Hellblazer #247 - Vertigo

Andy Diggle is finally taking us back to the threat of Mako. However, in our 2 or 3 month absence from his story, he's literally tearing himself across the underbelly of the magic world. He's been knocking off mages and such all around, but his biggest achievement seems to be the decimation of the Tate club. There's actually 2 threats that come out of this, as far as John is concerned. First of all Mako's power increases every time he kills a fellow mage. Secondly . . actually maybe the top priority for John . . Mako is desperately searching for the Laughing Magician. Some people . . not John . . feel that this is him. So John's had to do what he could to evade Mako until he could get this whole thing sorted out. But this issue he decides to go on the offensive. He's found a minor saint in Italy, San Nicola . . Saint Nicholas . . who's remains are incredibly powerful because of the world-wide belief in Santa Claus. Anyways, he's ground his bones to dust and has decided to snort them . . enabling him to take a 'head-trip' straight into the magical realm. From there he can see Mako, without Mako seeing him, and can track him. However, Mako is in League with Lord Burnham who is trying to make a world for himself beyond the living. In exchange for Mako's help with this, he's offering him the Hell Mirror. I'm not exactly sure what it does, but . . it wouldn't be a good addition to Mako's already incredible power base. John's going to have to deal with this guy sooner or later. Whether or not he's the Laughing Magician . . Mako thinks he is. And he's going to have to do something before he gets to powerful. Leonardo Manco is back in true form with this issue. His artwork looks fantastic and it creates the perfect mood for this book. I thought this book kind of got off track for a little while, but . . I really think that Andy has breathed new life into it. I think a lot of it comes from him taking John back to his roots. He's not a flashy, popular, type of magician like Zatanna or Zatara. He's more of a behind the scenes, subtly coercing or instigating things, type of mage. A 'back-door' magician . . if you will. And, at this point in this series, he's fully entrenched in his element.