Comic Review - Garth Ennis - Hellblazer - The Pub Where I Was Born

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1991 – Vertigo Press – Spoiler alerts Though this has dark overtones it ultimately quite a sweet story in its overall conclusion. Faced with a short respite in his long struggle with dark Satanic forces, John Constantine visits his home town and his favourite pub, where the landlady is still the woman who served him in hi youth. She feels bonded to the pub after having been born there, and she feel as if her now dead husband I still looking after her. Being a Hellblazer story it is obvious that things are going to turn ugly, and while Hellblazer starts a relationship with a girl that will carry on over several stories, (going home with her to her house) a greedy property developer ha the pub burnt down so he can grab the land. The landlady is killed in the fire. Constantine races against time to reach the ghosts of the landlord and landlady before their thirst for revenge kill their love-bond by turning them into vengeance-demons. He persuades them to let the police take down the killers. The couple recognize that their love is going to last forever and move on together. The property developer and his henchmen are rather two dimensional but it is a powerful story with surprising heart. Arthur Chappell