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Hellblazer: New Editions
Hellblazer, Vol. 4: The Family Man
Collected for the first time in chronological order and featuring stories by fan-favorite writer Grant Morrison (Batman, Inc., Final Crisis) and the legendary Neil Gaiman (Sandman, American Gods), Family Man continues the arcane adventures of Vertigo's chain-smoking magician John Constantine. In this volume, Constantine attempts a vacation after recent events, but as usual, things don't go as planned. Plus, Constantine must uncover the mystery of the murderous Family Man.
Collecting: Hellblazer 23-33
Collecting: Hellblazer 23-33
288 pages, Paperback
First published November 20, 2012
140 people are currently reading
673 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Delano
462 books348 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 - 30 of 168 reviews
September 21, 2020
The main thrust of these stories is The Family Man. John inadvertently encounters a serial killer and there's a game of cat and mouse between the two of them as they try and hunt each other down. There's a break after the first issue of The Family Man where Grant Morrison writes a two part Wicker Man type story and Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean do a one off. I was disappointed in both stories given both writers' pedigrees. There's a few other Delano one issue stories, none of which thrilled me. After reading all these Delano John Constantine stories I realized that I don't care much for Jamie Delano's writing. It's boring and meandering, circling any kind of point for pages and pages with flowery exposition. Just get to the goddamn point.
August 27, 2020
I zipped through #23-33 in one day and it never occurred to me once to think "serial killer story = clichéd". After all, common though they may be in crime fiction, it is a break from John Constantine's usual manor, the supernatural. But it wasn't just that, it was the way the story was woven around him, fitting the character's world and what we know of him, while also introducing new features of his backstory. Ergo 5 stars.
Right from the first Constantine storylines in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, he's been a protagonist who evidently has a whole life going on beyond the page. We just read some highlights. The main device used to create this impression is that Constantine already knows so many people the reader has either never seen him with before (existing characters in the DC universe in Swamp Thing) or who are newly introduced to the story.
As Constantine's mates tend to come a cropper fairly quickly once they are drawn into a case, the writer has to keep inventing new, interesting characters all the time, who are nonetheless not new to JC himself. One of my favourites among these (even if he has been doing something truly dreadful) is eccentric antiques-warehouse owner and general wheeler-dealer Gerry in issue 23. Based in Northampton, with a big beard like a wizard from a fantasy story, a larger-than-life chap on whom a number of his writer acquaintances have based fictional characters, I get the impression that in Gerry, Jamie Delano was saying in recursive metafictional fashion, "this is what it feels like being friends with Alan Moore". (And because of Moore, who recommended Delano to write Hellblazer, Delano ended up on quite an epic mission - as, in a more troubling and hazardous way, JC does because of Gerry.) The panoramas of Gerry's antique storage rooms and accounts books are delightful, like a puzzle game to spot as many references to mythology, classic stories and late 20th century current affairs as you can.
And I think Jasper Fforde owes Delano an apology, at least. The characters from classic novels policing Gerry - a man who, by being featured, thinly disguised in too many novels, has crossed the line between real life and fiction - read like something straight out of the Thursday Next series. The first book in which was published over ten years after this comic. The conceit is more amusing here too - speaking as one of those who thought it wore thin when used for entire novels - it was perfect for a few pages of a comic. Fforde's novels are even, likewise, based in a notoriously humdrum English locale (Swindon) known to the rest of the country chiefly for business correspondence and train stations. (And, not Fforde, but what reused the 'convention for serial killers' idea found later in this story?)
