John Constantine, Hellblazer Vol. 8: Rake at the Gates of Hell

This volume has some great stories.The final one is just filler without much consequence or interesting bits, but other than that, there’s little to complain.One last thing though, the Constantine on this volume is a little bit more prone to melancholy but there are some witty moments too.All in all, this is a good entry with solid, consistent artwork.

When you read Hellblazer you kinda expect some good horror stories with a bit of magic mixed in, but that's not the case here. It's a little different seeing the Artist and the writer of Preacher taking a turn at old John, but it makes for an incredibly good story. There's some amazing bits I won't spoil, but you've gotta see this just to see the devil get head butted! The only thing that miffed me was that the last story wasn't Constantine at all. It was some daft family going through their drama and being basically horrible people. I could have done without that, but the rest of the book is really good so that can be forgiven.

Ordinarily, I like reading Hellblazer for the arcs and less for the one-offs. Not so for 'Rake at the Gates of Hell', with the final arcs of Ennis's run being a little lackluster.The main problem with this collection is that it had to many scenes in bars with John just chatting with his old friends. Now we've seen issues like this before, but there just seemed to be to many of them. I also have to say that for all the build-up, the final confrontation with the First of the Fallen was a bit lackluster.I would like to take a minute to sing the praises of Ennis's final story, 'Heartland'. Getting away from the horror roots of this comic, Ennis reflects on life and love in the city of Belfast, and it's just such a great, heartwrenching and warming story than everyone should read.

One of my favorite characters on one of my favorite writers run. Ennis’s Constantine was what made the character for me. This volume finishes the arc that began in the Dangerous Habits volume

Despite Amazon's synopsis, this also contains the Damnation's Flame arc, issues 72-77, so there's more here than they think. The stories within end the run of Hellblazer with Garth Ennis until he returns, briefly, for the Son Of Man arc. John's seemingly last stand with The First Of The Fallen is delivered with all of Ennis's visceral and gritty writing style to end his tenure of Hellblazer with an almighty bang. Great end to Ennis's work on the series, but there's more, and possibly better to come.

wonderful book, excellent quality

My fav so far out of the new releases. Garth Ennis is a true master and it shows in anything he does. His run on Hellblazer turn me onto other works of his which are great! "The Preacher" being the other work.

I started at number one and just finished this.. Really enjoyed the last bit about Kat and her family.. It gives one more of a sense of the world Constantine lives in .. Look forward to the next one

Chegou em perfeito estado! Quase 400 páginas! As primeiras estórias eu não havia lido! Ótima fase do personagem!

John Constantine is such an amazing character to read. The plot is amazing, the art style is unique, and the setting is dynamic. I highly recommend picking this comic book up!

great read

Definitely one of the weakest compilations from the early years of Constantine's long career, this substantial anthology contains the final episodes written by Garth Ennis. He chose to end his story arc by completing the tale he began back with JC's 'death' from lung cancer, to resolve his stand-off with the three incarnations of the devil.That particular tale isn't awful, but it lacks much of the hard-edged cut-n-thrust which this series can do so well. It has a contrived feel about it, and wilfully throws away several intriguing plot possibilities by tying things up in a neat little bow.The other long story in this collection is set in a surreal version of America. Again, it's not a terrible tale but it undermines the previously magnetic character of Papa Midnite. It's also essentially pointless, doing little to enhance the series' mythology....which brings me to the utterly dire, dreadful, dreary, sentimental, slushy and entirely inappropriate interludes with Kit, JC's love interest. Not sure what was going on here - why Ennis wanted to take a sly, cynical, supernatural gumshoe and mire him in the mundane reality of everyday 'good on yer, maun' life in Ireland is entirely baffling. Endless chapters of 'hail fellow well met' and fond reminiscences of great nights down the pub. THis is meant to be entertaining?Yes, the core attraction of Hellblazer is that it's grounded in reality. But this was way too much reality for me.So this isn't an ideal place to start to get to know JC. Better to begin with the very first incarnation by Jamie Delano, or the excellent 'Family Man' arc.This volume really only serves to tie up loose ends. Roll on 'Critical Mass', then next in the series, in which hopefully a new writer brings some vigour back to proceedings.5/10

We sadly come to the end of Ennis' run and that means hell comes home, as John's friends and allies feel the brunt of a vengeful Devil.We see how destructive John's presence is in the life of everyone he meets, but even in the midst of that, we see the light in him through others.Not as strong as the previous volumes but the endgame is engrossing. The artwork as always is great.