John Constantine: Hellblazer #2 (2019) - "A Green and Pleasant Land, Part Two"

[laughing_tree]

He may not be the hero we need, but he’s definitely the bastard we deserve. -- Si Spurrier

Comments

[tcampbell1000]

On the one hand, I don't think this antagonist of John's is supposed to be Alan Moore. His backstory's different (even allowing for the limited record of Moore's personal life), and Moore is too much the real-life pacifist to be a threat worthy of John's attention.

But on the other, there's definitely something provocative about making him a homeless-bearded obsessive fan of William Blake, especially if you've tried to read Moore's... ambitious novel Jerusalem, which tries, among other things, to follow in Blake's footsteps. Feels a bit like if Spider-Man had to fight a couple of villains resembling Funky Flashman and Mr. A.

I generally quite like Spurrier's work these days, and I'm not sure what intent to read into that choice here. Could be trolling the Moore-purists, could be trying to find some new identity for John by distancing him from his past (just as creators using the Question eventually had to move on a bit from Ditko's Randianism). It could even be accidental: Blake has a lot of influence among the mystic-minded in England, so one could think of him without aiming at Moore. But I thought it was worth bringing up.

[lego_joker]

If trolling were his goal, IMO it would've been more interesting for this antagonist to be a clean-shaven Irishman who's a walking World War II encyclopedia and can't go five minutes without cursing out the Catholic Church...