HELLBLAZER #179
Red Sepulchre, Part 3 of 4
Writer : Mike Carey
Pencils : Marcelo Frusin
Cover Artist : Tim Bradstreet
Inks : Uncredited
Colors : Lee Loughridge
Letters : Clem Robins
Editor : Will Dennis
Solicitation Text : "Red Sepulchre," Part 3 of 4. The bond that ties Constantine to the red sepulchre
is revealed at last. But John is caught between two evils: a demon imprisoned in dead flesh and the sadistic
mage named Josh Wright. To get both himself and his niece Gemma free, he may have to sink a knife into an
old friend's back.
Annotations
Issue Synopsis : Sitting in a bandstand located on the grounds of Fredericks' manor, John Constantine explains his family's
connection with the Red Sepulchre to the Zimbabwean occultist. The connection in question actually rests
on John's mother's side of the family tree, the Quinns. Back in the 1840s, Aloysius Quinn - a member of
the British army stationed in southern India - was lured into the clutches of the Phansigar ("The Deceivers)
cult.
The leader of this cult, with the aid of one of his followers, tried to kill Quinn with the Sepulchre.
Thinking their efforts to have been successful, the pair tossed Aloysius' prone body into a well piled high
with the corpses of their previous victims. Quinn was found three days later, raving like a mad man and
stinking of gangrene - he lost an arm and a leg but survived to tell his tale to any who'd listen. Aloysius
lived to be an old man but insisted that his soul was bound to the Red Sepulchre - that only his mortal coil
had made it back from India.
Suitably satisfied with John's story, Domine agrees to allow him some time alone with his niece. Rather
than appearing somewhat traumatised by her current incarceration, Gemma is delighted to be mired so deep
in her Uncle John's world. When Constantine confronts her with the cold hard facts of her situation - that
she's nothing more than a glorified hostage of a man who put her family in serious danger - Gemma loses
her temper. She accuses John of being afraid of the competition she can offer him in the "family business"
and claims that Fredericks' is teaching her how to use her talent for magic.
Elsewhere in London, a rampaging demon finds its freedom curtailed when Clarice reveals that it is bound
to the corpse that she used to summon it. As the body rots, so does the demon - unless Clarice deigns to
release the creature, it will eventually be destroyed. Enraged but with little option, the demon agrees
to do her biding.
Back in the storage room of Fredicks' mansion, Constantine reads through a list of the items taken from
Gillis' shop before it was burned to the ground. John tells the two men ordered to help him to divide the
items on the list into two piles - one containing everything that could be a weapon, the other containing everything that
could not. Constantine has a quick rummage through the apparently empty duffel bag of the now dead
sailor who claimed to be in possession of the Sepulchre before tossing it aside.
Domine Fredericks meanwhile, finds his sleep plagued with nightmares of a giant wolf that stalks him as his
naked body burns in the darkness.
Outside, a strange man approaches the front gates of Frederick's mansion. When confronted by two of
Domine's guards, the man claims to have a message for Fredericks and Constantine before revealing his
true form - that of the demon summoned by Clarice - and slaughtering the two guards. The creature
wastes little time in tearing down the gates and marching onwards to the mansion itself.
Inside, the sounding of the mansion's alarm causes the two guards working with Constantine to rush off,
leaving John all on his lonesome. Standing in front of a large mirror, Constantine calls on Map, whose
giant visage dutifully appears in the reflective surface. John suggests the pair work together, using
something along the lines of "Gutta Inferna, or the stolen light dodge" to trick both Fredericks and
Joshua
Wright (into believing what, remains to be seen). Map surmises that the best way to stop Domine would be
to kill Constantine but the pair manage to come to a strained alliance nonetheless.
Clarice's demon tears through the ranks of Fredericks' men as it makes its way deeper into Domine's mansion.
When Joshua arrives on the scene, he orders the two remaining guards (coincidentally enough, the two men who had
been watching over Constantine) to turn their fire on the bloody
corpse that follows in the wake of the creature. Riddled by automatic gunfire, the corpse is soon little more
than a few scraps of rotting flesh - the vessel to which it was bound now destroyed, the demon is wiped
from existence.
Fredericks is less than pleased when Joshua reveals that neither Clarice nor Albert was found amongst the
dead after the attack on the Tate club. Wright further surmises that Clarice must have been responsible for
summoning the demon that attacked the mansion. Joshua threatens Constantine with grievous
consequences for his niece if he doesn't help them to find the in-hiding Clarice. John guesses that she's in
hiding in Albert's place and agrees to lead Joshua and one of the guards to them.
Aware that her demon has been destroyed, Clarice bemoans her failure to the ever attentive Albert. The
pair's conversation is interrupted when Albert's phone rings. Confronted by the angry voice of
Constantine, a tearful Clarice tries to convince the magus that they need to talk but instead finds her
betrayal of Gemma's whereabouts thrown in her face. At John's insistence, Clarice looks out the nearest
window, just in time to see a hand grenade smash through it and explode within the cramped confines of
Albert's living room.
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Aloysius Quinn at the mercy of The Phansigar.
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John explains the facts of life to Gemma...
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...who doesn't seem to be overly receptive to his view of things.
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Hmmmmmmmm...
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Fredericks doesn't sleep easy.
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Clarice's demon goes to work.
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Is that really Clarice in the window ?
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