Issue Description

John Constantine wakes from a nightmare next to a young woman named July whom he met the night before. Awkwardly, he slips out of bed and gets dressed. On the way out, he meets the milkman, who begins chatting with him casually, which tips John off to the fact that he's stuck around too long. Later, while buying a pack of silk cuts, John catches sight of a newspaper with his own face plastered on the front page under the headline "FACE OF EVIL: Satanic Slayer Sought".

After hitchhiking for a while, John tires of the trucker's conversation, and decides to walk until something better comes along. He walks for nearly an hour before anyone stops, and the first car that does turns out to be a police car. When John realizes this, he runs into the woods, and ends up falling down an escarpment and into a stream. After some time, the police give up searching, and John shakily rises to his feet.

John strips down, trying to dry out, but he is suddenly started by a teenage girl staring at him with his kit off. She comments that she likes the tattoo of a tree on his bottom. He doesn't know of any tattoo, and brushes it off, quickly dressing with fresh clothes from his suitcase. She claims that she knows he's a decent man, and invites him to come eat with her friend Marj. She has collected a bag full of magic mushrooms, which are for her friend Eddy. She introduces herself as Mercury and leads him on the way.

Marj is welcoming, trusting Mercury's instinct that John is a good man. Marj, Merc, and Eddy had been with the Peace Convoy until 1985, when the police had smashed their trailers and beat them with truncheons at the Battle of the Beanfield. Now they travel in smaller groups, hoping to avoid attention. Soon Eddy returns, and after a meal, they hit the road.

John agrees to travel with the nomads, and eventually, they arrive at a special camp called a park-up. Sympathetic landowners - usually farmers - allow the travellers to camp on their land in exchange for free manual labour. John remembers that the last time he had been t oa place like this, he had been holed up in a communal flat in Brixton, and he had soon grown to hate all the people he lived with. Mercury's speaking for him helps John to feel more comfortable in this new age crowd, though.

Marj and Merc help John to build his own tepee, warning that he should dig a drainage gully, should it rain, otherwise he will be flooded out. After getting settled in, John is visited by a man named Errol, who has a propensity to refer to good things as "the bollocks." Errol is happy to have found the convoy, because he might have died in London, with its drugs and its pushers. This is the only real family he's ever had.

John encounters many of the other travellers, but feels awkward about making conversation. Marj teases him about his tendency to make a joke when he's embarrassed about things, and Merc suggests that he not try so hard - he should just be himself.

That night, John listens to the many travellers talking, and begins to get to know them all better. Eddy seems to be the de facto leader of a group who are heavily into earth-magic. As each of the travellers starts to become more of a real person rather than a stereotype, John feels the need to isolate himself. John excuses himself, as someone shows Eddy the newspaper with John's face on it. Despite the allegations against their visitor, Eddy seems not to be worried, because Mercury approves.

As John retires to sleep, he suddenly feels very small in comparison to the earth. Hours later, he wakes to the deafening sound of rain, and realizes too late that he forgot to dig a drainage gully.

-Source

Hellblazer (1988)

Publisher

Vertigo

Volume Description

House Ad (art by Dave McKean)

Spinning out of the pages of Swamp Thing, popular supporting character John Constantine (created by Alan Moore) was given his own ongoing series first written by British writer Jamie Delano, who was handpicked by Moore and impressed editors with his long term plans for the character. The title was originally to be named "Hellraiser" but was changed to Hellblazer to avoid conflicting with Clive Barker's Hellraiser film released the previous year.

Delano set the tone for the series, which featured heavy social commentary of 80's England and grounded the magical and occult themes within the gritty streets of London. He also fleshed out John's origins first hinted at by Moore in Swamp Thing, which would be continued by later writers.

Many popular writers, most of them British, have had tenures on the title such as Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Peter Milligan and Paul Jenkins to name a few. Famous writers Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison were also guest writers early on. The series' cover art was also acclaimed, many popular artists such as Dave McKean, Glenn Fabry, Tim Bradstreet, Lee Bermejo and Simon Bisley all provided memorable cover art work.

Despite its DC Universe origins, the series largely ignored the wider DC and Vertigo Universes but for a few occasions and guest-appearances. The series itself aged in real time, as did John, who would age to his sixties by the time the series had ended.

Perhaps best known as being Vertigo's longest-running comic book series because of the fact that it began before Vertigo was a publisher, five years before in fact and that it was also the Vertigo launch title which stayed in print the longest.

Unlike most Vertigo volumes, due to its extreme length, this one has had various writers (many of whom are better known for other Vertigo contributions), and oftentimes the series is judged within these writer's runs rather then as a whole since the series has changed through the decades.

