Hellblazer #222 - Vertigo

John Constantine is the perfect anti-hero. He finally catches up with Cole and Steve Evans at a church that's being used for thier Oransay Order. Steve has discovered a third place you go when you die. A limbo if you will. You don't get to see heaven or hell. You're just stuck there, numb, forever. So this Oransay Order is trying to build an Empathy Engine. Basically it will make everyone feel what everyone else is feeling. Thier idea is that this will create a commonground between people, and they'll be less likely to instigate conflict if they understand what's going through the others head. There's a housing project being built in Glasgow, that when finished, will be in the shape of thier orders symbol. Makes you wonder about the streets in Sandusky that were built in the shape of the Masonic Emblem. There may be something else there! Anyways, Evans has already died and his soul has been promised to the 3rd place, so he needs Constantine to die, a fellow Magus, to keep it's ruler busy until he can finish construction of the project. Well Constantine being the sneeky shit that he is, agrees, go to the third place and finds out the demons real plans, and then realizes, "You didn't see the little red sticker on my soul? This one's already sold mate." and the three lords of hell show up to let the demon know he can't have him. An attempt to keep him would cause a war in hell. So, alakazam, after being buried in the ground for 2 weeks he comes back because nobody can keep him. In that time Steve has finished the project, which is what the demon wanted, and now the overwhelming tide of emotion is so strong that people are committing suicide like lemmings. So now Constantine has to help him stave off judgement day. Whoever said big themes aren't in books anymore, hasn't read this one. This is Denise Mina's first crack at this book, and I think she's doing a bangup job. Also Leonardo Manco's pencils are perfect for this book.