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Hellblazer

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John Constantine: Hellblazer
Cover of Hellblazer #221 By Lee Bermejo
Publication information
PublisherVertigo
DC Comics
ScheduleMonthly
FormatOngoing
Publication date1988 – Present
No. of issues232 plus two specials, one annual, one graphic novel and four miniseries as of 2007
Main character(s)John Constantine
Creative team as of May 2007
Created byAlan Moore, Jamie Delano, John Ridgway
Written byAndy Diggle
Artist(s)Leonardo Manco
Colorist(s)Lee Loughridge

Hellblazer is a contemporary horror comic book series published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics. Its central character is the streetwise magician John Constantine. It has been published continuously since January 1988.

Origins

After favourable reader reaction to John Constantine's appearances in the comic book series Swamp Thing, where he had been introduced by Alan Moore during his authorship of the title, the character was given his own comic book series in 1988.[1] [2] The series was intended to bear the title Hellraiser, but this title was revised before publication due to the contemporaneous release of Clive Barker's unrelated film of the same name.[3]

The initial creative team was writer Jamie Delano and artist John Ridgway, with Dave McKean supplying distinctive painted and collage covers. Delano introduced a political aspect to the character: "...generally I was interested in commenting on 1980s Britain. That was where I was living, it was shit, and I wanted to tell everybody."[2]

Other Creators

Others who have worked on the series include writers Garth Ennis, Paul Jenkins, Warren Ellis, Darko Macan, Brian Azzarello, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Eddie Campbell, John Smith, Mike Carey, Denise Mina, and Andy Diggle; and artists Mark Buckingham, Tim Bradstreet, Steve Dillon, Marcelo Frusin, Leonardo Manco and Sean Phillips. Peter Hogan also wrote two Hellblazer spinoff stories, entired Love Street' and Marquee Moon. In 2006 popular crime novelist Ian Rankin announced that he was working on a six-issue pitch for Hellblazer that may eventually become a graphic novel.[4]

Setting and protagonist

Hellblazer is set in a contemporary world, albeit a world of magic and supernatural conflict behind the scenes.

Hellblazer's main character is portrayed as a kind of confidence man, doing morally questionable things for the greater good. Constantine usually triumphs in his conflicts through guile, deceit and misdirection, sometimes making more enemies in the process than he defeats. While heroic, Constantine is also manipulative and a dangerous person to have as a friend, as the lives and souls of those around him become perilously involved in his misadventures. He takes pains to protect himself from direct attacks, but his friends and relatives are often endangered in order to strike at him. The spirits of deceased friends haunt him, individually or as an entourage of ghosts.

Constantine has made appearances in other comic book titles, such as The Sandman and Shade, the Changing Man. He was a recurring supporting character in both Swamp Thing and The Books of Magic throughout their numerous incarnations. DC Comics character Zatanna occasionally appears alongside Constantine, indicating a shared universe despite rare crossovers.

Appearances in film and television

File:ConstantineJLU.jpg
Constantine (behind the cameraman) in an episode of Justice League Unlimited.

In 2005, Warner Bros. released the film Constantine, which is loosely based upon the Hellblazer comic series. As with all other film adaptations of his works, Alan Moore disassociated himself from the project; his name does not even appear in the film's credits. The film significantly alters several aspects of the character of John Constantine (played by Keanu Reeves), who is depicted as being American rather than British and battles mostly against the forces of Hell instead of emissaries from both Hell and Heaven, as in the comics. Details such as the pronunciation of his name were changed: in the comics, the last syllable of Constantine's surname rhymes with "line", whereas in the film it is pronounced "teen". The film (especially its mythology) also includes a number of Roman Catholic elements (including the Catholic sacraments and the concept of suicide being a mortal sin) absent from the original comic.

It has been speculated that a man seen in the crowd scene in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Divided We Fall" is John Constantine. Although the man in the cartoon is missing Constantine's trademark Silk Cut cigarettes and appears older than Constantine is typically portrayed in the comics, he does sport Constantine's blond hair and characteristic dress. The members of the program's creative team are known to have an extensive knowledge of DC Comics and have incorporated uncredited DC character cameos and references into a number of previous episodes.

