Hellblazer

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Hellblazer is a comic book series published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, which features the misadventures of John Constantine. It is ongoing since the 1980s.

The character John Constantine was originally created by Alan Moore, and first appeared in the horror series Swamp Thing. When he first appears, John Constantine is a trenchcoated sorcerer with a tendency to get on people's nerves, and who also happens to be the spitting image of the musician Sting, specifically as he appeared in the movie Quadrophenia. In fact, he was created specifically because artists Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben, who were fans of The Police, wanted to draw a character who looked like Sting, and were already drawing background characters in his likeness. In one Swamp Thing story this is acknowledged when Constantine is observed to be rowing a boat named The Honorable Gordon Sumner, Sting's real name.

The character was given his own comic book, Hellblazer, in 1988, which was initially written by Jamie Delano and illustrated by John Ridgway, who had previously worked on the UK titles Doctor Who Monthly, Warrior and 2000 AD. The front covers of the early issues usually featured striking semi-collage designs by artist Dave McKean. Others who have worked on the series include writers Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, and Mike Carey and artists Mark Buckingham and Steve Dillon.

Hellblazer is a decidedly dark comic book, its main character often seen doing morally questionable things while tricking his way through a modern world with a lot of magic and supernatural conflict going on behind the scenes. While sometimes clearly heroic, Constantine is more often than not merely fighting for his survival and usually making more enemies in the process. He is also highly manipulative, and has frequently sacrificed the lives and souls of others around him in order to achieve his ends. Many of these individuals haunt him, and he frequently finds himself being followed around by an ever increasing entourage of ghostly figures.

Constantine has been featured in several other comic book titles, such as The Sandman and The Books of Magic.

An Americanized Hellblazer movie, titled Constantine, was released in 2005.

Character History

John Constantine was born in Liverpool on the 10th of May, 1953. His mother, Mary Anne Constantine, died in childbirth, and his father, Thomas, appears to have resented John for this. John appears to have strangled his twin in the womb.

Before he was ten, John and his older sister Cheryl, went to Northampton to be cared for by their Aunt Dolly and Uncle Harry for a time because of Thomas' excessive drinking and spell spent in prison, after which time the family moved back to Liverpool.

In the late 1960s, when he was in his mid-teens, John ran away from home after having been expelled from school and subsequently cursing his father to a slow death via a botched use of magic. John lived on Portobello Road in west London until 1968, when he was caught by the police and sent back home to Liverpool. John left Liverpool a final time in 1969 and made his permanent home in London, rooming with Chas Chandler, a taxicab driver who became one of John's oldest surviving friends.

John Constantine's activities from the time he moved to London to the time he became involved in the punk music scene are largely unknown. What is known is that he became involved in various occult circles within London and elsewhere in his pursuit of esoteric knowledge. At some point during this period he went to the United States for the first time and was part of a tantric sex studies group in San Francisco, at which time he met Zatanna the magician.

After seeing the Sex Pistols at the Roxy Club in London in 1977, John cut his long hair and formed his own band, Mucous Membrane, with fellow Liverpudlian, Gary Lester.

Hellblazer in Trade Paperbacks

Hellblazer has been released as a number of trade paperbacks by DC Vertigo. In chronological order, they are as follows:

1. Original Sins
2. Dangerous Habits
3. Fear and Loathing
4. Tainted Love
5. Damnation's Flame
6. Rake at the Gates of Hell
7. Son of Man
8. Haunted
9. Setting Sun
10. Hard Time
11. Good Intentions
12. Freezes Over
13. Highwater
14. Rare Cuts
15. Red Sepulchre

Constantine: The Hellblazer collection is the comic adaptation of the film Constantine and therefore does not strictly fit into the continuity of the above list. It does contain several individual Hellblazer issues, containing stories that were adapted into the film.

All His Engines is another Hellblazer story, but due to its hardback format has not been included in the above list. Also unlike the above trade paperbacks that were released as collections of several issues, this was released as a one-off special in its entirety.

Apart from Setting Sun and Rare Cuts, all the trade paperbacks listed above contain complete story arcs.

External link

• Straight To Hell (http://www.insanerantings.com/hell) - large fan site with summaries of many issues
• The Sting connection (http://www.qusoor.com/hellblazer/Sting.htm) - collection of excerpts from a Musician magazine article and an interview with Alan Moore that discusses the ideas behind the creation of John Constantine.
• Hellblazer Art (http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/simprune/blmkgallery.html) - a collection of fan renderings of John Constantine
• Hellblazer at DC Vertigo (http://www.dccomics.com/features/hellblazer/) - for more on Hellblazer trade paperbacks, the very first issue is provided as a free download.pt:Hellblazer