John Constantine: Blue Collar Warlock

Who has so completely captured the minds and souls, often literally, of comic book readers and occultist devotees than British Warlock John Constantine? Nobody; that’s who. From his early days as a magical consultant to the Swamp Thing in his ever turbulent saga, to the days of Mucus Membrane, to the battle against The First of the Fallen, John Constantine has done what needed doing with an arrogant smile on his face and a heartfelt “fuck you, wanker.” on his lips. Constantine believes, very harshly, that everyone will eventually falter, that Hell claims at least a few fleeting moments in every life.

Hounded by the Holy and Unholy alike, his whole life, even before he was born, and he shall be until someone claims his soul, Constantine has been wheeling and dealing, often backpedaling and double dealing, with the biggest and baddest of mythology, religion, and every sin on earth, since he cursed his father to waste away and ran from home. Drawn into a pocket universe where the Super Heroes of the world seem to have simply faded into nothingness, Constantine was conceived of "really good ideas... about serial killers, the Winchester House, and... want[ing] to draw Sting in a story." says creator Allan Moore.

Having strangled his twin brother with his umbilical cord while they were still in-utero, Constantine literally started out life with a bang and a body at his feet. His mother, Marry Anne, died while giving birth, which left Constantine guilt-ridden his whole life long, and his father blamed him for the loss until John cursed him to waste into nothingness. John and his older sister, Cheryl, had to move from their fathers Liverpool home to their aunt and uncles home in Northampton because their father was arrested, in a drunken stupor, for stealing a neighboring woman’s underwear. With a childhood so riddled with cloak and dagger family matters, so chock full of bad parenting, is it any wonder one of his earliest acts of magic was to round up all of his childhood innocence and vulnerability and pack it into a box just to be rid of it?

John has dealt with the power players of England, America, Heaven, Hell, and every other place rational human’s fear; he’s fought Angels, Demons, Gangsters, and the occasional over-zealous groupie. I say Hellblazer is not only a great comic, but something akin to a warning, a foretelling of things that may yet come, and I beg you all to heed it and read it.