Given that Andy Diggle’s run was just starting to pick up some momentum, I have to admit to not having been hugely enthused by the prospect of this fill-in two-parter by Jason Aaron. Not least because I’ve always been a bit uncomfortable with Americans taking on John Constantine – no offence, but it’s never seemed like they’d get the character in quite the same way (I hold up the Azzarello run and a certain movie as evidence) – although I suppose this is akin to the idea of British writers taking on the flagship Superman, Batman and X-Men titles, so I should probably keep my trap shut.

Particularly since, as it turns out, Aaron doesn’t need any lessons in “getting” Constantine at all, and the opening part of this story strikes all the right notes, even as John himself doesn’t appear until the last couple of pages. Aaron recognises that, as an “outsider” to the UK, the best way to examine the character is through the eyes of fellow interlopers – and so the story is told from the perspective of a group of Americans making a punk rock documentary series, who’ve travelled to Newcastle to find out more about the disappearance of Mucous Membrane.

And maybe it’s just that I’m a sucker for referencing classic British punk and new wave (X-Ray Spex, the Adverts and the Vibrators all get namechecked alongside the usual suspects) along with delving into Hellblazer mythology, but it’s an entertaining read. Aaron draws some great humour in the first half of the issue from his mildly naïve cast (of particular note is the guy from Ohio putting on a bad British accent – slightly metatextual? – the young, hip presenter calling “Basket Case” the greatest punk song ever, and a laugh-out-loud cameo by Chas), before things take a dark and deeply unsettling turn in the second half, with scenes that are more uncomfortable to read than anything I’ve seen in a comic for a good while.

Perhaps it’s the colouring that does it, but in the last couple of years there’s been a quite consistent “look” to Hellblazer even as the artists have shifted, and Sean Murphy’s art generally sticks with a similar style to that of Leonardo Manco (still in my view the best artist the series has had since Steve Dillon). He handles the grisly part well, and the only point at which he really falls down is in the final-page splash of John himself – there’s character to it, but it just feels a little off, and more than a bit sketchy. Oh, and while it’s fairly uncharacteristic of the series, that’s an excellent cover.

If you could aim a criticism at recent Hellblazer – Diggle’s run included – it’s that it’s relied on fan-pleasing references to the past rather than building a new chapter of the character’s mythology. But to be honest, for a series that’s struggled to really grasp its own identity in recent years, it’s nice to have stories that feel like Hellblazer, even if they’re not hugely original. Aaron at least takes an original storytelling perspective, and he writes well. Constantine’s punk days are generally underexplored – most writers have used them as a character backdrop rather than a story setting – and just as with Peter Hogan’s unpublished Marquee Moon, it’s good to see a writer with a genuine understanding of the cultural context of 1977 London taking it on – not to mention a writer that really clicks with the horror sensibilities of the title’s early years. Not bad for an American.