I have a new collecting guide for you today: John Constantine, Hellblazer!
The guide covers Hellblazer’s every appearance, from beginnings as a guest star in Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing through his two decade run in his solo title to his multiple relaunches since 2012.
There’s something about Constantine that draws readers in and makes him a prime choice for screen adaptations.
A big part of that is that he is by no means a hero. Sure, Constantine is a supernatural detective and occasional magician, but he has little interest in saving anyone – in fact, his actions are often as likely to get people killed as to save them!
Another hallmark of Constantine was years of exclusivity. He was created by Alan Moore in a pre-Vertigo Swamp Thing and than shuttled off to his own title written by Jamie Delano, who was hand-picked by Moore to launch the character in Hellblazer
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Constantine made very few appearances outside of his own title, his mini-series, and Swamp Thing for the next twenty years. This insulation was furthered when he became a part of the Vertigo family of titles and allowed Constantine to age in real time with his readers.
That means Constantine is very easy to read sequentially, with just a few limited series and OGNs to fit in to his reading order. However, he’s a bit harder to collect. Despite DC keeping early Jamie Delano issues evergreen in print, Hellblazer went over a decade without his new arcs seeing collection (until #146 in 2000), though occasional trades went back to collect short bursts of issues. [Read more…] about New Collecting Guide: John Constantine, Hellblazer