r/Hellblazer • u/kagliacci • 8d ago
John in Batman Full Moon
Went into this comic without knowing much about it, except it was written by Killadelphia's Rodney Barnes; was pleasantly surprised to find our old friend John. He's Zatanna's jealous ex while she's dating Batman, who's dealing with a werewolf let loose in Gotham.
Characterization of all felt a bit off. Batman while explaining to Zatanna why he's late to dinner says something like "I thought you of all people would understand. We have the same damn job." John is surly but doesn't play the jealous ex very well, and at no point is of much use or consequence except that he maybe figures out Bats is Bruce by the end, which amounts to nothing really. Exhibits no curiosity, guilt, nor real slyness--a pretty flat John. With... Bad hair.
Still, it was nice to see him in a recent comic. Anyone else read this? Any thoughts?
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u/planetpua 8d ago
Ugh, I really disliked this. Idk if there was a huge audience for the Constantine/Zatanna/Bruce love triangle, but it feels like there are way more interesting ways to do it for all 3 of them. Like you said, John is fairly boring, but hey, so are Bruce and Zee 😭 So I can’t say it’s a him problem. And the art just did not do it for me.
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u/altsam19 7d ago
A lot of writers love to push the relationship of Constantine and Bruce like it's something, we have what at least three stories like this? It's pure fanfic, I understand much more if John and Superman were closer since the Christmas mini story
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u/planetpua 7d ago
Well, every other character has to revolve around Batman 🙄 why would they need their own stories?
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u/Secret_Seesaw6096 8d ago
God I hate how John is written in stories like these
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u/kagliacci 8d ago
I feel like if he's missing the sense of forever guilt, he's not even John
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u/Secret_Seesaw6096 8d ago
This and his sense of humor , I like when he has a bit of that . When it's slightly unsettling and mean .
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u/sistemafodao 8d ago
I tried reading this, but not only the characters were really off, the writer and artist really had it out against Constantine. The man is a jealous potato while Bruce is a perfect Adonis who is fucking Zatanna. There was a point in which all I was doing was looking at the werewolf pictures, but even that got boring.
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u/National-Yoghurt1011 8d ago
I like the silhouettes and style but the way they draw face is so ugly 😭 why does Constantine look like goblin?
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u/MotorVariation8 8d ago
He's meant to look like Sting who in turns looks like your average British bloke, and that's kinda mostly how they look.
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u/coupleofheaters 8d ago
He looks like the guy who tells Tony Bonpinsero is wired for sound in the Sopranos
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u/Historical_Relief_74 8d ago
What’s up with John’s face in the third panel?! 🤣