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Hellblazer: Miniseries
Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood
Reprinting the four-issue Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood miniseries.
It's the year 2025. The British monarchy is on its last legs, and John Constantine is still alive and kicking, though he has forsaken the world of magic. But that's all about to change when John's friend Dolly finds herself held captive on a reality TV show about how she's the last surviving heir to the throne.
Various pro- and anti-royalist forces plot out the show's cliffhanger ending with Dolly's life hanging in the balance. But Constantine is in for an even bigger surprise when he finds out that Dolly is pregnant with his child, and it's up to the old mage to decide the course of England's future - and whether to crown his own offspring.
It's the year 2025. The British monarchy is on its last legs, and John Constantine is still alive and kicking, though he has forsaken the world of magic. But that's all about to change when John's friend Dolly finds herself held captive on a reality TV show about how she's the last surviving heir to the throne.
Various pro- and anti-royalist forces plot out the show's cliffhanger ending with Dolly's life hanging in the balance. But Constantine is in for an even bigger surprise when he finds out that Dolly is pregnant with his child, and it's up to the old mage to decide the course of England's future - and whether to crown his own offspring.
180 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Delano
460 books351 followersJamie Delano aka A. William James began writing comics professionally in the early 1980s. Latterly he has been writing prose fiction with "BOOK THIRTEEN" published by his own LEPUS BOOKS imprint (http://www.lepusbooks.co.uk) in 2012, "Leepus | DIZZY" in April 2014, and "Leepus | THE RIVER" in 2017.
Jamie lives in semi-rural Northamptonshire with his partner, Sue. They have three adult children and a considerable distraction of grandchildren.
Jamie lives in semi-rural Northamptonshire with his partner, Sue. They have three adult children and a considerable distraction of grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 20, 2024
This ‘Elseworlds’ book (do they still call them that?) is a pitch perfect satire of the monarchy set in the (very) near future. Great art from Philip Bond works well with the tone of Jamie Delano’s funny yet subversive story. OK, sometimes Constantine feels a little out of character, but this is an alternate version after all.
August 23, 2020
The further away I've gotten from Jamie Delano's original run on Hellblazer, which kicked off the whole series, the more it's vanished from my mind. Upon reading this "Hellblazer" story (quotes heavily emphasized), I'm reminded of his take on the character, and also realize why it's so thoroughly forgettable.
When Delano writes Constantine, he isn't really writing a character. He's writing a cypher for whatever political point he's trying to make. His Constantine is an empty, refillable vessel for Opinions, and the quality of the stories are completely dependent on the aptness of Delano's satire. Unfortunately, a lot of the time the satire itself isn't that sharp, either, so you're left with a character-free social commentary that you can't relate to on any level. "Bad Blood" is all of this writ large.
First of all, I have no idea why this is even a Hellblazer story. First of all, it's set in the future, at a time where simultaneously society is crumbling but also people find the time to deeply care about whether or not England should have a monarch. The main character in the story is not Constantine, who barely shows up at all until the final half and is also 70 years old, but rather Dolly, a woman who is revealed to be a bastard royal child who may stand to inherit the throne since all the royals have gone insane or overdosed or died in other ways that are meant to be satirical but aren't.
The commentary on the royal family is all very been there, done that, The Royals Are All Perverts And Monsters kind of stuff that, y'know, may be true, but isn't particularly incisive. One of the biggest running gags involves a religious sect called the Dianites, who worship Princess Diana and aim to be just like her. It's... incredibly mean? Delano really seems to hate Diana and anyone who ever loved her, pretty viciously making fun of a woman who, when this was published, had been dead for 3 years. It doesn't even factor into the plot. He just really wants to take swipes at a beloved dead woman. Also, the idea that 30 years after her death a religious cult sprung up in honor of her is pretty ludicrous.
The plot in here is borderline unfollowable, as well. Delano's characters constantly speak in Commentary, talking about all that's wrong with the world, and as such rarely give you much of an indication of what they're trying to do, or what they want. It's frustrating and messy, like constantly trying to solve a brain puzzle while someone complains loudly in your ear about Prince Charles.
Toss in the fact that Constantine seems to know literally every random character who shows up to service the plot, and you've got a story that is simultaneously too dense and too thin.
Anyway, I'm bumping this up from 1 star thanks to Philip Bond's great artwork, which at least made this a pleasure to look at. But in the end, this isn't much of anything.
