TRINITY OF SIN: THE PHANTOM STRANGER #17: Part 15 of FOREVER EVIL THE BLIGHT. In a continuation from the confrontation at the end of last issue between The Spectre, The Phantom Stranger, and Cassandra Craft, Chris and the embodiment of God gives them the gift of seeing how their past and future are connected. Pandora arrives and the three of them are transported to Las Vegas to meet with Trigon’s sons. Arriving within the presence of Belial, Suge and Ruskoff, The Stranger asks for their help in defeating Felix Faust. They demand payment in the form of either Cassandra or Stranger’s necklace. When he refuses and they prepare to leave, Suge and Ruskoff attempt to stop them and are beheaded by Pandora. After a lengthy battle, The Stranger agrees to let Belial have the necklace, which he only wears for the briefest of moments and then removes it, saying he has never known a “hell like the one (he) live(s) every second of every minute of every day”. With that, the six head over to TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA #9: where their part of the story continues.
This book continues to be a total hit or miss title, as it pretty much has since it’s positively horrible first issue. J. M. DeMatteis does a wonderful job of filling the Phantom Stranger character with a ton of angst and we get to see a lot of the pain he feels. But, at the same time, a big part of me doesn’t care. Okay: we know he is Judas and he betrayed Jesus and he must endure that pain forever. How about we get on to the point where he must do good deeds to rid himself of the 30 pieces of silver (or however many are left-I have lost count!). And what is with the “gift” Chris gives to The Stranger and Cassandra? How ARE they bonded together in the last and future? What IRKS me most of all is having one of the three brothers represented on the cover pulling the wings off of Zauriel. HELLO! NOT IN THIS ISSUE! In fact, not only does the SCENE not appear in this issue, he doesn’t appear in this issue either. Granted, it is a great Guillem March cover but again, DC Editorial presents us with a misleading first image. Speaking of images, we get the usual nice work from Fernando Blanco. Honestly guys-let’s get away from this rambling story and get back to business as usual.
CONSTANTINE #12: Part 16 of FOREVER EVIL THE BLIGHT. Nick Necro finds himself being chastised by Felix Faust for spending too much time dealing with John Constantine. Faust reminds him that he was responsible for getting Necro out of hell at the cost of his youth. Flashing back six years ago, we see Nick instructing his students John and Zatanna in the ways of magic and explaining that all magic has a cost. But they created a magical bond with their kisses that would tie them together for all time. In the present day, Constantine has managed to get out of the Thaumaton wheel by using Zatara's escape spell. But Necro has managed to place a spell on the rest of Justice League Dark that allows him to control them like puppets. He also tells Constantine that the only way Zatanna will survive is if one of the two of them dies. The pair battle and it causes John to end up in the middle of a magic circle where a demon from Hell grabs him. Before he can be dragged below, he conjures up a magical blade and buries it into Necro’s chest. As Constantine falls into Hell, he hears the Swamp Thing going mad and realizes there is nothing he can do to stop it.
Ray Fawkes and Beni Lobel bring us this next chapter in this eighteen-part saga and it’s a doozy! Besides having varying degrees of epic magic battles, we have a threesome in the weirdest of ways! Seriously, this is a nice issue that ties up a bunch of loose ends and creates a nice lead into Chapter 17 in TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA #9. My only question is where does our cigarette smoking, trench coat wearing sorcerer go from here when this is all done. Me thinks it will not be a good place…
TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA #9: Part 17 of FOREVER EVIL THE BLIGHT. Pandora and company have made their way to Nanda Parbat when she senses that Necro is dying and John is in equally bad danger as he finds himself falling toward Hell. But Zauriel saves the day by killing the demon who was eagerly waiting for the man in the trench coat. Meanwhile, Felix Faust is finding his plans going completely astray and, despite Pandora offering him a chance to surrender, he unleashes his most powerful spell yet and cuts through Swamp Thing. While Pandora and Faust battle, The Phantom Stranger works at rescuing the rest of the magical beings strapped into the Thaumaton wheel. Faust claims their efforts are fruitless as a threat greater than the Crime Syndicate has arrived and without this weapon, no one can stop it. He also reveals that Pandora is not human or from this universe and that he plans on rebuilding the machine wiping out the planet and starting anew. Unfortunately for him, John Constantine has other plans.
Ray Fawkes and Francis Portela bring us the penultimate chapter in THE BLIGHT saga. So Constantine gets his tail saved by an angel and then decides he can make the world a better place. Why does that whole concept concern me? This IS JOHN CONSTANTINE we are talking about, right? This guy has pulled more shady deals with more shady people than most politicians. And the magical heroes of the New 52 are going to let him do that? Why do I think that this is a bad idea all the way around. Anyway, a nicely written issue that brings up the question of who is Pandora really? And will this book stick around long enough for readers to find out.
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #29: Part 18 of FOREVER EVIL THE BLIGHT. It seems that the John Constantine who has decided to save the world isn’t really the true John Constantine at all, as we learn that he has just been released from the Thaumaton Wheel. Zatanna uses her power to blast her way through the magical barrier that protects him. The imposter reminds her that while they were in The Between, he had told her that he would be willing to sacrifice the world to save her. Now he will do the opposite as he can channel all of Faust’s power into the people on the wheel, saving them and killing him in the process. And he does, dying in the process but leaving the “real” John Constantine alive. Pandora explains that both men are the real John Constantine and that the one who sacrificed himself is just one of the many “materialized pyschisms” from within his unconscious. With Faust defeated, the Sons of Trigon decide they can make points with their father by destroying these mystic warriors. But Zatanna leads the Justice League Dark against them and sees Constantine for the person he truly is as opposed to the person she wanted him to be. Suddenly the spirits of Nanda Parbat arrive and prepare to move the compound into another dimension. Zatanna teleports everyone to safety she feels a presence and The Stranger warns that this spell will have repercussions on all. Back at the House of Mystery, Constantine discovers that the House has rejected him and that Zatanna has been chosen as the new owner. As he leaves, he declares that he no longer needs the House, the League or her anymore.
So, we come to the end of this 18 issue, epic crossover and what have we learned. First: I don’t understand how this whole thing was called THE BLIGHT when that storyline pretty much ended when Chris died, was resurrected and is now at the right hand of the Dog. Anyway, we have learned that the evil that followed the Crime Syndicate here (or as I like to think of him, the reverse Captain Marvel/Shazam/whatever we call him this year) cannot be stopped my normal means. In fact, it may not be able to be stopped at all because the Thaumaton Wheel has been destroyed. He found out that that John Constantine is a jerk (yeah-we knew that anyway). We learned that Pandora is NOT from this Earth of this universe (she must be from one of Grant Morrison’s upcoming Earth’s). We learned that The Phantom Stranger that bears a burden greater than most of us can ever know. And we learned that the Sons of Trigon know how to party, even after they have been beheaded. In other words, J.M. DeMatteis, Vicente Cifuentes, and Tom Derenick thankfully finish this thing off about six issues too late. It was long, filled with angst and really didn’t have a whole lot to do with FOREVER EVIL until the last issue. Next time, DC: just keep it simple, short and don’t try to tie it into an “epic” unless it TRULY ties into the “epic”.
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