Constantine, _Joyride_ by Andy Diggle, and other hard-boiled wizards

So, I've started to take an interest in the John Constantine: Hellblazer series. But I still haven't read all that much of it. This book is by Andy Diggle, whom I've also started to take an interest in.

It was good. However, I see on the cover that there's a quote from Brian K. Vaughan, one of my favorite comics writers, saying it's a "Must-read." Well, it didn't feel that way to me. On reflection, though, I suppose that violent adulation of this comic would stem from the fact that it's supposed to rebuild the character of John Constantine and take him back to his roots.

Well, I didn't read the roots, so that stuff doesn't have much impact on me. Maybe I should take a look at this book later.

I have to say though the more I read about Mr. Constantine, the more I am interested in the character. He feels like a hard-boiled mage, similar to that Chicago wizard, what's his name.. oh, yes, Dresden. The Dresden Files guy. I should like the Dresden Files maybe more than I do. I read three and a half of those books, they were pretty good, but they didn't grab me as much as some other things I was reading at the time. So I'll probably take another look at Dresden sometime.

I do think the hard-boiled mage template has legs, though. I really like Glen Cook's version of it, Cold Copper Tears and so forth, with the mage private investigator Garrett. Looking these up now, I see that the series, with its three-word titles, has episodes called Angry Lead Skies and Cruel Zinc Melodies. I wonder if Mr. Cook is regretting the title pattern now. It's got to be difficult to keep coming up with new ones. I know that one consequence of that title pattern is that the title and the book aren't tightly linked, so I have trouble remembering which plot goes with which title.