Prison is a dirty place.
You know the whole “Abandon All Hope…” warning Dante immortally etched over the gates of Hell? I’m sure a lot
of prisoners in the American penal system would agree that sentiment parallels
their condition. After all, prison is the ultimate bogey-man – in both society
and its invasion in popular culture, which contains a king’s ransom worth of
prison dramas and prison breaks. So it only makes sense that the pop/counter
culture king of dirty, hopeless places arrives to deal with said bogey-man and
stakes a claim as his own.
Hellblazer:Hard Time has John
Constantine stripped of his trademark overcoat and thrown into an American
prison – for reasons not explained until deep in the ultimate chapter, and even
then the reasoning is more set-up than answer – courtesy of American crime
writer Brian Azzarello. And Azzarello doesn’t pull any punches showing prison
life as a hard, dirty, hopeless place. Even smart-talking Constantine begins to
have his grasp slip as he falls into nicotine depravity.
Richard Corben’s art is
something of an acquired taste. Whereas his cartoony technique works perfectly
for the likes of Hellboy, his
approach is definitely a deviation from the established styles of artists from
previous runs, such as Will Simpson, Sean Phillips, and Steve Dillon. Corben,
however, is a master of showing, heat, dirt, sweat and oppression.
Hard
Time sets up
Azzarello’s successful and defining run on England’s bad luck, con artist magician
that will place him firmly on American soil for a while. At times, Azzarello
can be explicit and gratuitous, a style that will grow weary as his run
continues, but brother, such an edge fits exceeding well for this story.
As Always,
theJOE
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