Trade paperbacks and graphic novels

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

Title Issues collected Writer(s) ISBN Issues and/or story arcs reprinted
Original Sins 1 - 9 Jamie Delano ISBN 1-56389-052-6 "Hunger", "A Feast of Friends", "Going for It", "Waiting for the Man", "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", "Extreme Prejudice", "Ghosts in the Machine", "Intensive Care", "Shot to Hell"
The Devil You Know 10 - 13, plus The Hellblazer Annual and The Horrorist 1-2 Jamie Delano ISBN 1-40121-269-7 "Sex and Death", "Newcastle: A Taste of Things to Come", "The Devil You Know...", "On The Beach", "The Bloody Saint", "Venus of the Hardsell", "Antarctica"
Rare Cuts 11, 25-26, 35, 56, 84 Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis ISBN 1-40120-240-3 "Newcastle: A Taste of Things to Come", "Early Warning", "How I Learned to Love the Bomb", "This is the Diary of Danny Drake", "Another Part of Hell"
Dangerous Habits 41-46 Garth Ennis ISBN 1-56389-150-6 "Dangerous Habits"
Bloodlines 47-49, 52-55, 59-61 Garth Ennis Released December 2007 "The Lord of the Dance", "Royal Blood", "Guys and Dolls"
Fear and Loathing 62-67 Garth Ennis ISBN 1-56389-202-2 "End of the Line", "Forty", "Fear and Loathing", "Dear John"
Tainted Love 68-71 plus Hellblazer Special and short story from Vertigo Jam Garth Ennis ISBN 1-56389-456-4 "Tainted Love", "Down All the Days", "Rough Trade", "Heartland", "Finest Hour", "Confessional"
Damnation's Flame 72-77 Garth Ennis ISBN 1-56389-508-0 "Damnation's Flame", "Act of Union", "Confessions of an Irish Rebel", "And the Crowd Goes Wild"
Rake at the Gates of Hell 78-83 plus the Heartland one-shot Garth Ennis ISBN 1-40120-002-8 "Rake at the Gates of Hell", "Heartland"
Son of Man 129-133 Garth Ennis ISBN 1-40120-202-0 "Son of Man"
Haunted 134-139 Warren Ellis ISBN 1-56389-813-6 "Haunted"
Setting Sun 140-143 Warren Ellis ISBN 1-40120-245-4 "Locked", "The Crib", "Setting Sun", "One Last Love Song", "Telling Tales"
Hard Time 146-150 Brian Azzarello ISBN 1-56389-696-6 "Hard Time"
Good Intentions 151-156 Brian Azzarello ISBN 1-56389-856-X "Good Intentions"
Freezes Over 157-163 Brian Azzarello ISBN 1-56389-971-X "...And Buried?", "Freezes Over", "Lapdogs and Englishmen"
Highwater 164-174 Brian Azzarello ISBN 1-40120-223-3 "Highwater", "A Fresh Coat of Red Paint", "Chasing Demons", "Ashes and Dust in the City of Angels"
Red Sepulchre 175-180 Mike Carey ISBN 1-40120-485-6 "High on Life", "Red Sepulchre"
Black Flowers 181-186 Mike Carey ISBN 1-40120-499-6 "The Game of Cat and Mouse", "Black Flowers", "Third Worlds"
Staring at the Wall 187-193 Mike Carey ISBN 1-40120-929-7 "Bred in the Bone", "Staring at the Wall"
Stations of the Cross 194-200 Mike Carey ISBN 1-40121-002-3 "Ward 24", "Out of Season", "Stations of the Cross", "Happy Families"
Reasons to be Cheerful 201-206 Mike Carey ISBN 1-84576-450-1 "Event Horizon", "Reasons to be Cheerful", "Cross Purpose"
The Gift 207-215 Mike Carey ISBN 1401214533 "Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go", "The Gift", "R.S.V.P."
Empathy is the Enemy 216-222 Denise Mina ISBN 1-40121-066-X "Empathy is the Enemy"
The Red Right Hand 223-228 Denise Mina ISBN 1401213421 "The Season of the Zealot", "The Red Right Hand"

Constantine: The Hellblazer Collection is a movie tie-in which collects the official film adaptation as well as Hellblazer numbers 1, 27 (written by Neil Gaiman), and 41. All of these issues are available in other collections: #1 in Original Sins, #41 in Dangerous Habits, and #27 in Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days, a collection of Gaiman-penned stories.

All His Engines is an original graphic novel by Mike Carey, presenting a completely new story as opposed to a collection of previous issues. It also includes a character summary and history of the series taken from Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer.

Hellblazer: Papa Midnite, collects the five-issue spin-off miniseries written by Mat Johnson. It is set during the early part of the "Staring at the Wall" story arc.

Hellblazer: Lady Constantine collects Andy Diggle's four-issue spin-off miniseries.

Hellblazer: Pandemonium is a graphic novel by Jamie Delano and Jock which is scheduled for release in 2008, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the series. [5]

Writers

Main Series

1 – 24: Jamie Delano
25 – 26: Grant Morrison
27: Neil Gaiman
28 – 31: Delano
32: Dick Foreman
33 – 40: Delano
41 – 50: Garth Ennis
51: John Smith
52 – 83: Ennis
84: Delano
85 – 88: Eddie Campbell
89 – 128: Paul Jenkins
129 – 133: Ennis
134 – 143: Warren Ellis
144 – 145: Darko Macan
146 – 174: Brian Azzarello
175 – 215: Mike Carey
216 – 228: Denise Mina
229: Carey
230 onwards: Andy Diggle

Specials and spin-offs

Short stories

Dave Gibbons ('Another Bloody Christmas' in Winter's Edge 3)
Mike Carey ('Exposed' in 9/11 Volume 2)
Jamie Delano ('Prodigal Son' in Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer)
Garth Ennis ('Tainted Love' in Vertigo Jam and 'All Those Little Girls and Boys' in Winter's Edge 2)
Paul Jenkins ('Tell Me' in Winter's Edge 1)
Brian Azzarello ('The Origin of Vice' in Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer)

Cover artists

Main series

Dave McKean (1-19, 27, 40)
Kent Williams (20-24, 28-39)
David Lloyd (25-26)
Tom Canty (41-50)
Sean Phillips (51, 85-128)
Glenn Fabry (52-83, 129-133, 144-145)
John Eder (84)
Tim Bradstreet (134-143, 146-215)
Greg Lauren (216-217, 219)
Lee Bermejo (218, 221-present)
Leonardo Manco (220)

Note that Tim Bradstreet also supplied cover art for an unpublished version of issue 141. The story that would have appeared in this issue, "Shoot" by writer Warren Ellis and artist Phil Jimenez, was deemed unsuitable for publication after the Columbine shootings, as it focused on an FBI agent investigating school shootings.[1]

Additionally, there were two covers commissioned for issue 218: the solicited one by Greg Lauren showing John Constantine being crucified, and the published one by Lee Bermejo showing Constantine lighting a cigarette in the wind. The reasons for the change of cover remain unknown.

Other Hellblazer covers have also been commissioned but not used, and are available for viewing here.

Specials and spin-offs

Leonardo Manco (All His Engines OGN)
Sean Phillips (Bad Blood 1-4 and Hellblazer/Books of Magic 1-2)
Steve Dillon (Heartland)
Kent Williams (Hellblazer Annual)
Glenn Fabry (Hellblazer Special and The Trenchcoat Brigade 1-4)
David Lloyd (The Horrorist 1-2)
Phil Noto (Lady Constantine 1-4)
Ronald Wimberly (Papa Midnite 1-5)
Tim Bradstreet (Hellblazer novels Subterrenian and Warlord)

