Review: Constantine Vol. 3- The Voice in the Fire

Quick Summary

Pros: Some of the magic is fun to see. Some of the artwork looks good. The Futures End chapter is enjoyable.

Cons: The narrative here jumps all over the place, often without justification. The comic’s central conflict is poorly executed. The conclusion to this conflict is disappointing and doesn’t even fully conclude most of the open plot threads.

Overall: This is another disappointing entry in a series that has been troubled since it began. There are moments within this collection that exhibit fun displays of magic and one of the chapters is pretty entertaining. However, the book’s chaotic approach to a larger narrative and the book’s failure of a conclusion drive the quality level down significantly. Readers who just enjoy watching Constantine may enjoy pieces of this collection but those looking for a satisfying narrative will leave disappointed.

Story

For a brief moment, Constantine Vol. 3: The Voice in the Fire, by Ray Fawkes, appears as if it is going to rectify some of the wrongs in this series and set the comic on a better path in the future. These hopes are short-lived.

Instead, this volume offers up a distracted narrative that jumps from one focal point to the next with no clear sense of direction. Along the way, there are loose ties to the comic’s central conflict but nothing significant enough to hold interest. Finally, just as it appears as if the comic will regain its focus, it offers up a terribly unsatisfactory conclusion to the current story arc and throws Constantine into the next one. This volume had the potential to make some positive changes but ends up just being a disappointment.

(spoilers start here)

The previous volume massively disrupted the flow of the Constantine series by diverting the focus away from the battle against the Cult of the Cold Flame and diverting it toward the Forever Evil: Blight (Review) (Reading Order) event. The Voice in the Fire starts by bringing back the Cult of the Cold Flame narrative almost as if no disruption occurred, a decision I actually appreciated. This is kicked off with Constantine pretending to work for the Cult while secretly undermining them. 

However, the problem is that this comic does not hold on to this focus. The book’s second chapter has Constantine ignore the battle against the Cult in order to confront demons from his own past. This becomes the focus until Constantine goes back to actively working against the Cult, though he inexplicably decides to stop working in secret as he does so. Then, he is teleported to the past for a single chapter, a trip that felt almost entirely pointless. There are moments where these individual adventures have neat expressions of magic and are fun on their own but the way they are presented back to back makes for a poor narrative.

The final chapter in this main narrative is the most disappointing of all. Though the majority of this series has been vaguely focused on a fight against the Cult and Constantine’s attempt to defeat them, this entire plotline is wrapped up with neither side doing anything of consequence to the other. The two main members of the Cult are able to defeat Constantine’s plot against them and retain their positions of power. Meanwhile, Constantine is left mostly unmolested and is shuffled off to the world of Earth 2. This conclusion is so inconclusive and disappointing that it makes me regret ever starting to read this series in the first place.

Luckily, The Voice in the Fire manages to conclude with an entertaining Futures End (Review) (Reading Order) tie-in. The chapter showcase’s Constantine’s ability to deceive his enemies and play exactly the right cards at exactly the right time. It also shows his ability to act like a hero when required, even if it is in the name of self-preservation.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Aspects of the artwork in The Voice in the Fire are positive and help distract from the sorry state of the story. ACO’s delightfully chaotic paneling allows the magic to look unique and gives is a deeper aura of mystery. Meanwhile, Edgar Salazar’s realistic approach to people and places simply looks good.

The problem is that jumping between these two very distinct styles doesn’t exactly lend itself to a consistent reading experience. The switches in the artwork make the volume’s biggest problem, chaos in the narrative, more noticeable. In the end, the artwork in this volume has its positives but isn’t that great overall.

Continuity

Constantine Vol. 3: The Voice in the Fire continues the story from Constantine Vol. 2: Blight (Review) and, to a lesser extent, Forever Evil: Blight (Review) (Reading Order). 

The story started here is continued in Constantine Vol. 4: The Apocalypse Road (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Constantine #17 contains a brief glimpse at the world of Earth 2. The story of Earth 2 began in Earth 2 Vol. 1: The Gathering (Review). For more info, see our “Earth 2 (New 52 Version) Reading Order“. 
• The last chapter, in this volume, is a tie-in to the Futures End (Review) (Reading Order) event.