One of the many little things I like about Delano's Constantine is the character's ambivalent relationship with the world of what would now be called normies. Just as a usage of the word "cloying" sparked, for me, a disproportionate glow of recognition in an earlier issue (in The Fear Machine I think, so here with his describing as "tacky" a series of entries for a putative TV show about 'Britain's Happiest Families'. This is not his world, and the examples shown on earlier pages by Delano are rather suffocating (and written for an audience who'd find them that way). Regardless, letting someone get away with murdering them - as does the serial killer of the title, 'The Family Man' - is utterly unacceptable to JC and so he has to get on with stopping him. Even when it gets personal, and even though 'serial killer getting personal with a detective' is such a massive cliché of crime fiction, it makes complete sense here because it springs naturally from both their lives and stories, as if it had never had anything to do with hackneyed tropes. And because JC is not police, it isn't that old thing of 'serial killer taunts police' that has happened thousands more times in fiction than it ever did IRL, it's a prolonged battle of wits between two shady characters. (My only complaint is that the conclusion creates another potential loose end. An awful lot of loose ends build up around Constantine. However, I've never read this many serial comics before, and mostly read standalone litfic and classics, so perhaps that's simply characteristic of the form, and they have a purpose as potential inspiration for future writers.)
Although Delano's 'Family Man' storyline is interrupted for three issues by guest stories from other writers, and that seems to frustrate some readers of this collected edition, I was glad to read the comics in original release order here, and for me it also created extra suspense.
I can't believe this is the first time I've read something by Grant Morrison. He's such a familiar name, and one of those writers who's been in the background of my life for so long, that this is just incongruous. Round about twenty years ago, and lasting through the 00s, there was a forum called Barbelith, which started out as discussion for Grant Morrison fans, but covered many other topics. In the early-to-mid 00s, it was the only place I knew of where there was high-quality online discussion of several topics that interested me, but I was intimidated about joining in (which I now see is because of how tired and at-least-low-level ill I was most of the time then, and I had so little energy left after work or study). Most of the really interesting people I ran into in other communities seemed to count Barbelith as one of their main hangouts. Then it turned out my old flatmate, the only person I've ever really been comfortable living with, had also been on it and it was where he met his partner; they are still together. And then I got to know another bunch of people, including fans of Grant Morrison's comics, and since I joined GR I've been seeing reviews of his work at least a few times a year in the feed.
Obviously two decades of build-up is a lot to live up to. The writing in #25-26 / 'Early Warning' was sharp, but I didn't find it as different from Delano's as I was expecting. (Though in #27, Neil Gaiman sounded thoroughly Neil Gaiman.) Rather it was David Lloyd's art, which I'd already encountered in The Horrorist (in collected HB vol 2) that was most distinctive here. He conveys greyness and alienation superbly. The storyline was well done, topical for its time and in tune with the series' outlook (Yorkshire ex-pit village hollowed out by Thatcherism, also has a nuclear airbase nearby) but not very original. It basically transposes to another part of the country, and scales up, an incident from Delano's Fear Machine story. It takes advantage of one of the aforementioned loose ends, that the Fear Machine project hadn't been totally closed down. One detail stood out as particularly amenable to contemporary young readers with high expectations of representation of marginalised people in comics: JC's old flame Una, who was in the Ravenscar psych hospital with him, has a good job as a magazine photographer and this isn't a big deal - kind of reminiscent of a very personal Guardian column by Hannah Parkinson a year or two ago. (Conversely, in #29 there's a consent issue that seems unlikely to pass muster with the same audience.) Folk horror has become fashionable again in recent years, another aspect of this story which has aged well - although it's been a long time since the nuclear issue was a major focus for protests the way it was in the late 1980s. The angle of the folk horror is perhaps what differentiates Morrison's take most from Delano's. Delano seems very positive about paganism (in The Fear Machine) to an extent I can't really see him writing such a sinister spin on folk traditions as this.
In #26 there was an eerily prescient reference, sandwiched as it is between instalments of a story about a serial killer who'd been active since the 1970s and not been caught: Cromwell Street. (British serial killers Fred and Rose West, caught in 1994, lived on Cromwell Street, Gloucester, and if you were old enough to take in news at the time, the months of reports about investigations at that address will have stuck with you.)
Forward-looking in a more subtle way is 'The Family Man's minor theme of how the elderly aren't always as harmless as they seem (complete with barbed placement of an Age Concern ad in one panel). In the Thatcher years, pensioner poverty was a serious issue and there was quite a lot of sympathy and respect for the elderly, many of whom had fought in WWII. Yet that is invisible now to readers who don't remember 80s-90s Britain, as what's here merely looks like it's in tune with the present, (in the UK) where pensioners are the only group who receive reliably secure welfare benefits that are just about adequate for quite a lot of people to live on, and (internationally) with "OK Boomer".
I've heard tell in reviews and blogs about the small problems Constantine sometimes addresses, just local ghosts and things, and have been looking forward to reading these, when they turned up. Gaiman's 'Hold Me' story (#27) is one such, which includes a social connection via a character from the very first HB comics, and a theme of homelessness (which is more meaningful than it would be with many protagonists, as Constantine himself often only has a place to stay via sofa surfing or squatting). #32 is another of these 'small' stories, which I liked for its alternative spin on what initially looked like a common type of monster.
Otherwise, this collection is notable mostly for its fleshing out of Constantine's background. The time in which these comics were written (1989-90) is ever-present: references to BSE, a headline 'PM to sack entire cabinet' alongside a pic of Thatcher; his niece's posters of the Happy Mondays and James - and old Cockneys who still admire the Krays. But they dig into the past, when teenage JC got expelled from school during the Summer of Love and his father "wanted a son who was one of the boys -- not some freak who locked himself in his room with weird music, incense and books about magic". His dad burnt some of the books.
When a policeman looks him up illicitly and says what he found, the status of some things from earlier issues fall into place. "No current trace or wanted tags on him -- but he's always in the background. He did two years in Ravenscar after a highly dodgy accidental death of a minor. Known associates? Plenty - but they nearly all check out dead. Credit cards, social security, Inland Revenue? You're joking, he's the invisible man. We have got a father listed, though."
But when Constantine Snr. says to his son "You always were a pussy when it came to fighting," I figure that's going to be retconned pretty rapidly. And already at this point in the series, maybe JC doesn't do many fistfights, but he certainly has balls of steel as far as some other types of fights are concerned; though quite often it's the sort of bravery where he doesn't feel he has a choice, it just has to be done.
Constantine says, reminiscing about Gerry after finding out how low his old friend had fallen, so low that even JC was shocked: "He had a verve, a recklessness which I admired -- emulated if I'm honest." It's a very modern moment: the fall of a former hero. (Albeit said by a character who's pretty unreconstructed himself by today's standards.) Though it's also maybe an age thing that a lot of people go through as they get older - JC would be in his late thirties at this point. But it was nice to run into just a few weeks after a conversation with an ex from many years ago whom I'm still friends with where we talked about various hellraisers and crazies we'd each thought it was cool to imitate in our late teens & early twenties.
The art in 'The Family Man' story, by Ron Tiner and Sean Phillips, has nice clean lines like traditional comics art and I like it a lot better than the messier art of some of the earlier issues. (Also bonus of JC being better looking more often, or at all.)
Unfortunately this otherwise very good sequence ends with the damp squib of issue #33, which seems meant to show that even vagabond magicians from comics experience boring days. That should be a funny concept, in the hands of the right writer, but instead it's boring itself. If I were ranking individual issues through the whole series (which I'm mostly not because that would take ages) it would be bottom - with #23 at the top. It was kind of interesting in the way it covered early 90s trends like organics, new age spirituality, and faux-ethical entrepreneurship via JC's old bandmate Martin Peters (but only because I was in my early teens then, and what was here expanded on my limited observations from an expensive suburb where there were boutiques that sold bales of of beige clothing to well-off women who spent less time at work and more on fashion than my mother did). A succession of panels in which every word of conversation was an anagram proved too much hard work to be fun. And one of Delano's minor themes is arguably too overt here when JC gets a stomach upset in reaction to overly fancy food paid for by pretentious fake people. Through the series so far, he has made Constantine embodied by giving him a lot of literal gut reactions: Delano's Constantine feels almost every physical-emotional or instinctive reaction, in his gut, rather than some being experienced there and some in his spine or his legs or skin or as headaches or other sensations. Agreeing with or criticising a character feature like this is always going to be personal, as individuals are physically wired to feel these things differently.
I didn't read the final inclusion in this collection, Vertigo Secret Files as this is a lot of character background material from 2000 - ten years after these issues were published. I've already given myself enough spoilers via reviews, wikis and articles from comics sites and didn't want any more. It's a strange item to put here. Don't know why they didn't put it in a later collection including issues from that time.
But the rest of what was here was so good, as far as I'm concerned, that these two pieces near the end didn't seriously detract. There's a poignant theme here in which two or three times over, Constantine wants to, and tries to, undo the consequences of his previous actions, but there's only a small amount he can do; the best he can manage is to stop things getting ever worse. That is likely to strike a chord with many readers of a cynical comic - and it's also a very Dark Age retort to traditional superheroes and their extensive powers. Even if grimdark itself became a cliché after a while, this conclusion feels powerfully satirical once again, a bump back down to reality, when read after Avengers: Endgame.
(read & reviewed August 2020)
Right from the first Constantine storylines in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, he's been a protagonist who evidently has a whole life going on beyond the page. We just read some highlights. The main device used to create this impression is that Constantine already knows so many people the reader has either never seen him with before (existing characters in the DC universe in Swamp Thing) or who are newly introduced to the story.
As Constantine's mates tend to come a cropper fairly quickly once they are drawn into a case, the writer has to keep inventing new, interesting characters all the time, who are nonetheless not new to JC himself. One of my favourites among these (even if he has been doing something truly dreadful) is eccentric antiques-warehouse owner and general wheeler-dealer Gerry in issue 23. Based in Northampton, with a big beard like a wizard from a fantasy story, a larger-than-life chap on whom a number of his writer acquaintances have based fictional characters, I get the impression that in Gerry, Jamie Delano was saying in recursive metafictional fashion, "this is what it feels like being friends with Alan Moore". (And because of Moore, who recommended Delano to write Hellblazer, Delano ended up on quite an epic mission - as, in a more troubling and hazardous way, JC does because of Gerry.) The panoramas of Gerry's antique storage rooms and accounts books are delightful, like a puzzle game to spot as many references to mythology, classic stories and late 20th century current affairs as you can.
And I think Jasper Fforde owes Delano an apology, at least. The characters from classic novels policing Gerry - a man who, by being featured, thinly disguised in too many novels, has crossed the line between real life and fiction - read like something straight out of the Thursday Next series. The first book in which was published over ten years after this comic. The conceit is more amusing here too - speaking as one of those who thought it wore thin when used for entire novels - it was perfect for a few pages of a comic. Fforde's novels are even, likewise, based in a notoriously humdrum English locale (Swindon) known to the rest of the country chiefly for business correspondence and train stations. (And, not Fforde, but what reused the 'convention for serial killers' idea found later in this story?)
One of the many little things I like about Delano's Constantine is the character's ambivalent relationship with the world of what would now be called normies. Just as a usage of the word "cloying" sparked, for me, a disproportionate glow of recognition in an earlier issue (in The Fear Machine I think, so here with his describing as "tacky" a series of entries for a putative TV show about 'Britain's Happiest Families'. This is not his world, and the examples shown on earlier pages by Delano are rather suffocating (and written for an audience who'd find them that way). Regardless, letting someone get away with murdering them - as does the serial killer of the title, 'The Family Man' - is utterly unacceptable to JC and so he has to get on with stopping him. Even when it gets personal, and even though 'serial killer getting personal with a detective' is such a massive cliché of crime fiction, it makes complete sense here because it springs naturally from both their lives and stories, as if it had never had anything to do with hackneyed tropes. And because JC is not police, it isn't that old thing of 'serial killer taunts police' that has happened thousands more times in fiction than it ever did IRL, it's a prolonged battle of wits between two shady characters. (My only complaint is that the conclusion creates another potential loose end. An awful lot of loose ends build up around Constantine. However, I've never read this many serial comics before, and mostly read standalone litfic and classics, so perhaps that's simply characteristic of the form, and they have a purpose as potential inspiration for future writers.)
