Jamie Delano
Jamie Delano (born 1954, Northampton) is a British comics writer. He was part of the first post-Alan Moore "British Invasion" of writers. Best known as the first writer of the comic book series Hellblazer, starring John Constantine.
Overview
Jamie Delano was hand-picked by Alan Moore to continue writing John Constantine, originally a secondary character introduced during Moore's revolutionary Swamp Thing run. Delano established the character in his own right, fleshing out what had been, in Moore's hands, a more shadowy, wisecracking sort of figure. It was also Delano who set the character firmly in London, Moore (and later Veitch) preferring to present him travelling virtually anywhere at will. Delano's Constantine is very much flesh and blood, never using magic when a con will do, frequently drunk, down & out, and haunted by his accidental condemning of a little girl named Astra to Hell.
Delano's approach owes much to the quiet, cold but vicious work of British "new wave" writers like Ramsey Campbell and J.G. Ballard and it is this tone that subsequent writers have either had to adopt or go violently against. This also makes Delano the first Vertigo writer, as Hellblazer is often thought of as the company's flagship title. He established the character's history – and his family's – going all the way back to the time of King Arthur in one of the more emblematic Constantine stories, "The Bloody Saint" (1989), drawn by Bryan Talbot. Much of his version of Constantine was the basis of the 2005 Constantine movie.
Most of his work since leaving the book to Garth Ennis and many others since (though he has gone back to the character a number of times) has also been for DC/Vertigo, both radical treatments of established characters and more pointed, political works, a list of which (from his site) can be found below.
Much of Delano's often bitingly witty work shares concerns with that of other British comics writers like Pat Mills, and can be characterized as science fiction, or horror, but often is a blend thereof and used very allegorically. In its concern with transformation of bodies and cultures, through psychedelia, conspiracy, or science, his work shares much with the likes of David Cronenberg and some, like Ghostdancing or Animal Man, have taken a great deal of influence from Carlos Castaneda and Jim Morrison.
Frequent subjects in his work include the War of the sexes (World Without End), imperialism and genocide (Ghostdancing), and environmental & cultural collapse (2020 Visions, Animal Man). One of Vertigo's most prolific, most crucial but, in the opinion of many, too often overlooked creators. Some would even argue that only Alan Moore's own influence was greater.
Bibliography
- Night Raven:
- Various prose (with illustrations by Alan Davis, in Marvel UK's The Daredevils, 1983-1984)
- "House Of Cards" (with David Lloyd, Marvel UK, one shot, 1993)
- Captain Britain (with Alan Davis, in Marvel UK's The Mighty World Of Marvel, volume 2, #14-16 and Captain Britain Monthly, #1-14, 1984)
- One-Off:
- "Blood Sport" (with David Pugh, in 2000 AD #484, 1986)
- "The Ark" (with Dave Wyatt, in 2000 AD #504, 1987)
- Tharg's Future Shocks:
- "The Ship that Liked to Dance" (with Barry Kitson, in 2000 AD #501, 1986)
- "Fair's Fare" (with Massimo Belardinelli, in 2000 AD #501, 1987)
- Doctor Who (with John Ridgway):
- "Time Bomb" (in Doctor Who Magazine #114-116, 1986)
- "The Gift" (with inks by Tim Perkins, in Doctor Who Magazine #123-126, 1987)
- D.R. and Quinch: "DR & Quinch's Agony Page" (with cowriter and pencils Alan Davis, inks: Mark Farmer, in 2000 AD #525-534, 1987)
- Hellblazer:
- Hellblazer (with John Ridgway, Richard Piers-Rayner, Mark Buckingham, Bryan Talbot, Steve Pugh, Sean Phillips, & others, DC, #1-40 & #84, 1988-1991)
- Bad Blood (Philip Bond & Warren Pleece, Vertigo, 4 part mini-series, 2000)
- World Without End (with John Higgins, DC, 6 issue mini-series, 1990)
- Animal Man (with Steve Pugh, DC, #51-79, 1992-1994)
- Ghostdancing (with Richard Case, Vertigo, 6 issue mini-series, 1995)
- Tainted (with Al Davison, Vertigo, one shot, 1995)
- The Horrorist (with David Lloyd, Vertigo, 2 48 page issues, 1995)
- Batman/Manbat (with John Bolton, DC, 1996)
- 2020 Visions (with Frank Quitely (1-3), Warren Pleece (2-6), James Romberger (7-9) & Steve Pugh (10-12), Vertigo, 12 issue mini-series, 1997)
- Shadowman (co-written with Dick Foreman (13-15), art: Charlie Adlard, Acclaim Comics, 1997)
- Hell Eternal (with Sean Phillips, Vertigo, one shot, 1998)
- Cruel & Unusual (cowritten with Tom Peyer, art: John McCrea & Andrew Chiu, Vertigo, 4 issue mini-series, 1999)
- The Territory (with David Lloyd, Dark Horse, 4 part mini-series, 1999, tpb, 96 pages, 2006 ISBN 1-59307-010-1)
- Darkseid (with Steve Pugh, DC, 2 part mini-series, 2000)
- Outlaw Nation (with Goran Sudzuka, Sebastijan Camagajevic & Goran Parlov, Vertigo, 19 issue series, 2000-2002)
External links
- Jamie Delano.co.uk - the official Jamie Delano website
- 2000 AD profile
- Dark Horse profile
- 1998 interview about The Territory
- A 1999 interview with Jamie Delano
- Roots of the Swamp Thing - An extremely detailed timiline chronicling all the events of Swamp Thing, Jamie Delano's Hellblazer spinoff, and related titles in chronological order