Book: Constantine #15
Writer: Ray Fawkes
Artist: ACO
Colors: Richard & Tanya Horie
Summary from comixology: “John Constantine witnesses the horrifying reach of magic when he meets the world’s wealthiest mage–a woman who’s been draining all the good luck out of her home city of Hong Kong and benefiting from the suffering of millions.”
I have stated before that Constantine is one of my favorite DC characters. I even have a Constantine #1 from the original series… OK! It’s from a free comic book day… but, I’m not made of money! Anyhow, as much as I love John, I DO NOT love this series. I really enjoy Ray Fawkes as a writer, but I really don’t enjoy this book. I want to drop it but, honestly, ACO’s art is so fucking bad I keep buying the book to see how terrible it looks.
The Good
As I previously mentioned, Ray Fawkes is a really good writer, and he makes the book enjoyable. I’m still not sure why DC decided to move John Constantine over to the main title instead of keeping him n Vertigo comics, or just in Justice League Dark even. This series has honestly just been a major disappointment. There really isn’t much good to be found except for Fawkes. The story is fun and interesting, but it’s not amazing. With NBC launching Constantine in the fall, I feel like this series should be top notch, but instead its just sub-par, and that disappoints me tremendously.
The Bad
Saying ACO’s art is terrible is an understatement. Constantine might be the master of the Occult, but ACO is ruining the Occult. At one point in the issue, Constantine is suppose to be smoking a cigarette, but it’s nowhere near his mouth. Every time we see John’s face in a panel he looks like he has a constant “derp” face going on. In issue 14 of the series there was a guest artist and the book was really enjoyable, but with issue 15 ACO returns to continue ruining vg the book. I’m serious when I say this, I 100% completely believe that ACO is the worse artist in the comic book industry. His art ruins this book. If ACO was not on the book, I believe it would be much more successful.
The Final Say
The art will ruin the book for you. It’s not worth the $2.99 sticker price and I kick myself in the ass each time I buy this issue. I give this book a 1 out of 4. The art is so devastating to the title that I can’t look past it. If you see this book sitting on the shelf of your local comic shop next time you are picking up books… save three bucks and leave it on the shelf. Or, splurge and pick up Detective Comics 30-32, those are really good.
If you read this book and hated it OR loved it, leave your thoughts in the comments!