Hellblazer
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Hellblazer is a comic book series published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, which features the central character John Constantine. It has been ongoing since January 1988.
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[edit] Creation
John Constantine originally appeared as a recurring character in Alan Moore's horror series Swamp Thing, in which he is depicted as a trenchcoated sorcerer of ambivalent morality who bears a close physical resemblance to the musician Sting (specifically as he appeared in the movie Quadrophenia).
Moore has stated that he created the character simply because artists Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben, who were fans of The Police, wanted to draw a character who looked like Sting and had already drawn at least one background character in his likeness. This resemblance is acknowledged in one Swamp Thing story in which Constantine is observed to be rowing a boat named The Honorable (?) Gordon Sumner, a reference to Sting's real name.
[edit] Comic book series
The character was given his own comic book series, titled Hellblazer, in 1988, featuring writer Jamie Delano and artist John Ridgway, with distinctive painted and collage covers by Dave McKean. The original title, Hellraiser, was dropped due to the simultaneous release of Clive Barker's unrelated film of the same name.
Others who have worked on the series include writers Garth Ennis, Paul Jenkins, Warren Ellis, Darko Macan, Brian Azzarello, John Smith, Mike Carey and Denise Mina; and artists Mark Buckingham, Tim Bradstreet, Steve Dillon, Marcelo Frusin, Leonardo Manco and Sean Phillips. Most recently, popular crime novelist Ian Rankin announced that he was working on a six-issue pitch for Hellblazer that may eventually become a graphic novel. [1]
Hellblazer is a decidedly dark series. Its main character is portrayed as a kind of confidence man often seen doing morally questionable things for the greater good while conning his way through a 'realistic' modern world, albeit one with a lot of magic and supernatural conflict going on behind the scenes.
While sometimes clearly heroic, he is also highly manipulative and a dangerous person to have as a friend, as the lives and souls of those around him often become perilously involved in his misadventures. While he takes great pains to protect himself from direct attacks, his friends and relatives are often endangered in order to strike at him. The spirits of many of his friends haunt him, and he finds himself being followed around by an ever-increasing entourage of ghostly figures. In the end he usually triumphs through guile, deceit and misdirection, often making more enemies in the process than he defeats.
John has made appearances in several 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.
[edit] Films and television
Image:ConstantineJLU.jpg A U.S. film starring Keanu Reeves, loosely based upon the Hellblazer comics and the character of John Constantine, was released in 2005 under the title of Constantine. The movie was not well-received among Hellblazer fans because it considerably altered the character; rather than an Englishman roaming the world, he was depicted as an American living in Los Angeles, California, and instead of an ambiguous figure struggling against the forces of both Heaven and Hell, he was depicted as leaning more to the side of Heaven. Even details like the pronunciation of his name were changed: in the comics, Constantine has explained that the last syllable of his name rhymes with 'line', whereas in the film it is pronounced to rhyme with 'green'. Furthermore, the movie openly favors catholicism, while the original comic does not.
In 2006, filmmaker Dez Vylenz announced an independent film about the life and career of Alan Moore entitled The Mindscape of Alan Moore. An actor portraying the comic book version of John appears in that film.
In the Justice League Unlimited episode Panic in the Sky, it is possible that a man seen in the middle of a crowd of people could be Constantine, with his usual look with short blonde hair, brown trench coat, white undershirt, and a tie. Only thing this one is missing is a Silk Cut. This figure could just be a person in the crowd, but the creative team behind the show are known to have an expansive knowledge of DC Comics and to enjoy putting in cameos and references to DC characters.
