Hellblazer #1-4

Hellblazer #1-4

Originally released in 1988

Written by Jamie Delano

Art by John Ridgway

In Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, John Constantine served as an odd sort of mentor for the titular character, showing up, giving him cryptic hints on where to go or what to do, and recruiting him into a battle of good versus evil on a universal scale.  He got his own series in the form of Hellblazer, which to my understanding is one of Vertigo's flagship series (Vertigo being DC's mature readers imprint), so if I'm going to look into Vertigo, it seems like my best bet is to start there.

While Constantine got some focus in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, showcasing him as someone who is bitter and willing to sacrifice others but ultimately fighting for the greater good (which is on full display here), his own narration creates the feeling of a magic-focused private eye.  He is, quite frankly, a mess - not as bad as some of his allies (including a junkie who inadvertently unleashes a hunger spirit upon the world), but he very clearly doesn't have his life together.

Said hunger spirit takes the form of a massive bug that can split into the form of hundreds or thousands of other insects, possessing people to make them act out their hunger in ways so disturbing that I won't be showing or describing some of them here.  The grime of New York in the 80s is on full display as Constantine has to make a deal with a voodoo-themed crime lord in order to put a stop to this spirit.

With this being the Vertigo imprint, it feels decidedly disconnected from the rest of the DC universe; the tone makes it hard to believe that Superman could theoretically show up at any point.  Constantine is haunted by former allies and acquaintances that his actions got killed, both figuratively and literally as they show up as ghosts throughout the first two issues.

Issue 3 has Constantine going back to England to investigate the deaths of sleazy 80s businessmen who turn out to have made deals with Mammon, the embodiment of greed.  This issue delves headfirst into politics, with an election happening in the background and the dialogue making it very clear that the inhabitants of Hell would prefer the conservative party to win. (I don't know much about British politics, but I get the impression that Margaret Thatcher wasn't popular, or at least she was disliked by writers and Norm MacDonald)

As my knowledge of the stock market is non-existent, some details of the plot were lost on me; it's clear that Constantine managed to trick the demons, but it's unclear (to me at least) how it happened, though maybe it's just mocking how volatile the stock market is and how people tend to sell in a panic.

Issue 4 tackles a considerably more serious topic, as Constantine's niece is abducted by a child murderer while her parents have been sucked into the "Resurrection Crusaders", which is very obviously a cult.  Constantine uses some magic to find his niece's location, but otherwise, the events of this issue are handled with a disturbing realism.

So far, this has a good variety in terms of tone, and I find Constantine to be easy to root for in spite of his more morally ambiguous moments.  I'm glad that I read Alan Moore's Swamp Thing beforehand, as it served as an introduction to Constantine and made it easier to find a starting point for Vertigo.  It's interesting to see how the series can jump between mundane horror, supernatural horror, and mocking the excesses of the 80s in the span of four issues, and while some of the humour was based on topics that I wasn't familiar with, both the magical and mundane horror elements made my skin crawl, so they were effectively written.