Fresh concept
made his debut in Swamp Thing #37 and Hellblazer’s first 62 issues were published under the DC main line), but after 25 years in the more mature environment of Vertigo, could the character have already outgrown those more innocent and kid-friendly roots?
Without the sex, swearing and the sleazy smirks he often sports (the chain-smoking has remained, fortunately), this seemes like a watered-down version of Constantine, which is a shame, because the character is so much more than just a man in a trenchcoat who can wield magic.
Still, it’s early days yet, and Lemire is no pushover. His recently-ended Sweet Tooth series showed that he could handle dark, apocalyptic themes and characters, while his current New 52 roles on Animal Man and Justice League Dark have showcased a knack for juggling the supernatural themes with superheroics.
Justice League Dark’s initial run under Peter Milligan (who also wrote the final issues of Hellblazer) was patchy to say the least, but since Lemire took over the title, it’s been a rip-roaring magic fest, incorporating some of Vertigo’s best known “mainstream” elements such as Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, the House of Mystery, and even the Books of Magic into the story.
Happily, by the end of this issue, we do see a few glimpses of the ... older Constantine when he leaves a companion to die to save himself from Sargon the Sorceress (yeah, a female, much hotter version of Sargon the Sorceror).
“You’re biologically incapable of living a quiet life,” Constantine’s young wife Epiphany tells him just before he leaves her yet again, to meet his ultimate fate at the end of Hellblazer #300. Well, his new life as a mainstream DC character has gotten off to an actionpacked start, that’s for sure. But will this overexposure to superheroes and watered-down, sanitised scripts spell the end of this iconic character?
Nah. This is John Constantine we’re talking about. He has survived lung cancer, demons, and The Fates … it’ll take a lot more than a bunch of capes and kid-friendly dialogue to kill him off. The Hellblazer is dead. Long live John Constantine.