[edit] Trade paperbacks and graphic novels
Hellblazer has been incompletely collected as a number of trade paperbacks by DC Vertigo. In chronological order, they are as follows:
- Original Sins (Hellblazer #1–9): written by Jamie Delano ISBN 1-56389-052-6
- Rare Cuts (#11, 25–26, 35, 56, 84): Delano, Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis
- Dangerous Habits (#41–46): Ennis
- Fear And Loathing (#62–67): Ennis
- Tainted Love (#68–71, Hellblazer Special: Confessional and a short story from Vertigo Jam): Ennis
- Damnation's Flame (#72–77): Ennis
- Rake At The Gates of Hell (#78–83, Hellblazer Special: Heartland): Ennis
- Son Of Man (#129–133): Ennis
- Haunted (#134–139): Warren Ellis
- Setting Sun (#140–143): Ellis
- Hard Time (#146–150): Brian Azzarello
- Good Intentions (#151–156): Azzarello
- Freezes Over (#157–163): Azzarello
- Highwater (#164–174): Azzarello
- Red Sepulchre (#175–180): Mike Carey
- Black Flowers (#181–186): Carey
- Staring at the Wall (#187–193): Carey
- Stations of the Cross (#194–200): Carey
- Reasons to be Cheerful (#201–206): Carey (released: April 2007)
- Empathy is the Enemy (#216–222): Denise Mina (released: Nov 2006)
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.
Original Sins ends on an uncollected cliffhanger—that storyline was completed in issues 10, 11 and 12 of the series. Issue 11 is collected in the Rare Cuts trade, but #10 and 12 remain unavailable.
Hellblazer: Papa Midnite collects the five-issue spin-off miniseries. It is set during the early part of the "Staring at the Wall" story arc.
Hellblazer: Lady Constantine collects the four-issue spin-off miniseries.
[edit] Writers
[edit] 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 (April 2007): Carey
230 (March 2007): Andy Diggle
[edit] Specials and spin-offs
Mike Carey (All His Engines OGN)
Jamie Delano (Bad Blood 1-4, Hellblazer Annual and The Horrorist 1-2)
Garth Ennis (Heartland and Hellblazer Special)
Paul Jenkins and John Ney Rieber (Hellblazer/Books of Magic 1-2)
John Ney Rieber (The Trenchcoat Brigade 1-4)
Andy Diggle (Lady Constantine 1-4)
Mat Johnson (Papa Midnite 1-5)
John Shirley (Hellblazer novels Subterrenian and Warlord)
[edit] 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)
[edit] Cover artists
[edit] 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 did the cover for the original issue 141, "Shoot". However, it - and the issue - were pulled after the Columbine shootings as the story focused on an FBI agent investigating school shootings.
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 John lighting a cigarette in the wind. The reasons for the change remain unknown, although it has been speculated that the crucifixion imagery caused DC to pull out at the last minute.
[edit] 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)
[edit] Main interior artists
[edit] 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)
Guiseppe 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)
Chris Brunner (196)
Frazer Irving (213)
Cristiano Cucina (223)
John Paul Leon (229)
Note that Hellblazer #75 and #142 both 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, meanwhile, 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. Unfortunately, it was pulled from the publishing schedule after the Columbine shootings occurred.
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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)</br>
Paul Pope ('Tell Me' in Winter's Edge 1)
Dave Taylor ('The Origin of Vice' in Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer)
[edit] 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, is due to hit stores in November 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Hellblazer at DC Vertigo - Official site
- DC Comics - Issue #1 as a pdf
- Hellblazer Trades - List of John Constantine appearances
- Interview with Hellblazer writer Jamie Delano
- Straight To Hell - Fan site with summaries of many issues
- The Sting connection - Interview with Alan Moore discussing the creation of John Constantine
- Hellblazer Art - Collection of fan renderings of John Constantine
- Roots of the Swamp Thing - A look at Swamp Thing, the series from which Hellblazer initially spun off and Hellblazer-related material
- Fresh - designs showing the evolution of the latest Hellblazer logo
- The Mind of Alan Moore Trailer of documentary DVD
- Revelations - The Official Clive Barker Resource Read a snippet of Clive's foreword to Hellblazer Volume 2...de:Hellblazer
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