Hellblazer #170. p.4

The title Splash to Ashes and Dust in the City of Angels. Part One. Is Ashes and Dust the last great HellBlazer story? I've often thought of it in such a light. I know, I know it is set in LA of all places and I really prefer John in good ole jolly, or not so jolly as it were, London. That said the supporting cast, who are new, are well developed and you really hang in there with them and want them to succeed, well maybe survive, the mortality rate for John's friends being what it is.

There is definitely a lot of sex in this plot, but that is not really what sold me. Brian Azzarello's story telling is really the hook here. Those that are familiar with his work can attest that Brian has a really good feel for film noir and as he demonstrated in "The Counterfit Detective" arc on 100 bullets, he can spin a good detective mystery with the best of them. Even more impressive is the fact that John Constantine is absent from or not the main catalyst for chunks of this story arc, yet this in no way diminishes the impact of this tale, in fact if nothing else when John does flow in and out you feel his presence even moreso than if he were carrying the entire story on his own. I love this Title Splash, love the opening line and scene of a charred corpse chalk line and John Constantine right in the middle of it, if not in the way that everyone envisions him, which is exactly where he usually presents himself.