On November 8th 2012 it was announced that Hellblazer will end at issue #300. John Constantine however will star in a new New 52 ongoing of his own called Constantine in March 2013. Before the cancellation, Hellblazer was the longest ongoing continuing monthly series without renumbering or cancellations/rebirths from either of "the Big Two" due to DC's New 52 and Marvel's reboot of Uncanny X-Men.

Hellblazer Annuals, Specials and Spin-Offs

Hellblazer Annual #1 (1989)The Horrorist #1-2Hellblazer Special #1Hellblazer Annual #1 (2012)Hellblazer: All His EnginesHellblazer: PandemoniumDark EntriesVertigo Secret Files: HellblazerHellblazer: Bad Blood #1-4Hellblazer/The Books of Magic #1-2Hellblazer: City of Demons #1-5Hellblazer Special: Lady Constantine #1-4.Hellblazer Special: Papa Midnite #1-5Hellblazer Special: Chas (The Knowledge) #1-5Collected Editions

New Editions

In 2011 DC/Vertigo began releasing new edition trades. These new volumes were larger, numbered numerically and contained every issue in chronological order which the previous editions skipped or had collected separately. Many of the new editions contain different issues from the originals.

Vol. 1: Original Sins (#1-9, Swamp Thing #76-77)Vol. 2: The Devil You Know (#10-13, Hellblazer: Annual and Horrorist #1-2)Vol. 3: The Fear Machine (#14-22)Vol. 4: The Family Man (#23-33)Vol. 5: Dangerous Habits (#34-46)Vol. 6: Bloodlines (#47-61)Vol. 7: Tainted Love (#62–71, Hellblazer: Special and a story from Vertigo Jam)Vol. 8: Rake at the Gates of Hell (#72-83, Heartland and pin-ups from Hellblazer Special)Vol. 9: Critical Mass (#84-96)Vol. 10: In the Line of Fire (#97-107)Vol. 11: Last Man Standing (#108-120)Vol. 12: How To Play With Fire (#121-133)

Original Editions

Hellblazer: Original Sins (#1-9)Hellblazer: The Devil You Know (#10-13, Hellblazer: Annual, Horrorist #1-2)Hellblazer: The Fear Machine (#14-22)Hellblazer: The Family Man (##23-24, #28-33)Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits (#41-46)Hellblazer: Bloodlines (#47-50, #52-55 and #59-61)Hellblazer: Fear and Loathing (#62-67)Hellblazer: Tainted Love (#68–71, Hellblazer: Special and a story from Vertigo Jam)Hellblazer: Damnation's Flame (#72-77)Hellblazer: Rake at the Gates of Hell (#78-83, Heartland)Hellblazer: Son of Man (#129-133)Hellblazer: Haunted (#134-139)Hellblazer: Setting Sun (#140-143)Hellblazer: Shoot (#144, 145, 245, 246 & 250)Hellblazer: Hard Time (#146-150)Hellblazer: Good Intentions (#151-156)Hellblazer: Freezes Over... (#157-163)Hellblazer: Highwater (#164-174)Hellblazer: Red Sepulchre (#175-180)Hellblazer: Black Flowers (#181-186)Hellblazer: Staring at the Wall (#187-193)Hellblazer: Stations of the Cross (#194-200)Hellblazer: Reasons to be Cheerful (#201-206)Hellblazer: The Gift (#207-215)Hellblazer: Empathy is the Enemy (#216-222)Hellblazer: The Red Right Hand (#223-228)Hellblazer: Joyride (#230-237)Hellblazer: The Laughing Magician (#238-242)Hellblazer: Roots of Coincidence (#243-244, #247-249)Hellblazer: Scab (#251-255 and a short story from 250)Hellblazer: Hooked (#256-260)Hellblazer: India (#261-266)Hellblazer: Bloody Carnations (#267-275)Hellblazer: Phantom Pains (#276-282)Hellblazer: The Devil's Trench Coat (#283-291)Hellblazer: Death and Cigarettes (#292-300 and Hellblazer Annual #1)

Other Collected Editions

Hellblazer: Rare Cuts (#11, #25–26, #35, #56, #84)Constantine: The Hellblazer Collection (Constantine: The Official Movie Adaptation, Hellblazer #1, #27 and #410.Vertigo Resurrected: Shoot (Contains the original #141, the censored story: "Shoot")Vertigo Resurrected: Hellblazer (#57-58, #245-246)Other Related MaterialHouse of Mystery Halloween Annual short stories set in the DCU/Vertigo universe.The Trenchcoat BrigadeThe Books of MagicVertigo EncyclopaediaVertigo Secret Files: Swamp ThingWinter's Edge #1-3. The Three Winter's Edge stories would be collected in Vertigo Resurrected: Winter's Edge.9-11 Vol.2

Please first Sign In before leaving a review.

Status: Not in Collection