Review: The Hellblazer Vol. 3- The Inspiration Game

Quick Summary

Pros: The first half of the book is well-written. It has some great horror vibes, imaginative concepts, and attractive artwork.

Cons: The transition between this volume and the previous one is poor. The book’s second half is lackluster in both writing and artwork.

Overall: This volume is split down the middle when it comes to quality. The first half is a creepy story that is fun to read and is backed up by some attractive artwork. However, the second half contains writing and artwork that is mediocre, at best. Readers intrigued by the first arc might enjoy this volume, as long as they are able to look past the flaws of the second arc.

Story

The story in The Hellblazer Vol. 3: The Inspiration Game, by Tim Seeley and Richard Kadrey, ranges from good to slightly below average, depending on which half of the book you read. The first half tells a story about Constantine’s fight against creepy, mythical beings. The fight instantly stands out as something appealing and is creative, exciting, and fun. The second half tells a story about Constantine’s fight against fanatics in California. Poor pacing and chaotic action prevent this arc from really generating proper levels of excitement and leave it with mediocre appeal. In approaching this book, readers will likely find the first arc worthwhile but may be disappointed in the second arc.

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Readers coming to The Inspiration Game from The Smokeless Fire (Review) will be immediately disappointed to see that The Inspiration Game does not address any of the unresolved plot threads from its predecessor (a problem we discussed in our review of that volume). However, new readers or readers who didn’t care for the past volume will be unaffected by this.

The opening story arc in The Inspiration Game is the titular “Inspiration Game”. Written by Tim Seeley, this is one of the most entertaining, short Constantine arcs in a long time. The story has a unique premise that deals with creepy characters and deadly stakes. The inclusion of Norse mythology and the story’s ability to embrace the weirder side of magic allows it to stand out from other adventures. As a whole, this arc hits some horror vibes that mostly go unaddressed by mainstream comics.

It also helps that Seeley is able to write Constantine well. At one point, it looks as if Seeley is going to rehash a tired plot thread involving Constantine pushing a person away in order to protect her. However, this trope is subverted when he has Constantine admit that he pushed that person away just because they are boring. It feels like an accurate representation of the person Constantine is deep down inside.

Unfortunately, the second half of this volume is not nearly as entertaining. The second story arc, “The Bardo Score” is written by Richard Kadrey and ships Constantine off to San Francisco. There his adventure mostly consists of brief moments of action that build up to a larger showdown in the future. Then, when this showdown actually takes place, it flies by so quickly that it fails to live up to its own hype. Alongside this, themes about zealotry and the pitfalls of nationalism are developed but never quite mature into anything worth talking about. In the end, this arc has some excitement to it but is mostly just an unappealing and poorly paced adventure.

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Art

The opening half of The Inspiration Game has solid artwork that matches the quality of the story. Jesús Merino instantly sets the mood with some creepy visuals. His realistic approach to the main characters and his almost disgusting depiction of the villains adds to the volume’s already appealing approach to horror. The artwork here is a great complement to the story being told and an additional draw to this volume’s first half.

However, like the story, the artwork in the second half of The Inspiration Game features a noticeable downswing in quality. Davide Fabbri’s work shifts the style from realistic to almost cartoonish. It causes the resulting storyline to lose the tone that made the first half appealing and makes the adventure feel wacky rather than serious. The drop in artistic quality further reinforces the intense division between the two halves of this book.

Continuity

The Hellblazer Vol. 3: The Inspiration Game technically follows The Hellblazer Vol. 2: The Smokeless Fire (Review). However, these two volumes have almost nothing in common with one another.

The story here continues in The Hellblazer Vol. 4: The Good Old Days.