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Hellblazer (Single Issues)
Hellblazer #61
The First of the Fallen searches for the escaped Chantinelle and Constantine, but little does he know that's exactly what Constantine is actually hoping for! Finale of the three-part "Guys and Dolls."
26 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1993
20 people want to read
About the author
Garth Ennis
2,629 books3,187 followersEnnis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar.
Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.
Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.
Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.
While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.
Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.
After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.
In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.
Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.
In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.
In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis
Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.
Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.
Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.
While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.
Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.
After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.
In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.
Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.
In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.
In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 11, 2015
The concluding piece for this arc might be considered a tad anticlimactic but I still liked it any way. Guys and Dolls was all about the grudge that the First of the Fallen have been harboring against John Constantine ever since said mortal had duped him into accepting a dubious contract about his soul which he had to share with his other two brothers. That meant none of them can get John's soul lest they rage a war among each other which is just too darn costly in the long-term. John did all of this just so he can evade dying from terminal lung cancer and I gotta say that he is not wasting his second shot at life. He's making amends and he's in a stable relationship with a woman who loves him simply for who he is and not for what he does. And that's pretty damn comforting!
This issue opens with John watching said woman one quiet afternoon at their place and telling her that he's so lucky to have her in his life. It was a nice moment. I suppose one of the reasons Ennis' run so far hasn't been that enticing for me was because I was so used to all the abusive, poignant and murky stories and characterization that predecessor Jamie Delano has offered in the first forty or so issues. I won't deny that I miss my John walking the dark paths and being such a shitty piece of self-annihilation, but I'm also not complaining to see how much personal growth and development he's showcasing quite splendidly here in Ennis' writing.
I just have to admit that I'm a masochist and that most of Delano's painful and gritty characterization of Constantine has worked for me that now I can't shake it off and sometimes I find myself struggling to really focus and discuss Ennis' contribution to this series which has been great, really, though I know I don't have much to say about it unlike last year with Delano's run.
I did enjoy Guys and Dolls overall. That being said, there are some parts of this entire arc that weren't completely resolved mostly because they weren't completely explained either. I feel as if this was rushed. The two earlier installments were great pieces but this one had to bear the weight of the climax, falling action and resolution. The climactic part of this issue was simple in execution that it diluted its impact once we reach the supposedly falling action and the ambiguous resolution didn't really help. I just thought that it would have been better if we get another issue to wrap things up more neatly and with more power behind the punch. Ennis is not exactly a risk-taker when it comes to endings. I've noticed that he tends to go for the easier, more predictable route. The bad guys don't win and suffer the consequences, John lives to fight another day--it's a stark opposite to Delano's own approach for this series. Ennis' formulaic style of narrative is still okay for me at this point but if this keeps up in the next issue I may get annoyed. It's only acceptable now because I want to believe Ennis is still finding his stride as well as his definitive voice but Hellblazer is such an exceptional and flexible series and I just feel that he's not making most of its potentials.
This arc is problematic because its brevity was not the best course of action to tell this story, in my honest opinion. I was only beginning to get interested in Ellie and her circumstances and I sure hope Ennis brings her back again. I also know this isn't the last time Constantine will encounter and get away humiliating the First of the Fallen. I'm sure FotF has something macabre and terrible in store for John later so I suppose I should treat this issue as the calm before the storm. In any case, I'm not as pleased about it but will reserve my final judgments once Ennis touches upon FoTF and his beef with John in the upcoming issues, sooner rather than later.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEW AT:
This issue opens with John watching said woman one quiet afternoon at their place and telling her that he's so lucky to have her in his life. It was a nice moment. I suppose one of the reasons Ennis' run so far hasn't been that enticing for me was because I was so used to all the abusive, poignant and murky stories and characterization that predecessor Jamie Delano has offered in the first forty or so issues. I won't deny that I miss my John walking the dark paths and being such a shitty piece of self-annihilation, but I'm also not complaining to see how much personal growth and development he's showcasing quite splendidly here in Ennis' writing.
I just have to admit that I'm a masochist and that most of Delano's painful and gritty characterization of Constantine has worked for me that now I can't shake it off and sometimes I find myself struggling to really focus and discuss Ennis' contribution to this series which has been great, really, though I know I don't have much to say about it unlike last year with Delano's run.
I did enjoy Guys and Dolls overall. That being said, there are some parts of this entire arc that weren't completely resolved mostly because they weren't completely explained either. I feel as if this was rushed. The two earlier installments were great pieces but this one had to bear the weight of the climax, falling action and resolution. The climactic part of this issue was simple in execution that it diluted its impact once we reach the supposedly falling action and the ambiguous resolution didn't really help. I just thought that it would have been better if we get another issue to wrap things up more neatly and with more power behind the punch. Ennis is not exactly a risk-taker when it comes to endings. I've noticed that he tends to go for the easier, more predictable route. The bad guys don't win and suffer the consequences, John lives to fight another day--it's a stark opposite to Delano's own approach for this series. Ennis' formulaic style of narrative is still okay for me at this point but if this keeps up in the next issue I may get annoyed. It's only acceptable now because I want to believe Ennis is still finding his stride as well as his definitive voice but Hellblazer is such an exceptional and flexible series and I just feel that he's not making most of its potentials.
This arc is problematic because its brevity was not the best course of action to tell this story, in my honest opinion. I was only beginning to get interested in Ellie and her circumstances and I sure hope Ennis brings her back again. I also know this isn't the last time Constantine will encounter and get away humiliating the First of the Fallen. I'm sure FotF has something macabre and terrible in store for John later so I suppose I should treat this issue as the calm before the storm. In any case, I'm not as pleased about it but will reserve my final judgments once Ennis touches upon FoTF and his beef with John in the upcoming issues, sooner rather than later.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEW AT:
October 1, 2017
This entire arc deserves a 11 on 10. Or even more. Its scope, the story itself, the trick, everything was amazing.
Shock and awe, no one does it like John Constantine.
Shock and awe, no one does it like John Constantine.
January 22, 2025
5/10
With this extra lazy issue, I've decided I had enough of this run. My apologies to Jamie Delano.
With this extra lazy issue, I've decided I had enough of this run. My apologies to Jamie Delano.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews