The expression “personal hell” is not an artistic license in the DC Universe. Punk warlock John Constantine experienced many torments as he blazed his own path through the Abyss. However, while the infamous Laughing Magician is haunted by the ghosts of the friends he’s gotten killed, his personal slice of hell is something shockingly different.
John Constantine plays a major role in the events of Batman/Dylan Dog #2, by Roberto Recchioni and Werther Dell’Edera. The previous issue found the two detectives joining forces after uncovering an alliance of their archenemies, Joker and Doctor Xabaras. The latest chapter reveals that the two villains are plotting to use their science to resurrect Christopher Killex.
A serial killer and scientist, Killex was another of Dylan Dog’s greatest enemies and possibly as mad as Joker. The possibility of a resurrected Killex leaves Batman and Dylan Dog in need of a way into hell, to make sure Killex’s damned soul hasn’t escaped. Enter John Constantine, who reluctantly agrees to play Virgil to Dog’s Dante.
Entry into hell requires a personal connection. Luckily, John Constantine conveniently established a backdoor into his personal hell through his refrigerator. However, after falling some distance, Dylan Dog is surprised to find himself surrounded, not by fire and brimstone, but by tourists.
John Constantine’s hell is a sanitized tourist trap
A London native, Dylan Dog immediately recognizes the area around him as a modern-day Piccadilly Circus. John Constantine explains that everyone has a personal hell, which takes the form of everything that person loathes. For the Laughing Magician, that means seeing the neighborhood where he spent so much of his youth as a 1980s punk as the gentrified tourist trap it became in the 21st century.
Dylan Dog is quick to point out the irony of what John Constantine’s personal hell means. The aging punk has become every bit as judgemental of modern youth as his Boomer father was of him and his generation. Dog also refutes Constantine’s claim that there are no rebels or idealists anymore, saying Constantine doesn’t see them because he’s only looking to the past. “You were once young and cynical,” Dog proclaims. “Now you’re old and cynical!”
Batman / Dylan Dog #2 is now available on-line and at comic shops everywhere.