Main interior artists

Main series

John Ridgway (1-9)
Richard Piers Rayner (10-16)
Mike Hoffman (13, 17, 48)
Mark Buckingham (18-22)
Ron Tiner (23-24, 28-30)
David Lloyd (25-26, 56)
Dave McKean (27, 40)
Sean Philips (31, 34-36, 51, 84-100, 102-107, 109-114)
Steve Pugh (32-33, 37-39)
William Simpson (42-47, 50, 52-55, 59-61, 75)
Steve Dillon (49, 57-58, 62-76, 78-83, 157, 175-176, 200)
Peter Snejbjerg (77)
Al Davison (101)
Charles Adlard (108)
Warren Pleece (115-128)
John Higgins (129-139)
Frank Teran (140)
Tim Bradstreet (141)
Javier Pulido (142)
James Romberger (142)
Marcelo Frusin (143, 151-156, 158-161, 164-167, 170-174, 177-180, 184-186, 189-193, 197-200)
Gary Erskine (144-145)
Richard Corben (146-150)
Guy Davis (162-163)
Giuseppe Camuncoli (168-169, 206)
Jock (181)
Lee Bermejo (182-183)
Doug Alexander Gregory (187-188)
Leonardo Manco (194-195, 200-205, 207-212, 214-222, 224-228, 230 onwards)
Chris Brunner (196)
Frazer Irving (213)
Cristiano Cucina (223)
John Paul Leon (229)

Note that Hellblazer #75 and #142 each contained two stories by two different artists. Issue 75 contained "Damnation's Flame part 4: Hail to the Chief" with art by Steve Dillon and "Act of Union" with art by William Simpson. Issue 142 contained "Setting Sun" with art by Javier Pulido and "One Last Love Song" illustrated by James Romberger.

Phil Jimenez supplied art for "Shoot", a Warren Ellis-penned tale focusing on high-school shootings that would have been the original issue 141. It was removed from the publishing schedule after the Columbine shootings occurred.[6] [7]

Specials and spin-offs

Leonardo Manco (All His Engines OGN)
Philip Bond (Bad Blood 1-4)
Steve Dillon (Heartland and Hellblazer Special)
Bryan Talbot (Hellblazer Annual story: The Bloody Saint)
Dean Motter (Hellblazer Annual story: Venus of the Hard Sell)
Paul Lee (Hellblazer/Books of Magic 1-2)
David Lloyd (The Horrorist 1-2)
Goran Sudžuka (Lady Constantine 1-4)
Tony Akins (Papa Midnite 1-5)
John Ridgway (The Trenchcoat Brigade 1-4)

Short stories

Glyn Dillon (All Those Little Girls and Boys' in Winter's Edge 2)
Dave Gibbons ('Another Bloody Christmas' in Winter's Edge 3)
Marcelo Frusin ('Exposed' in 9/11 Volume 2)
Tim Bradstreet ('Prodigal Son' in Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer)
Steve Dillon ('Tainted Love' in Vertigo Jam)
Paul Pope ('Tell Me' in Winter's Edge 1)
Dave Taylor ('The Origin of Vice' in Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer)

Novels

A series of novels by John Shirley began in 2005, starting with an adaptation of the film Constantine which made an effort to ease the awkwardness of the comic-to-film transition.

In January 2006, War Lord — the first of Shirley's original Hellblazer novels to be based on the comic rather than the film — was released. Shirley's second original Hellblazer novel Subterranean was released in November 2006.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Hellblazer.

References

  1. ^ McMahon, John. "John Constantine: Who Is He?". Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  2. ^ a b Carroll, David. "Trail Blazers: Interviews with Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis". Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  3. ^ McMahon, John. "Straight to Hell: A Hellblazer Site - FAQ". Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  4. ^ Malvern, Jack. "Times Online: Bestselling author plots a new career in comics". Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  5. ^ Back into Hell: Jamie Delano returns to John Constantine's world, July 27, 2007, Comic Book Resources
  6. ^ Holmes, Thomas Alan (2005) "Warren Ellis’ 'Shoot' and Media Passivity." International Journal of Comic Art. 7 (2). 370-374
  7. ^ "Shoot" online
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