Review: Constantine: The Hellblazer Vol. 2- The Art of the Deal

Quick Summary

Pros: Magic is a joy to see throughout the book and is handled in a creative way. The main storyline is compelling and brings in some solid themes. Constantine’s personal struggles are well-written. The artwork looks great in most places.

Cons: The book’s conclusion is a bit underwhelming. The changes in art styles are a bit unpleasant.

Overall: This is another example of a good, modern Constantine story. The volume captures most of its predecessors’ successes and continues to build on them, telling a great story about magic and personal reflection. As long as fans can get over the volume’s lackluster conclusion, there is a lot to enjoy here. Readers looking for a magical journey with a clever main character will likely enjoy this book.

Story

Constantine: The Hellblazer Vol. 2: The Art of the Deal, by Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV, is a solid comic that prevents its predecessor from becoming a one-hit-wonder. This book takes readers on a magical journey through a world that consistently impresses. This journey is centered around a well-executed battle between good and evil and a crisis of conscience. The only downside is that the conclusion to all of this wonder ends up being a bit disappointing. However, I still enjoyed the journey this book takes, even if the destination wasn’t what I hoped it would be.

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The most immediately recognizable positive in The Art of the Deal comes from the volume’s unique approach to magic. Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV take readers on a trip through weird places and different dimensions. In each location, the narration they provide is detailed and helps the world come to life and make sense in its own way. The reader gets the impression that magic, in the DC Universe, is an amazing and incredibly diverse concept that is only just beginning to be explored. In a book that deals heavily with magic, writing like this is crucial and the creative team here manages to pull it off.

Alongside this, The Art of the Deal just tells a good story. Constantine’s fight for the soul of New York City makes for a compelling centerpiece. It allows him to face off against powerful and strange enemies and allows the story to lightly tackle a few social/political issues. The result is a successful narrative that most readers should be able to appreciate.

In addition, Constantine’s struggle between heroism and self-interest continues. He wants to start up a healthy relationship but knows that the people around him have a nasty habit of getting into trouble. It forces him to push people away which this story shows isn’t even a fully effective measure.

Unfortunately, the appeal of the story falters a bit toward its conclusion. I enjoyed seeing Constantine come out on top and thought the unhappy ending regarding his new boyfriend was well-written. However, the volume’s endgame comes about far too easily. The narration takes a while in describing how difficult of a spell Constantine uses to trick Neron yet doesn’t accurately convey this in the action. Instead, Constantine finishes up the spell and almost everything instantly falls into his lap. It feels like a cheap way to defeat a villain who was set up to be an extremely powerful opponent.

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Art

The artwork in The Art of the Deal comes from a couple of different artists, all of whom provide great work. Riley Rossmo kicks off the first few chapters in The Art of the Deal with a style and quality level that perfectly matches this series. His work here looks great and is a wonderful complement to the strange happenings that are seen in this volume. Next, Travel Foreman takes over for two chapters. Foreman’s work is darker and more disturbing than previous artists but is still able to capture magical wonder on a few key pages. Finally, the collection closes with two chapters from Eryk Donovan that are able to successfully replicate the dominate art style seen throughout this series. This return to basics works as a final wrap-up for the series and looks good in general.

However, like its predecessor, The Art of the Deal suffers from the frequent artistic shifts that take place within it. The transition from the comic’s signature style, to Travel Foreman’s own signature style, then back to a version of the comic’s signature style makes for a segmented reading process. Wonderful colors from Ivan Plascencia, with Kelly Fitzpatrick later on, help maintain some visual consistency but are not enough to prevent the change-ups from being very noticeable.

Continuity

Constantine: The Hellblazer Vol. 2: The Art of the Deal continues the story started in Constantine: The Hellblazer Vol. 1: Going Down (Review).  

This Constantine: The Hellblazer series ends with this volume. However, the story is continued in The Hellblazer Vol. 1: Poison Truth (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Constantine’s work dealing with a hunger spirit is detailed across Hellblazer #1-2, collected in Hellblazer Vol. 1: Original Sins. 
• Constantine’s issue with sending a girl’s soul to hell is detailed in Hellblazer #11, collected in Hellblazer Vol. 2: The Devil You Know. 
• Constantine mentions someone has been working as Doctor Fate recently. This person’s action began in Doctor Fate Vol. 1: The Blood Price.