Although Delano's 'Family Man' storyline is interrupted for three issues by guest stories from other writers, and that seems to frustrate some readers of this collected edition, I was glad to read the comics in original release order here, and for me it also created extra suspense.
I can't believe this is the first time I've read something by Grant Morrison. He's such a familiar name, and one of those writers who's been in the background of my life for so long, that this is just incongruous. Round about twenty years ago, and lasting through the 00s, there was a forum called Barbelith, which started out as discussion for Grant Morrison fans, but covered many other topics. In the early-to-mid 00s, it was the only place I knew of where there was high-quality online discussion of several topics that interested me, but I was intimidated about joining in (which I now see is because of how tired and at-least-low-level ill I was most of the time then, and I had so little energy left after work or study). Most of the really interesting people I ran into in other communities seemed to count Barbelith as one of their main hangouts. Then it turned out my old flatmate, the only person I've ever really been comfortable living with, had also been on it and it was where he met his partner; they are still together. And then I got to know another bunch of people, including fans of Grant Morrison's comics, and since I joined GR I've been seeing reviews of his work at least a few times a year in the feed.
Obviously two decades of build-up is a lot to live up to. The writing in #25-26 / 'Early Warning' was sharp, but I didn't find it as different from Delano's as I was expecting. (Though in #27, Neil Gaiman sounded thoroughly Neil Gaiman.) Rather it was David Lloyd's art, which I'd already encountered in The Horrorist (in collected HB vol 2) that was most distinctive here. He conveys greyness and alienation superbly. The storyline was well done, topical for its time and in tune with the series' outlook (Yorkshire ex-pit village hollowed out by Thatcherism, also has a nuclear airbase nearby) but not very original. It basically transposes to another part of the country, and scales up, an incident from Delano's Fear Machine story. It takes advantage of one of the aforementioned loose ends, that the Fear Machine project hadn't been totally closed down. One detail stood out as particularly amenable to contemporary young readers with high expectations of representation of marginalised people in comics: JC's old flame Una, who was in the Ravenscar psych hospital with him, has a good job as a magazine photographer and this isn't a big deal - kind of reminiscent of a very personal Guardian column by Hannah Parkinson a year or two ago. (Conversely, in #29 there's a consent issue that seems unlikely to pass muster with the same audience.) Folk horror has become fashionable again in recent years, another aspect of this story which has aged well - although it's been a long time since the nuclear issue was a major focus for protests the way it was in the late 1980s. The angle of the folk horror is perhaps what differentiates Morrison's take most from Delano's. Delano seems very positive about paganism (in The Fear Machine) to an extent I can't really see him writing such a sinister spin on folk traditions as this.
In #26 there was an eerily prescient reference, sandwiched as it is between instalments of a story about a serial killer who'd been active since the 1970s and not been caught: Cromwell Street. (British serial killers Fred and Rose West, caught in 1994, lived on Cromwell Street, Gloucester, and if you were old enough to take in news at the time, the months of reports about investigations at that address will have stuck with you.)
Forward-looking in a more subtle way is 'The Family Man's minor theme of how the elderly aren't always as harmless as they seem (complete with barbed placement of an Age Concern ad in one panel). In the Thatcher years, pensioner poverty was a serious issue and there was quite a lot of sympathy and respect for the elderly, many of whom had fought in WWII. Yet that is invisible now to readers who don't remember 80s-90s Britain, as what's here merely looks like it's in tune with the present, (in the UK) where pensioners are the only group who receive reliably secure welfare benefits that are just about adequate for quite a lot of people to live on, and (internationally) with "OK Boomer".
