Product Description

Mixing the very best talents in crime writing with red-hot artists, the "Vertigo Crime" series represents a new era in four-colour capers - for adults only! Occult detective John Constantine has seen his share of the strange, but nothing could prepare him for reality TV! When the macabre location of hit show "Haunted Mansion" starts attacking the contestants, Constantine is hired to investigate. Locked in with a cast of celebrity wannabes and monitored by a deadly figure from his past, John must figure out who (or what) is pulling the strings before he gets cancelled - permanently! International best-selling crime writer Ian Rankin (Rebus) and artist Werther Dell'Edera (Loveless) present a chilling, locked-room mystery starring John Constantine!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9139 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-02
• Binding: Hardcover
• 216 pages

Review
'This is a graphic novel as it should be, a thrilling, beautifully paved page turner.' --- The Sunday Times Culture

'Well executed, full of action' --- The Guardian

'An inventive mystery, packed with unexpected twists and sly humour, and ably complemented by Werther Dell Edra s spare and effective artwork.' --- The Spectator

About the Author
Ian Rankin is the CWA Gold Dagger and Edgar Award-winning writer of the Inspector Rebus mysteries, as well as a critic, non-fiction author and former punk musician. His Rebus novels have both topped the Sunday Times bestseller list and been televised on BBC1. Dark Entries is his first comics work. Werther Dell'Edera has illustrated Loveless, Punisher War Journal and X-Force.

Customer Reviews

Enter freely...
Award-winning - and officially honourable - crime writer Ian Rankin makes a remarkable debut as a graphic novelist in this superbly unsettling horror story starring the best anti-hero in the business. John Constantine, seedy modern magician and consummate bad seed tends to bring out the best in his writers, and although the plot here is nothing new the treatment of the large cast of characters is a deft juggling act nicely handled, while the narrative set-pieces are gripping and stuffed with good old fashioned creepy tension.

Constantine has acquired a certain reputation in the right circles over the course of his life, so he's not too suspicious when a sleazy TV producer offers him wads of cash to advise on the latest reality show Dark Entries wherein six contestants are isolated in a rigged haunted house, competing for big prizes and fully expecting to be scared out of their wits.

Unfortunately what's terrifying these housemates is nothing the producers and technicians devised but appears to be the real thing.

Quickly inserted into the show as a new contestant Constantine finds himself mired in a diabolical mystery involving the seemingly innocent competitors, and too late realises that he's fallen for the oldest trap in the world. Stitched up like a kipper, his only chance is to free his companions before he can escape the house and the horrors that built it.

Sharp, gritty and deeply compelling this is a powerful recapitulation of classic horror and murder yarns complete with sting-in-the tail that will leave the reader breathless and hungry for more.

Viscerally illustrated by Italian artist Werther Dell'edera this black and white hardback is similar in format to the old Paradox Press DC imprint to which gave us A History of Violence and Road to Perdition among other gritty adult thrills. Dark Entries is easily in the same class and would make any reader a very happy - if nervous - fan.

If I hadn't known this was a first effort at the genre I would never have guessed.
As a fan of Ian Rankin and a fan of graphic novels, this book is something of a dream come true for me and I have been looking forward to it for quite some time.
I was not dissapointed.
Suitably dark and sinister with a hint of twisted humour, this is an excellent first graphic novel and hopefully not his last (though it may well be as Mr. Rankin found it quite a task to write).
It's very well written, with plenty of clear, concise dialogue so you're never left behind (though I would have liked a bit more inner monologue). And it's very well illustrated in an appropriately gritty grey-scale. What more could you want from a comic book?
(And as I was lucky enough to get a few words with the man himself while I had my copy signed I can also add a bit of useless trivia regarding the title; Dark Entries is the 2nd single by a band called Bauhaus, and Ian Rankin has been wanting to use the title for a while but his publishers wouldn't allow it for a Rebus novel.)
You never know, maybe one day we'll see John Rebus in an equally well written/well illustrated novel of his own.

Author shows promise
As a writer of graphic novels, that is. He also happens to be one of my favourite crime novelists. This dip into the murky world of DC/Vertigo Comics long-running character John Constantine, a favourite comic character of mine, is a highly competent if not outstanding piece of work. There's nothing wrong with it, though readers familiar with the character will guess the twist which comes around the halfway mark -it it hadn't already been given away by other reviewers, that is. Rankin has a good feel for the character of our bad-boy hero JC and his milieu and overall it's a decent contribution to Constantine's chronicles.

But -and you knew there was a 'but' coming- I absolutely hate the crude sketchy art by Werther Dell'edera. A matter of taste, sure; I've no doubt that lots of people will like the style, just not me. I also miss the colour of the regular comic.

So: 4 stars for the writing, 1 for the art.