for Carey as a writer. My only experience with his Vertigo work is The Unwritten, but he has fought hard to make his run on X-Men (later re-titled X-Men: Legacy) into a thoughtful and worthwhile read, even as editorial has wrenched it in different directions and borderline ignored it for years. I know he has the chops to turn out a strong story. In this volume, John is back in England, and the series immediately returns to a much more familiar tone and vibe than Azzarello brought to it. In comparison to Azzarello's work, this is downright tame. But, at the same time, it's very good. Carey builds the story deliberately, adding layers and characters as the explanations of what is going on trickle through. He seems to draw from Azzarello's model of storytelling in the right way, ramping up the intensity and action in the later issues, but, at the same time, the story is built on solid foundations.A two-parter, drawn by returning Hellblazer legend Steve Dillon, opens the trade, and directly leads in to the title story. The strength here is in the character work - John, still presumed dead after the prison riots in Brian Azzarello's first story, returns home to check in on his sister Cheryl and her family. Outside of these characters and Chas, this title has never had much of a supporting cast, so I like that Carey grounds this story in them, after the title has drifted for so long. The story here is simple but compelling, with Cheryl spiraling into 
anti-depressants while John's niece Gemma is off in some unspecified trouble. The bulk of this story is fairly conventional. John senses a 'spike of evil' outside of Cheryl's apartment building, and enlists a waitress named Angie to help him investigate. Their interaction naturally builds, and, on, the whole, Carey's handling of the characters is top notch. He delves into the family dynamics more than most writers have, and it's strong stuff. The story leads John to pin a string of disappearances on a kindly old woman in the apartment building. Their big confrontation is quite good, and her dying words lead John to believe that both Gemma and his old friend Scrape are in trouble. No one is going to accuse this story of being groundbreaking, but it's good to see John back in familiar territory, The character work is strong, and the mystery is built up and resolved in an economical fashion.
"The Red Sepulchre" proper gets started and slowly builds into a compelling mystery. Quite typical of Hellblazer, numerous unsavoury types are introduced in somewhat cryptic scenes, 
and then the plot details behind who they are and what they're talking about are eventually revealed. This slow burn approach is part and parcel of the title by this point. It can be a mite frustrating, but I have faith in the writers, and the scenes are usually ominous and effective, as they are here. It's John's character that centers the book through these encounters, as his sure hand, concern for his niece, and sense of humour provide a focus around which we meet spindly old glamour queens, disembodied forces that live in the subway tunnels, and violent mobsters. Carey builds quite a strong framework here, with Gemma being used by a man named Fredricks to lure John in, so that John can help identify the red sepulchre, an ancient weapon connected to John's bloodline. It turns out that Scrape borrowed money from Fredricks to acquire it. He was killed by Fredricks in short order, and now Fredricks has to actually identify the sepulchre, amongst hundreds of boxes of Scrape's belongings, and needs John's help. It's a plot like this which proves Carey gets this title's sense of humour no problem. The story is built around the foibles of a desperate idiot, and that is the perfect setting for John to operate in. Add to this John's continued interaction with Angie and a mystical couple named Clarice and Albert, who also contributed to Scrape's purchase of the weapon and want in on it, and Carey builds a strong tapestry on which to hang this fairly straightforward story.
Carey has the fight for the weapon play out over the two final issues, and it's a wise choice. There are a number of players on the board (including a demon Clarice has summoned, and Map, the aforementioned disembodied consciousness who 
begrudgingly helps John), and the scene cutting that builds up the tension is very well-structured. The action of the story builds to a number of good crescendos, but it always remains rooted in the characters. Gemma, desperate to be recognized as a great magician herself, realizes she isn't, and that Fredricks only used her to lure in John. The story is rooted in her desire to get out of her uncle's shadow, and it's a compelling central conflict. In the ensuing firefights, it’s revealed that the sepulchre is merely a rope used to strangle people, one which John burns in short order. Carey does a great job pacing the build up to the end, and it’s the twist of humour about the much sought-after weapon turning out to be a piece of rope that proves he has the right stuff for this book.
Marcelo Frusin thankfully sticks around as regular artist. It's a boon for the book to have 
artistic consistency coming out of Azzarello's wild run, and it's great to see Frusin finally depict John operating in England. Frusin mastered the grim and dark elements of middle America, and brings those skills to London, angry demons, a séance, and a host of unsavoury characters. His style blends well with those elements. In some ways, it feels like Carey is only dipping his toes in during this first story, but I commend his craft in setting up the players and their relationships, naturally building the story, and expertly structuring the climax. It's not the dog-licking, head-shaving, getting-burnt-to-a-crisp-in-a-sex-club fun of Azzarello's run, but does everything need to be? This story boldly returns John to his more typical setting and tone, by reintroducing strong characterization and building a solid story. That's good comics to me.
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