Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits

John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits by Garth Ennis, 160 pages

Constantine is dying. He never thought that he would live long enough in this line of work that lung cancer from his constant smoking would have a chance to do him in. To make it work the demons of hell that he has thwarted are lining up to claim his soul. But all is not completely lost Constantine has a plan that is just crazy enough it might work.

There is a lot of reflecting upon past deeds and earlier parts of Constantine’s life throughout this volume.  I suppose that is the classic dying storyline but since I have read what was several years’ worth of Constantine comics in the past two months I didn’t really need the recap. What I did find interesting was despite Constantine’s badass persona we get glimpses that that is not who he always is. This is obvious in his concern and friendship with another person dying of cancer and in how he tells this friends goodbye. 

For those that have seen the Constantine movie. This book seems to have been its inspiration. From here though it is a whole new Constantine world and I have no idea what comes next, but I am sure I will enjoy reading about it.

Constantine Hellblazer Volumes 1-4

Original Sins, Devil You Know, Fear Machine and Family Man by Jamie Delano, 304, 264, 240 and 277 pages

These first four volumes in the Constantine Hellblazer series represent the print issues 1-32 and cover the early years of Constantine's existence (1988-1990). While I have read some comics through the years I have never been a big fan of reading a series from start to finish. Nor had I really heard of John Constantine until the semi recent movie starring Keanu Reeves. Since then there has been a reboot of the Constantine comics and also a television series. Both of these try to bring Constantine into the modern world but I feel they lose some of their grittiness in doing so.

The Hellblazer series obviously follows the life and career of John Constantine as he learns about and combats the growing dark forces. While this is sort of the theme to every comic and superhero Constantine's attitude and approach is what sets him apart. While he will morn the death of a friend or associate he still frequently throws them in harms way either as bait or through his inexperience. The fact that you also see him smoke constantly, get drunk and generally skate by while mooching off his friends helps him seem like a normal person. Since this series reached 300 issues I guess that imaging worked.

If you like darker, almost horror, comics or if you liked the Constantine movie than I recommend you give this series a try.

Constantine: The Spark and the Flame

Constantine Volume 1: The Spark and the Flame by Ray Fawkes, 144 pages

This is a collection of the first six comics in the newly rebooted John Constantine series. My knowledge of the history and previous storylines concerning Constantine is limited to the movie by the same name. This collection of comics seems to follow along closely to that.

It is nice to see an older comic series get a reboot, if nothing else to bring it back into the main streams vision. That being said this first group of comics seem very unsustainable. I hope I am wrong but only time will tell. I will continue reading them though as this reboot deserves the chance.