John Constantine: Hellblazer #161 (June 2001)
Plot summary[]
Jay urges Dwight to shoot John Constantine, the self confessed serial killer known as the Iceman. A sneering Constantine goes head to head with Waylon, denouncing him an amateur killer before the lights suddenly go out, leaving the saloon in darkness. Dwight wonders if maybe Pete cut the power but John suggests that the fault probably just rests with the weather. Dwight orders the Englishman to sit down but none of the other patrons want the killer near them so he sits opposite Lamar. Waylon and Dwight decide to check outside for Pete, leaving Lamar to watch over their hostages. Constantine strikes up a conversation with the bleeding gunman as the other patrons watch horrified from across the saloon.
Constantine delivers a sermon on murder and the release of death to Lamar as we get a flashback to John's arrival at the saloon. Again we see the sweating grinning man in the car but we see more of him now - gripped in his hand is a large heavy icicle. It would appear as if the man intended to kill someone in the saloon with the icicle but that Constantine managed to convince him to kill himself instead. As John's sermon comes to a close, we see that Lemar has died from excessive blood loss. Hope realises that Constantine isn't the Iceman and John again reiterates that the Iceman is just a myth. Alma disagrees, wondering if the man in the car was the real Iceman but Constantine writes him off as a "self-important little wanker". Jay doesn't buy John's speech and seizes the dead Lamar's gun, holding it on the other patrons while ordering Marnie to get the girls out of the saloon.
Waylon and Dwight return to the saloon and a tense standoff ensues between the two gunmen and the armed Jay. Waylon points his gun at Jay's daughters and when the terrified father lowers his gun he shoots him. Keith tackles Waylon but the gunman manages to keep his grip on his pistol and the saloon owner finds himself staring down the barrel of a gun. Before Waylon can squeeze the trigger, another gunshot echoes around the saloon. Dwight is now missing a sizeable portion of his face, courtesy of Hope and the shotgun that was stashed under the bar. Waylon grabs Jay's youngest child as flees out into the blizzard.
Hope and Keith embrace as Marnie tries to follow Waylon outside but Constantine, now armed with the saloon's shotgun, stops her from doing so. John tells her that she should leave it to the legend to save her daughter. Outside, Waylon's attempts at escape are cut short when an icicle is driven through his chest. John opens the saloon door after someone knocks on it and finds Marnie and Jay's daughter sitting safe on the doorstep. In the distance a figure can be seen walking off with Waylon's corpse. With the weather breaking, Constantine wanders off into the snow where he passes Pete, who's busy making a fresh snowman...
Continuity[]
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Discontinuity[]
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Goofs[]
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Notes[]
- Enjoy the soundtrack while you read the story.