Hellblazer #254 - Vertigo

This could be an interesting story. The Scab story has wrapped up and now we're on to Regeneration. It's funny buy Peter Milligan's stories never end up being what you think they're about. The last story-line . . at first we thought the title was literal . . John was covered with a scab, hence the name. Actually, it ended up being about the Scabs that had to fill in on the docks when this guy forced the unions to go on strike . . way back when. This story starts out with John having visions of this Plague Doctor from back in England during 1665. That's when the great plague was making it's way across Europe. We start out assuming that Regeneration has something to do with that. However, by the end of the book we find out that it actually has something to do with the construction site for the 2012 Olympics that'll be coming to England. John's walking across England and comes upon the site by accident. The road's blocked and he see's the construction and stuff going on behind the blockade. There's a plague announcing the site on the wall, but there's also some graffiti. It has a picture of what looks like the Plague Doctor, and it says "Fu#$ the Olympics". The construction worker says to him, "Regeneration, innit." I'm not sure what he meant by that. Anyways, he goes back to his flat and finds Emil there. He's upset because he isn't happy about the Olympics coming to town, and he's been speaking up about it. "The destruction of allotments, the eviction of travellers, the much vaunted regeneration that's little more than a shopping mall in Stratford. All costing millions." After some conversation, Emil decides to take him down to the construction site. He explains to him that the images of the Doctor are basically a symbol of their resistance. On the way he tells him, "It's the poor who suffer, of course, the marginalized. Same thing happened during the great plague. The wealthy fled London . . but armed guards kept the poor inside the city . . the only way they could get out was if they had a Certificate of Health. Probably about as easy to get hold of as tickets to the Olympics will be. There's a plague pit somewhere around here. The Olympic village is being built upon those poor souls' final resting place." So that, as we say, is the meat and potatoes of the story. That's how what John's been having visions of is connected to what's going on in London. Somehow these spirits, from the plague, seem to be rebelling about the desecration of their ground. When John finds the location, there appears to be a tremor and the ground opens up. Out of it comes the Plague Doctor covered in blood . ."You. You are the one . . I've been waiting for." In typical Constantine fashion, John replies "Well . . . I suppose this beats staying in and watching television." I think this looks to be an interesting story. But it's only a 2 parter, so . . it'll be wrapped up next issue. We still have some residuals left over from the last story-line though. John still has a bit of a scab, and . . he still has to deal with Phoebe. And the question . . does he want to be alone, or not? This issue is drawn by Goran Sudzuka. It's in a completely different style that what we're used to with this book, but . . I think it looks nice. Sometimes it's good to be different. This issue seems to be the beginning of an interesting story-line. I'll be interested to see how it all plays out.