John Constantine: Hellblazer #9 (2020) - "The Favourite"

[laughing_tree]

Because it’s 2020 and the bastards are in charge and the world’s on fire and goddam it we’ve tried -- haven’t we? -- giving the heroes a chance to stand up and lead the way and show us how it’s done, on the page and on the screen and at the debating lectern, and all it’s got us is an argument over what it means to be a hero, and shouting matches between this lot’s notion of a good person versus that lot’s notion of a good person, and they’re all filthy rich and dead in the heart, and the shadows are oozing with unrealised myth and the workers are hoodwinked by the lords and ladies to misdirect their hatred towards anyone Different, and there’s unfairness in every life, real or imagined, injustice that you can’t fix with laserbeams or super-punching, and fuck! me! these are NOT the stories that get told about capes and science-wizards and rolemodels, they’re the stories that get told about real people, the people who know what it’s like to have nothing but your wits and your words, what it’s like to be selfish and scared but still do the right fucking thing, what it’s like to live with monsters in your mind and in your home, and I thought, I really thought, we were tuning-in to those vibrations with every word and every panel, and you’ll forgive me indulging a moment’s breathless black bitterness to discover that these are the stories that get culled, these are the extremities of the great pop-culture I.P. emanation-factories which are the first to be tossed overboard when the storm rises on the horizon. We are the lizard’s tail. -- Si Spurrier on Hellblazer's cancellation

Comments

[shadur]

"... I'm sorry, lad. This ain't your fault."

Ouch. But that's Constantine right there.

... Also, on the topic of innocent victims whose fault it isn't but who will end up paying the price, that girl's probably already wrapped up and buried in a ditch somewhere.

[tcampbell1000]

I sympathize with Si; this was probably my favorite series of 2020... but I think he greatly overstates the significance of its cancellation.

[nyadnar17]

Pretty much. I like Si....a lot.

But 2020 has left me pretty bitter about this "all us common folk are in it together" talk. We are not all the same, we don't all agree on the right path forward, and just because someone has a different view on the "right thing to do" doesn't mean they were tricked by wealthy degenerates.

[donnblake]

Bit of a mad world when "barely legal virgins," is the soft pedal, eh?

[deh_tommy]

This whole thing gives me so much panic. I’m sorry for not reading your book, Mr. Spurrier...

[lissa_quon]

Yea - I hope the author's okay. That's a worrying blog post to read.

[lissa_quon]

I didn't hate this series - it wasn't BAD. It wasn't the best Hellblazer - but it was alright. I just wasn't in the mood for this sort of thing. Not sure who was this year.

Also - this was a rough hand he was dealt with this book. After all the shit DC had done to the property he probably was lucky to get as long as he did. Plague or not. The plague probably made things worse.