get much in the way of help from him
- once the demon has been dispatched DF's right hand man takes a couple of his men plus John to hunt down Clarice and friends

- this story gets better the further I get into it: loved the family history and the uneasy alliances
- the book (or maybe it's just this story) reminds of what I assume BPRD must be like
- the art of Marcelo Frusin is killer and Lee Loughridge does a spectacular job with the colors
- I love the look of the demon and the action sequences are beautifully detailed

Hellblazer 178

Red Sepulchre (Part 2)
By Mike Carey and Macelo Frusin
Jan 2003

- things start to become a little clearer
- Scrape, a fence and/or antique dealer was murdered; at the time he was trying to get his hands on something way out of his league; he borrowed money from others who want the item for themselves, "it" is the titular Red Sepulchre
- Constantine knew Scrape and was hoping to get some information from him about Gemma
- now john knows who killed Scrape and also is holding his niece: Domine Fredericks
- John tries reaching out to Angie S for some help dealing with the people holding Gemma but AS didn't care for his attitude when they parted ways at the end of the previous arc
- Clarice, Albert, and Packer - 3 individuals who were also eager to get their hands on the RS; they get hit by DF's men, Packer is killed; Clarice uses his body in a magic ceremony to try and learn something
- meanwhile John meets with Fredricks   And agrees to help him, although it isn't clear what DF needs help with, because DF is still holding his niece
- it turns out that DF's men were a little too hasty when they killed Scrape and the man selling him the RS without learning what the RS looks like and they need John's help to pick through a haystack of boxes to find it

Hellblazer 177

Red Sepulchre (Part 1)
By Mike Carey and Macelo Frusin
Dec 2002

-Constantine traipses around London looking for Gemma (his niece) and clues as to what happened to her, he talks to a number of old associates and works some magic in the process
- a number of people thought he was dead and are not particularly happy to see him alive

- not the easiest book to just jump into, the slang and dialogue aren't the easiest to follow; I often find myself rereading words just to make sure I got the full picture of what was said and by them
- at its core it feels like a hard boiled crime story and I'm familiar enough with themselves catch the drift of what's going on and what direction the story might be headed
- the art in this chapter has a very different feel to it than the previous one, much thicker lines
- this is just the opening segment of a 4-part story; it didn't exactly suck me in but I didn't hate it and I'm gonna keep reading it

4/21

Hellblazer 176

High on Life (Part 2)
By Mike Carey, Steve Dillon, Jimmy Palmiotti
Oct 2002

- Angie lives, John and his sister take her to the hospital; Angie's attackers have done this before, to other women but the others didn't survive
- John gives Angie a bit of his own blood which revives her long enough to find out what she was up to when she was attacked and what she discovered
- John pays a visit to the old woman on the top floor, who's sons are the ones who attacked Angie and would have killed her
- the old woman isn't forthcoming but John is able to figure it out based on what he finds in her cubbord, she is living vicariously through the memories of the murdered women via bits of flesh that her sons bring back to her
- the woman has drugged John but he manages to fight back against her sons and destroy a ward that kept the ghosts from invading her home, the ghosts take the old woman down but John only survives thanks to an intervention by Angie
- John leaves Liverpool and heads to London to find his niece

- got a bit lost in some of the lingo or slang
- good story but not great, maybe not the best jumping on point
- liked the art and visual storytelling by Steve Dillon
- not sure why they keep calling Constantine Collier

4/12

Hellblazer 175

High on Life (Part 1)
By Mike Carey, Steve Dillon, Jimmy Palmiotti
Sep 2002

- John Constantine goes to visit Cheryl, his sister and winds up investigating a few suicides that happened in the building where she lives
- there is some powerful, magical force at work in the building
- John gets help from a local, Angie Spatchcock who is a waitress and more?
- Cheryl is distraught over her daughter who has gone to the US for college and no longer communicates with her; Cheryl has turned to alcohol and tranquilizers to ease her depression
- Angie gets attacked while doing some solo sleuthing and carved up by a couple men, how far they would have taken it is unclear because Constantine and his sister and brother-in-law turn the corner on their way home from the pub and chase off Angie's attackers

- first time reading HB
- second time reading Steve Dillion drawn comic book, the other one was Punisher Max (Jason Aaron)

4/11