Hellblazer #203

This second chapter of Mike Carey's four-part "Reasons to Be Cheerful" finds John Constantine rendered in Tim Bradstreet's characteristically moody, photorealistic cover style — the Hellblazer himself stares upward, cigarette dangling from his lips, his bleached hair and hollow expression radiating weary defiance. A shadowy rat lurks in the background, lending the image an unsettling edge that feels perfectly at home in Vertigo's mature-readers corner of 2005. Leonardo Manco brings his gritty, atmospheric linework to the interiors, making this an issue that wears its dark intentions right on its sleeve.