Constantine #5

COVER ART: 3.5/5 As far as covers go, this is better than most but not worthy of greatness. I have a problem when the cover artist does not draw feet when they should, and instead fill the void with cheap smoke or rocks. EDDY BARROWS, EBER FERREIRA & BRAD ANDERSON are responsible for this cover. I can overlook an artist who is overworked and trying to the cover done, but when a team of artists collaborate on a cover, they need to bring their best work, and that means drawing the FEET!

STORY ART: 3/5 This is my first issue of Constantine and my only second introduction to the character, and I am already a fan. I think he is just cool as beans. I prefer his appearance in JLD #22, but RENATO GUEDES (pencils) & MARCELO MAIOLO (colorist) do a decent job telling this story through their art. There are no real mistakes per-se, but the art is just not as crisp and vibrant as other titles out there.

STORY ARC: 4.5/5 This issue picks up from JLD #22, part 3 of the Trinity War series, when John Constantine convinces SHAZAM! to head off with him to some place where he will tell SHAZAM! about his "real" family. This is the duo walking into John's friend's bar called "The Joint Bar" in New York City. We quickly come to figure that this is some sort of base of operations for John and whatever magical stuff he gets himself into. The main reason I looked into this issue what because of John himself. I guess I was intrigued by what he really had to offer SHAZAM!, and knowing very little about the character, I thought this would be a great time to find out especially with a tie-in to Trinity War. Two birds one stone thing. What I do know about John is that he is not very trustworthy. Zatanna said in JLD #22 that whatever John says to do, you want to do the opposite. That seems fitting for John and especially this issue.

What we see here is John Constantine handcuffing Billy Batson to the bar. How did this come to be you might ask? Constantine told Billy what appeared to be a total lie in order to get him to deSHAZAM himself. John said that there was a supremely powerful evil force tracking down the vast magical power signature that Billy was giving off. If SHAZAM turned into Billy, that evil looking for him would get lost. It was his only way for survival. Was John's story a bunch of hooey, or was he telling the truth? Well, I think with John it is always both really. I think he knows what he knows and gets people to do what he wants

but in the end it all works out for the better. Not only did John lock Billy to the bar, he used some ancient magical artifact to switch their voices. Now John has Billy's voice and Billy has John's voice.

What we see here is MOPMOP, a "friend" of the bar owner. Well, MopMop is a plant for a group called the Cult of the COLD FLAME, a mystical baddie group based out of Switzerland in the Bernese Alps. The leader of this group has placed a call and has MopMop speak a magical word unleashing a hellish demon from his very chest. This is the evil that I believe John knew was coming. I don't really know if John has foresight or not, or he is just able to read the magic energy changes that are taking place, but sure enough he was right. For whatever reason, John knew to be at this bar and knew this demon was going to be coming for him and used SHAZAM! to help fight it off.

What happens next is just too cool, and why ultimately I rate this issue a 4.5/5. What you are seeing is NOT SHAZAM!, but rather John Constantine "borrowing" the SHAZAM! Power and Magic. He was able to do so because he also "borrowed" Billy Batson's voice. I think this is just clever as hell, and so cool. I have never seen this done before and I give a lot of respect to the writer RAY FAWKES for coming up with a totally cool concept, writing it very well, and having the creative team execute his vision here very well, or as well as I think they could do. The demons hand here is missing because as he was punching John in the face, John spoke SHAZAM! and turned into SHAZAM! thus blowing the demons hand off. He recovers though.

The rest of this story is really the battle between John and the demon, and the ability of John to barely contain the force and the magical power that is SHAZAM!

Fast forward to the end, and John the SHAZAM! wins by ripping the head right off the demon. After the demon took some of the best John had to offer and had John down, young Billy distracted the demon using John's voice. The demon was there to kill John, not SHAZAM!, so when he heard John's voice coming from Billy, he turned his back to John. That is when he made his move, jumped on this things back and totally ripped his head off! EPIC.

But using the SHAZAM! magic has taken a toll on John's body. He was never made to use the power, and the change really takes a toll on a person for the first time. We can see here that John is bleeding from his ears and nose and mouth. His face is flushed and sweaty. The same is going for Billy, who even though is not in the fight, is bleeding from his eyes, nose and mouth as well. Billy must get the SHAZAM! power back asap.

These two pages I had to include. We see Billy reverse the spell John had cast on him and reclaimed not only his voice but the SHAZAM! magic. Billy is pissed, rightly so. He is upset that John had set him up and I'm sure quite embarrassed he lost his powers to John so easily. I love the two panes of John bloody and sweaty from the battle, and lighting up his cigarette like "no big deal, I do this all the time". I don't condone smoking, but the way John did this was very cool. The panes to the right show the battle took more than a toll on John as the demon actually did some serious damage.

I like John's friend the bar owner coming to help fix him up. He is asking why John did this to himself, what was the purpose. I think that is something that only John knows. He knew that demon was going to come for him and he disposed of it the best way he knew how, but here it seems he paid the ultimate price. As his friend is tending to his dying body, and as SHAZAM! flies off into the distance vowing to try and never see John ever again, John's spirit has floated out of his physical body and is now confronted by some young chap he killed recently.

FINAL VERDICT: 4.5/5 STARS. I am now a John Constantine fan and will be adding his issues to my pull list. This is an excellent issue to get as it is a tie-in with the epic series Trinity War and has a really cool concept of John as SHAZAM!

HERE IS A BONUS IMAGE OF THE DEMON COMING OUT OF THE BODY OF MOPMOP. TALK ABOUT CHEST PAINS AND HEART BURN!