From: mkelly@chaucer.helios.nd.edu (michael kelly)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: DC: Critical Analysis of HELLBLAZER
Date: 11 Nov 92 16:09:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Nov11.160916.9175
Reply-To: mkelly@chaucer.helios.nd.edu (michael kelly)
Organization: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame


Am I the only person who cuts out the ridiculus "In article blah blah blah"
stuff?

Anwho, first a response to what I feel is a bad description of Garth Ennis'
writing (so far) on Hellblazer, followed by a general analysis of trends in
Jamie Delano's work on the title. 

I'm generally against such long posts, in fact I have a hard time following
the huge posts about LSH, etc. But I've loved this title, so I'm going ahead.
^Ls are included to help with the separation.


 jordan@castor (USENET's Chuck) writes:

|> When you say "heavy-handed and less witty" I hope you're comparing the recent
|> Ennis issues with the earlier ones, and not Ennis' run with Jamie Delano's!
|> That's PRECISELY the reason I prefer Ennis' stories to Delano's -- he's making
|> John a little bit more down-to-earth and not always so overdramatic and filled
|> with angst and psychological turmoil.  

Huh? A little more down to earth? Let's see, what has JC done since Ennis took
over...he's tricked three major infernal powers, had a conversation with
an angel, took in an angel and a succubus which had conceived *something*, met
the seven archangels, had a discussion with the "Lord of the Vampires" and
solved the mystery of the Ripper (who turned out to be another demon). Hardly
down-to-earth type stories.

The *really* down-to-earth stories, the haunted pub, the spirit of christmas,
and the spooked laudromat (not written by Ennis) had supernatural elements
but were by far (IMHO) better because they focused on humanity. The same goes
for the more human aspects of "Dangerous Habits". The weapons testing center
was pretty down to Earth, but I felt that was a crummy story, with mediocre
art.

As far as "angst", people shouldn't confuse JCs angst with typical Xmen angst.
Angst is not a bad means of developing character, especially if it helps the
characters make decisions about their lives. (as happened to Delano's JC in 
#40)

And now for the analysis:



|>Delano would have whole issues that
|> basically had John doing nothing but wandering around, tripping out and feeling
|> sorry for himself. 

Maybe its just the life I lead, but I can identify with this.

Try to keep in mind that part of Delano's exploration of the character was that
JC had been set up (and set himself up) as something larger than life, a hero,
a magus. JC had to come to terms with not just other people's image of him,
but his own self-image. All of these feelings developed as John started drifting
from one type of battle to another.

Here's how I see JCs "battles" in rough chronological order:

Cosmic scale: Light vs. Dark, in American Gothic, written by Alan Moore.

Planetary: The Sprout (in Veitch's Swamp Thing)

Demonic/Infernal: (Hellblazer 1-12) 

Up to this point, John has been sacrificing whoever and whatever he needed to
to "win".

Now we get into people (not demons or angels) using old, terrestrial "power
sources" in the Fear Machine. This is the first time JC "trips out" on stage.
Here John decides not to sacrifice his friends, and in fact the Fear Machine
story is resolved by someone else, who directly shows JC that problems can
be solved without tremendous sacrifice, but by love/cooperation/understanding.

Next we have the Family Man, with JC versus a man, a serial killer, but one who
isn't demon possessed. This horrifies John almost more than anything else.

Next, Delano writes JC as drifting from societal problems (killers, homeless,
environment) down to family problems, his own (his conflict with his father)
and other families (Marj and Merc, the butcher and his family).

Finally Delano ends his run with John's conflict with himself, issues 39 and 40.
I leave it up to you (as Delano did) to decide if JC won or lost, or if even
those terms can be applied to this last "battle".


Of course there are a few other gems in here, like JC vs. the great characters
from literature (including the Pooh!) and the fill-ins by Gaiman, Morrison, and
whassis face who just filled in on Swamp Thing)

|> Ennis has (for the most part) kept the action going,
|> while at the same time giving us a little bit of John's thoughts.

I suppose so. To me it seems like John is just becoming a total bastard again,
and we are supposed to see he is a "real guy" because he sleeps with a dead
friend's wife.

|> 	Like I said, the quality of the issues has been inconsistent, and some
|> of the stories, especially the Royal Blood storyline, have been painfully
|> heavy-handed (although there were a few interesting scenes in it.)  But I
|> still don't think Ennis has gotten as annoying as some of Delano's issues --
|> I'm referring in particular to the issue towards the end of Delano's run with
|> the kid whose father was a butcher; the story was filled with stereotypes,
|> one-dimensional characters, unbelievable scenes, and goofy dialogue.

[more deleted]

There is no accounting for taste. I hope that my "critical analysis" can 
shed some light on why I enjoy Delano's run. In fact, I enjoy it more now
because I can judge it as a whole than when it was coming out in monthly
installments.

-- 
+               Mike Kelly, Notre Dame Department of Physics                +
+                                                                           +
+ mkelly@happy.helios.nd.edu          "The more you drive,                  + 
+ mkelly@undhe5.hep.nd.edu                 the less intelligent you are."   +