When Delano writes Constantine, he isn't really writing a character. He's writing a cypher for whatever political point he's trying to make. His Constantine is an empty, refillable vessel for Opinions, and the quality of the stories are completely dependent on the aptness of Delano's satire. Unfortunately, a lot of the time the satire itself isn't that sharp, either, so you're left with a character-free social commentary that you can't relate to on any level. "Bad Blood" is all of this writ large.
First of all, I have no idea why this is even a Hellblazer story. First of all, it's set in the future, at a time where simultaneously society is crumbling but also people find the time to deeply care about whether or not England should have a monarch. The main character in the story is not Constantine, who barely shows up at all until the final half and is also 70 years old, but rather Dolly, a woman who is revealed to be a bastard royal child who may stand to inherit the throne since all the royals have gone insane or overdosed or died in other ways that are meant to be satirical but aren't.
The commentary on the royal family is all very been there, done that, The Royals Are All Perverts And Monsters kind of stuff that, y'know, may be true, but isn't particularly incisive. One of the biggest running gags involves a religious sect called the Dianites, who worship Princess Diana and aim to be just like her. It's... incredibly mean? Delano really seems to hate Diana and anyone who ever loved her, pretty viciously making fun of a woman who, when this was published, had been dead for 3 years. It doesn't even factor into the plot. He just really wants to take swipes at a beloved dead woman. Also, the idea that 30 years after her death a religious cult sprung up in honor of her is pretty ludicrous.
The plot in here is borderline unfollowable, as well. Delano's characters constantly speak in Commentary, talking about all that's wrong with the world, and as such rarely give you much of an indication of what they're trying to do, or what they want. It's frustrating and messy, like constantly trying to solve a brain puzzle while someone complains loudly in your ear about Prince Charles.
Toss in the fact that Constantine seems to know literally every random character who shows up to service the plot, and you've got a story that is simultaneously too dense and too thin.
Anyway, I'm bumping this up from 1 star thanks to Philip Bond's great artwork, which at least made this a pleasure to look at. But in the end, this isn't much of anything.
November 6, 2020
Intenta ser una comedia, pero no lo consigue. Es una historia en la que Constantine interviene como personaje mágico muy poco. Sorprendente porque Delano me gusta cuando utiliza a Constantine. El dibujo dificulta entrar en la historia. Prescindible, incluso para los completistas.
October 12, 2015
Delano always liked to shift his genre around when writing Hellblazer, so it shouldn't be a surprise that this is a futuristic story of political intrigue and conspiracy with no magic to be seen. What's more surprising is that this reads like the work of Garth Ennis more than Jamie Delano -- which makes it a pretty good sequel to Ennis' _Royal Blood_.
Overall, this is a fun story that offers up an old Constantine who's still manipulative and controlling. Well worth reading, perhaps right after Hellblazer #83.
Overall, this is a fun story that offers up an old Constantine who's still manipulative and controlling. Well worth reading, perhaps right after Hellblazer #83.
May 19, 2018
classic "bastard constantine" story. character management could have been tighter.
November 16, 2025
Read this special in mini-series format by the dream team of Jamie Delano and Philip Bond when it came out. It's pretty good, and weird to be re-reading it in 2025 e.v, the year the story takes place and 25 years after it was written. It's a complicated allegory referencing the incredible scenes after the relatively recent death of the 'Princess of Hearts', Diana Spencer, and her quasi-hagiographical ascent. It all gets a bit confusing and silly at times, but ends in a satisfactory, good old Constantine con job. A 'restoration comedy', indeed.
May 26, 2024
La idea base me parece interesante (lo del culto a Diana de Galés, increíble), pero simplemente no es mi tipo de historia. La última parte la leí de un tirón.
September 27, 2015
This is quite the departure in writing style for Jamie Delano, it doesn't have that raw, edgy, poetic flare, quite minimalist actually, as far as captions go, so it's Jamie Delano, but it's not really Jamie Delano. Still, it was an interesting read to say the least, though a bit tedious in some regards. It's not the best him you hope to see from John Constantine, but then again, he's seventy two, he's run our of juice.
Want to read
August 17, 2012Le tengo fe a Delano, le tengo fe a Bond, le tengo fe a los libros que creía inconseguibles y encuentro de oferta. A ver con qué me encuentro.
May 31, 2018
Miniserie especial recopilada en castellano. Todavía no se sabe si ECC la reeditará en la nueva colección de 17 libros o de algún otro modo.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews