All His Engines

All His Engines
Cover ofAll His Engines(January 2005)
Date	January2005
Series	Hellblazer
Page count	128 pages
Publisher	Vertigo
Creative team
Writers	Mike Carey
Artists	Leonardo Manco
ISBN	1-40120-317-5

John Constantine, Hellblazer: All His Enginesis an originalgraphic novelfeaturing theDC ComicscharacterJohn Constantine,written byMike Carey,with art byLeonardo Manco.The graphic novel is a spin-off of the long-running seriesHellblazer,published by the DC Comics imprintVertigo.It was first published in January 2005.The graphic novel follows John Constantine's investigation into a worldwide phenomenon that is placing innocent people into comas.All His Engineswas loosely adapted into the animated series (later compiled as a direct-to-DVD film) titledConstantine: City of Demons,an installment of theDC Animated Movie Universe.

Publication history

All His Engineswas only published in graphic novel format (ISBN1-4012-0317-5).

Plot

In 2004, mysterious plague begins putting its victims into unexplained comas, includingChas Chandler's granddaughter Tricia. Chas' best friendJohn Constantinetakes up the case inLondon,using his acquaintance Fennel to communicate with Tricia's soul, but the ceremony is hijacked by a third party who kills Fennel and instructs Constantine to travel to an address inLos Angeles.Constantine and Chas find the address and discover that a demon named Beroul is responsible for the coma. He blackmails Constantine into working for him in return for Tricia's soul. He commands Constantine to hunt down a list of demons who are interfering with his work. Constantine summons the Aztec godMictlantecuhtlifor a favor. Constantine summons Beroul's enemies in a church and Mictlantecuhtli, immune to the effects of Christian holy paraphernalia, effortlessly slaughters them. Beroul doesn't keep his end of the bargain and makes a business pact with Mictlantecuhtli. John then makes another deal with Mictlantecuhtli, who has the ability to knit souls and bodies back together. In a final confrontation with Beroul, Mictlantecuhtli does so and restored Tricia, possessing her body. Constantine then feigns a gamble with Tricia's life, and Mictlantecuhtli leaves her. Chas and Tricia leave for England while Constantine decides to stay in Los Angeles for a while.

Reception

Stephen HollandofComics Bulletinwrote in his review of the graphic novel that "Carey is on the toppest form I've known of him" and felt that the style evoked earlier periods of the long-running series as the "script felt likeEnnis,the art like a moodier, more solidJohn Ridgway."

In other media

• The tenth episode of the NBC television seriesConstantine,"Quid Pro Quo", is a loose adaptation ofAll His Engineswith the demon Beroul replaced withDC UniversesupervillainFelix Faustand Chas's daughter being the victim of the curse instead of his granddaughter. The episode also takes the creative liberty of providing an origin for supernatural healing powers for Chas.
• TheCW Seed/DC Animated Movie UniverseseriesConstantine: City of Demonsis loosely based on the graphic novel.While initially following the plot of the comic, the plot diverges into material not covered in the comic and features some unique elements such as Beroul being a disguise for the demon Nergal, and a variation of the Newcastle incident from Constantine's origin.

References

• All His Enginesat theGrand Comics Database
• All His Enginesat the Comic Book DB (archived fromthe original)