Hellblazer #224

Denise Mina kicks off "The Red Right Hand" with this moody November 2006 Vertigo issue, featuring a cover by Lee Bermejo that perfectly captures John Constantine — cigarette in hand, trenchcoat collar up — brooding in front of a Glasgow road sign while a sea of indistinct figures fills the blood-red background beneath him. The atmosphere is thick with dread and quiet menace, the kind only Constantine seems to attract wherever he wanders. With Leonardo Manco on interior art, this opening chapter promises the gritty, street-level supernatural tension that has long defined Hellblazer at its best.