I don’t quite know how to fault this. In fact I think this demonstrates just what comics are still capable of – Hellblazer when published by Vertigo had something to say not just about Constantine but about contemporary Britain, and this at the very least equals the best of the Ennis/Dillon period. Aaron Campbell’s pitch black art is delightfully horrific, but in line with the Black Label label, he’s drawing for a mature audience and his choice of visuals, as the tone of the issue rises and falls, is inspired. We get to see the real life St Thomas’ Hospital, we get cinematic, almost photo-realistic shots of Constantine pontificating about the NHS, and Noah’s look of absolute horror in the finale is a panel you’d never see in a superhero comic. Horror comics don’t come much better than this, and Spurrier’s Constantine plays not so much hero or villain but reverts to classic nonchalant actor, lurking on the sidelines, a ‘virus masquerading as a man’.

Having a story about hate playing out in a real hospital is inspired, especially given how much of a battleground it is in the real world for the jealousies and hatreds about race and immigration which have unhinged British society. Any one of the bedridden elderly could have been the cause of the murderous ghost (and that’s the nastiest I’ve ever seen), from the survivor of a Bosnian massacre through to Noah’s comatose mother, who never called herself British for fear of racist retribution. Implicitly all of them immigrants, with experiences of war, genocide and bigotry, they’ve chosen not to, but Mary Lattimer is something else. It’s vicious social and political commentary and to see Hellblazer returning to what it does best fills me with joy.

Did I not mention Jordie Bellaire’s colours, as in those which actually make Campbell’s art explode with energy? The colours which are totally sensitive to the undulations of the issue, and which capture the horror equally as powerfully as the quieter (and crucial) character moments? There’s nothing about this issue that’s not absolutely sublime – Spurrier takes aim at the causes of problems in the NHS, but champions it too, ‘National Health Service is the only thing we ever got right’. Insight, attitude and intense character work like this doesn’t often come in a combination quite this enriching in any medium and I look forward to seeing what comes next.

writing	★★★★★
art	★★★★★
colours	★★★★★
overall	★★★★★