CW Cartoon Review: Constantine: City of Demons

Constantine: City of Demons

When it was announced that Matt Ryan would be starring in an animated CW Seed Constantine cartoon series, everyone was excited,  thinking that we'll finally get a conclusion to the aborted NBC Constantine series. However, after watching the five-episode first season of Constantine: City of Demons and reading up a little, it's clear that it's not actually part of the live-action show continuity, with a fair bit of inconsistencies regarding Constantine's backstory. It's apparently part of the New 52 DCAUOM continuity, spinning off from the Justice League Dark movie? Ah, continuity. 

Regardless, though, removing the huge question as to which continuity this animated series takes place in, the short five-episode season (which barely counts as a single animated episode, for a normal cartoon) is pretty decent. It quickly re-introduces Constantine fighting a bunch of mini-Constantines with some swear-words and bloody splotches just to make sure that, hey, this is R-rated. 

And then Chas shows up with the premise of this show -- his daughter's fallen into a coma and can't get up, and obviously there are mystical forces at work here. Rather oddly, 'episodes' 3-4 of this ends up being a long recap of Constantine's disastrous attempt at saving Astra Logue in Newcastle (which is pretty different from what we know from the TV show, establishing this as its own thing), told by new character the Nightmare Nurse... and while I do like seeing Constantine's origin story, I really kind of wished that it didn't quite take so long.  

The final part of this five-mini-episode ends with the premise of the titular 'City of Demons' with Constantine and Chas walking up to the bloated demon Beroul, who makes a deal with Constantine --help him be the master of Los Angeles in exchange for Tricia's soul. Constantine and Chas cannot harm Beroul without harming Tricia, which leads into Constantine presumably hunting down and battling other demons.

Just like The Ray, CW Seed's earlier animated season, it's a bit weird for both series to end with what's essentially a cliffhanger, especially since the CW Seed seasons and episodes are so few and far between. I realize that the budget for these CW Seed stuff is nowhere as huge as the actual DCAUOM movies or other cartoon series, but they really could've been a lot more economical in making each installment feel like its own story. I dunno. This is well-acted and well-animated, of course, and Matt Ryan's basically the definitive John Constantine to me, but there's just something that's off about this that just feels unfulfilling. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• The storyline of the soul of Chas's daughter (granddaughter in the comics) Tricia being captured by the demon Beroul, in order to blackmail Constantine to kill rival demons in Los Angeles, is taken from the spin-off one shot Hellblazer: All His Engines. The plotline of this storyline was very loosely adapted (with Felix Faust standing in for Beroul) in the NBC Constantine's tenth episode, 'Quid Pro Quo'.
• The origin story of the incident regarding Astra Logue at Newcastle is detailed in Hellblazer issue 11. This animated adaptation is slightly more faithful in some aspects -- like Astra being abused by her father Alex Logue (used as a focal point of demonic rituals here instead of being forced to participate in orgies), but City of Demons also eliminates other members of the Newcastle Crew outside of Constantine and Chas, whereas several of the comics' Newcastle Crew appeared in the NBC TV show.
• Nergal, the demon who attacked the Newcastle Crew and is the focus of a story arc in Hellblazer, is actually named in this adaptation. 
• Nightmare Nurse is an entity featured in the pages of Justice League Dark, a demonic being who has possessed the body of a nurse, an ally of Justice League Dark who possesses the ability to heal any she touches.