Issue Description

After having been forced to run from the demon Mnemoth, because he is not a strong enough demon to handle it alone, John Constantine returns to the Midnight Club to beg Papa Midnite for help. He searches through the club's rooms filled with debauchery, down to the basement, where the arena is. Midnite justifies the violence of his arena show by having the contestants be mere zombies, but John is still put out - particularly by the spatter of blood on his face.

In the meantime, Papa Midnite has put Gary Lester into his holding pens, thinking him nothing more than bait for the demon. John finds that the more Gaz pleads for a drug fix, the easier it is to lie to him and detach. Gary is naturally unhappy with the arrangement to come, and worries that the demon will destroy him. John tries to ignore his pathetic old friend as Papa Midnite guides him away, warning that they will begin fighting the demon in the morning.

That night, after peeling off his stale clothes, John is haunted by images of his friends, killed during his attempts to fight the Brujeria and their Invunche. He tries to fight his feelings of fear by getting angry, and he turns to the ghost of Emma, demanding to know the meaning of the haunting. Frustrated, he tries apologizing for the fact that they were all killed on his watch, but his thoughts turn to Gary, and he supposes that they intend to make him feel guilty for what's to happen to him. Grumpily, John crawls into bed and shouts that if there is any guilt, it is his, and he will deal with it. Then, he tells the ghosts to sod off. They vanish, but as he is falling asleep, John hears Emma's voice wishing him goodnight, and he bursts into tears.

Meanwhile, Mnemoth's plague of hunger continues to infect the citizens of New York City. One victim begins devouring a pile of comic books, while another man satisfies his undying hunger by chewing off his own arm. Another man breaks into a jewelry store and begins voraciously shoving gemstones into his mouth. The city is in chaos. The demon continues, and is suddenly drawn to the pain inside Gary Lester - the hunger already inside him, and his craving for junk.

The following morning, John is roused from bed by one of Midnite's zombies. Up on the top floor of the Midnight Club, Papa Midnite is unimpressed by John's attempts at facile humour, and urges him to get down to business. John, however, is quite impressed by the electric chair that Papa Midnite acquired at acution from Sing Sing. 300 lives have gone to their ends at that chair, and that has imbued it with a powerful magic that they can use. Before beginning, John attempts to calm his old friend. It has little effect, so John bribes Gaz with a syringe of heroine.

As Midnite begins preparing for the binding, Gaz spies the cloud of insects on the horizon. Midnite kills a chicken and pours the blood out in a circle around Gary, who frantically warns John that he will never be able to trap the demon in a bottle, as its too big. John says nothing, and it doesn't take long before Gaz realizes that they don't have a bottle. He is to be the vessel in which the demon is bound. The only place they can catch the demon is in a place it wants to go - and that is Gary Lester.

John watches as his old friend is enveloped in the demon's cloud of insects, and they all pour into his every orifice. Quickly, John struggles to tattoo the binding symbols onto Gaz' skin before the demon escapes again. Suddenly, Gary wakes and rips free of the chair. he begins attempting to strangle John, but the Englishman manages to talk him out of it. He and Midnite wrap Gaz in a strait-jacket, knowing that in order to destroy the demon, Gaz and Mnemoth must devour eachother. Mercifully, John gives his friend the heroine fix he craved, attempting to be comforting in some respect. Kissing Gaz on the forehead, John calls for whisky and cigarettes, and heads downstairs as the demon begins to feed.

John drinks and smokes himself into a stupor, listening to Gaz' screams reverberate through the Midnight Club. Before passing out, he catches a glimpse of the ghosts that haunt him tending to the Gaz' corpse. John is not welcome. With Gaz dead at last, Midnite orders the holding pen bricked up.

As Constantine leaves the club, he sees Gary Lester's spirit join with those of his former comrades.

-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

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