Hellblazer #266 - Vertigo

I was a little lost on the purpose of this whole story . . I think it's a British thing, but it appears to me that it's a fight for power between the Conservative Party and the Tories. John uses his usual magiks and mysticism to win the day here . . the slight shift of hand and misdirection. But . . what I took out of the story was that he was trying to be something that he wasn't anymore. At one time he was like kin to Faeces McCartney and the whole punk revolution. They fought for the same thing, and were moved into action by the words and deeds of Margaret Thatcher. And their idol was Sid Vicious. So when Faeces comes to him saying that his effigy of Sid has been possessed by what he believes to be Sid's soul . . of course John has to go and help. He dresses and poses like one of the Punks, because the only lead they have is that the Conservatives are recruiting them out of a local pub. When he provokes a fight between him and Epiphany's new boyfriend, the person watching is intrigued by his handling of the situation. When he's taken to meet the Party, he realizes that this whole thing revolves around some old souls taking up residence in reanimated corpses . . in an attempt to try to gain some power. He introduces them to Faeces effigy, hoping that when the soul realizes he's not who he thinks he is . . he'll get mad and destroy all the other wayward souls. Which he does. But John tells Faeces that this is only the tip of the iceberg. There's a whole bunch more of these characters out there. And right now . . John's to tired to deal with them all. I think jumping back into this lifestyle, John got a taste of what he felt when he was young and lived it the first time, but . . he also realized that he's not young anymore. And he's already played that game once . . when it was relevant to him. But now . . now it's time for someone else to take up the charge and find their own reasons for retaliating against an oppressive regime. He's got other battles that he feels are important, and that's where he needs to focus his attention. I think he's finally decided to cut the strings between he and Epiphany also. It's flattering to have someone young, and attractive around who idolizes you. But . . since he can never do anything about it, and the temptation is driving him crazy . . it's best just to pull the plug and put 'er down. He's just going to hold Epiphany back from whatever she can be. And he's going to wear himself out trying to keep up with her. It's a no-win situation. Besides . . I think Epiphany just reminds him of what he already lost . . Phoebe. Anyways, I don't know if that's what Peter Milligan's story was actually about, but . . that's what I took out of it. So, to me . . something that prompts that much thought in this little cranium, can't be all bad. I'm just joking. I really enjoyed the story. Peter is brilliant. And of course it was even better because Simon Bisley did all of the art. I've been fan of this book for a long time. And this is a good example why.