r/Hellblazer • u/croaker227 • 13d ago

Starting point

What do you folks consider the best starting place/run/series for Constantine?

EDIT: Thanks everyone. I started with Delano, issue #1

9 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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9

u/Parallel-Lines3538 13d ago

Jamie Delano’s Hellblazer is obviously a great place since it’s his first solo story, but it can be quite slow at points and if you aren’t English there’s a good chance a lot references will go over your head. Garth Ennis’ start to Hellblazer (dangerous habits) is brilliant and tells you pretty much everything you need to know about John, and the rest of his run is great too.

You could also start with Alan Moore’s swamp thing, where John first appears in the American Gothic storyline, but as a supporting character.

5

u/fangsfirst 13d ago

I found that Ennis's Constantine was an entirely other character from Moore's or Delano's (with perhaps the same to be said between those two as well...), so I find it murky as to whether it's "everything you need to know about John". It aggressively deviated from my understanding as I was reading from Swamp Thing to Delano years ago

6

u/eveyinbrunette 13d ago

yeah!! i really really missed how poetic he made john in his inner monologues! i don’t feel like ennis did that

6

u/fangsfirst 13d ago

I thought Constantine having old friends was fucking bizarre on multiple levels.

Why did he never mention people he was THAT close to before? Why on earth had none of them yet realized what a dangerous person he was to be friends with?

Felt like I'd entered an alternate universe...

4

u/eveyinbrunette 13d ago

lool honestly that is a good and interesting critique of ennis

3

u/supremeslice81 12d ago

Perfectly summed up my criticism of the Ennis run, along with how he feels younger

4

u/wildwartortle 13d ago

Honestly? Start with Jamie Delano's hellblazer #1. Some issues are weird. Some are downright off-putting. But the story is gold, and it really gives John the bones of his character.

5

u/Tanthiel 13d ago

Some people will insist Moore's Swamp Thing, but John is basically just a device to drive the plot forward. Almost everything about John as a character comes from Delano.

2

u/IngenuityPositive123 12d ago

Hellblazer #1.