Issue Description

It's midweek, and without their typical activities to occupy them, the Neo-Nazi youths who call themselves the British Boys have taken to delinquency. They take a molotov cocktail and set fire to Ali's newsstand, forcing the man to rush out and attempt to put the fire out.

The British Boys hate homosexuals especially, among the many races and creeds that they hate. Nearby, John Constantine watches as they catch sight of a man that they believe to be a homosexual and prepare to beat him up. They are unprepared for the violence that is unleashed on them by the thing - not a man by any stretch - who greets them in the public toilet they followed him into.

John catches sight of the blood outside, and opts to have a look. The destruction and the blood give him quite a shock. He notices a panel in the floor, and assumes that that is where the bodies have gone. However, he chooses not to investigate, given that he's wearing his good coat. He does notice that someone has written "Damnation Army" on the ceiling in the boys' blood, and knows that this is whoever was behind the kidnapping of his niece Gemma.

The creature that the boys had the misfortune of attacking is, in fact, the demon Nergal. He and the Damnation Army have been occupying themselves with the corruption of human hearts and minds, corroding away at the roots of life with horror.

Constantine heads to the local bar and uses the phone to call his crime-reporter acquaintance Tony to find out what the word on Fleet Street is about the Damnation Army. As it turns out, this organization is linked with numerous horrors; suicides, sex crimes, assassinations, cannibalism... The government has even formed an anti-terrorist squad to deal with the case. John knows, however, that this is not a case of anarchy so much as chaos.

Hoping for some relaxation, John heads to Zed's flat, only to find that she has unwanted guests. These men appear to belong to some kind of cult, to which "Mary" - Zed - once belonged. She refuses to go with them, despite their warnings, and John decides to help by pretending he has a gun and ordering them to leave. Zed is grateful, but unwilling to talk about it, so instead, they embrace.

Down in his underground lair, Nergal grotesquely manipulates the flesh of the British Boys' corpses into a reanimated chimera. He hopes that Constantine will get the joke. After sending the creature off, he throws off his coat and orders his human thralls to pleasure him.

While John and Zed have sex, the monstrous creation that was once the British Boys decides to take on the name of Ironfist the Avenger, and comes across the car of the boys from the Resurrection Crusaders who were annoying Zed earlier. It smashes their car into a wall.

Meanwhile, John sneaks out of bed and starts snooping for the answers to his questions about Zed's past. Before he can look into her journal, he is overcome by a strange feeling of discomfort. Thinking someone has broken into the building downstairs, John arms himself with a knife and gets dressed, running down. However, the monster is not after him at all, and it climbs the outside of the building to Zed's room. When John hears her scream, he manages to run back upstairs just in time to see the monster attempting to steal her away.

However, when he sees the creature made up of all of the four Neo-Nazi thugs, he begins laughing. He did get the joke after all. The creature becomes annoyed, wanting to know why he's laughing. John points out that one of the boys' arms sports a Chelsea tattoo, while the other sports an Arsenal tattoo - they support opposing teams, but they are one creature. John wraps Zed in his overcoat and rushes her to safety as the monster tears itself to pieces in accordance with the football wars.

John has Chas drive them to Ray Monde's house, and they put Zed to bed. Afterwards, Ray confides in John that he has AIDS, and nobody has been coming into his shop, and he's been getting nasty phone calls as a result.

John stays up all night thinking about prejudice and victims, until he gets a call from Nergal himself. The voice tells him to be warned not to aid his enemies further, and to join the Damnation Army. John is merely confused.

-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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