Vertigo may be shuttered, but the spirit of one of its icons is alive and well in the pages of John Constantine: Hellblazer. Armed with timely humor, engaging characters, and impressive production values, it’s like Constantine never left for the “big leagues.” He’s back to doing what he does best, which is conning his way through shocking tales of British horror.

“Cronenbergian” is an adjective that gets thrown around a lot in comic books. If a book has even a touch of psychosexual undertones or a bit of body horror, we are quick to slap the label on it just to let people known we’ve seen Videodrome once or twice. But unlike those books, Come Into Me #1 truly nails the gets-under-your-skin vibe of the auteur’s filmography and then stylishly pours it onto the pages of a comic, reveling in the dread, obsession, and character building that other books tend to ignore. The best kind of horror holds a mirror up to the world that it inhabits, and Come Into Me #1 holds that mirror uncomfortably close, and never once allows us to look away.

The book is a co-creation of the entire creative team (including letterer Cardinal Rae, who does some particularly clever work with the tails of speech balloons to indicate height differences or speaking around the corner), and it shows - Crowded is a collaborative effort that wouldn't be nearly as engaging and entertaining to read without the contributions of its full roster of creators.