Peter Milligan offers up an intelligent, thematically driven and just plain creepy Constantine tale in Scab. When the Liverpool mage finds a bizarre scab eating away at his skin, he must delve back through a dark past he would rather not think about in order to cleanse himself. Meanwhile, his new girlfriend is haunted by a creature who is apparently the aged manifestation of the fetus she terminated.

Milligan’s writing is sharp enough to overcome the artwork, which is discordantly bright and colorful. Also included is a two-parter tying together the 2012 London Olympics and the Black Plague, as well as a short Christmas tale.

Grade: A



Hellblazer: Scab is currently available.