I've heard tell in reviews and blogs about the small problems Constantine sometimes addresses, just local ghosts and things, and have been looking forward to reading these, when they turned up. Gaiman's 'Hold Me' story (#27) is one such, which includes a social connection via a character from the very first HB comics, and a theme of homelessness (which is more meaningful than it would be with many protagonists, as Constantine himself often only has a place to stay via sofa surfing or squatting). #32 is another of these 'small' stories, which I liked for its alternative spin on what initially looked like a common type of monster.
Otherwise, this collection is notable mostly for its fleshing out of Constantine's background. The time in which these comics were written (1989-90) is ever-present: references to BSE, a headline 'PM to sack entire cabinet' alongside a pic of Thatcher; his niece's posters of the Happy Mondays and James - and old Cockneys who still admire the Krays. But they dig into the past, when teenage JC got expelled from school during the Summer of Love and his father "wanted a son who was one of the boys -- not some freak who locked himself in his room with weird music, incense and books about magic". His dad burnt some of the books.
When a policeman looks him up illicitly and says what he found, the status of some things from earlier issues fall into place. "No current trace or wanted tags on him -- but he's always in the background. He did two years in Ravenscar after a highly dodgy accidental death of a minor. Known associates? Plenty - but they nearly all check out dead. Credit cards, social security, Inland Revenue? You're joking, he's the invisible man. We have got a father listed, though."
But when Constantine Snr. says to his son "You always were a pussy when it came to fighting," I figure that's going to be retconned pretty rapidly. And already at this point in the series, maybe JC doesn't do many fistfights, but he certainly has balls of steel as far as some other types of fights are concerned; though quite often it's the sort of bravery where he doesn't feel he has a choice, it just has to be done.
Constantine says, reminiscing about Gerry after finding out how low his old friend had fallen, so low that even JC was shocked: "He had a verve, a recklessness which I admired -- emulated if I'm honest." It's a very modern moment: the fall of a former hero. (Albeit said by a character who's pretty unreconstructed himself by today's standards.) Though it's also maybe an age thing that a lot of people go through as they get older - JC would be in his late thirties at this point. But it was nice to run into just a few weeks after a conversation with an ex from many years ago whom I'm still friends with where we talked about various hellraisers and crazies we'd each thought it was cool to imitate in our late teens & early twenties.
The art in 'The Family Man' story, by Ron Tiner and Sean Phillips, has nice clean lines like traditional comics art and I like it a lot better than the messier art of some of the earlier issues. (Also bonus of JC being better looking more often, or at all.)
Unfortunately this otherwise very good sequence ends with the damp squib of issue #33, which seems meant to show that even vagabond magicians from comics experience boring days. That should be a funny concept, in the hands of the right writer, but instead it's boring itself. If I were ranking individual issues through the whole series (which I'm mostly not because that would take ages) it would be bottom - with #23 at the top. It was kind of interesting in the way it covered early 90s trends like organics, new age spirituality, and faux-ethical entrepreneurship via JC's old bandmate Martin Peters (but only because I was in my early teens then, and what was here expanded on my limited observations from an expensive suburb where there were boutiques that sold bales of of beige clothing to well-off women who spent less time at work and more on fashion than my mother did). A succession of panels in which every word of conversation was an anagram proved too much hard work to be fun. And one of Delano's minor themes is arguably too overt here when JC gets a stomach upset in reaction to overly fancy food paid for by pretentious fake people. Through the series so far, he has made Constantine embodied by giving him a lot of literal gut reactions: Delano's Constantine feels almost every physical-emotional or instinctive reaction, in his gut, rather than some being experienced there and some in his spine or his legs or skin or as headaches or other sensations. Agreeing with or criticising a character feature like this is always going to be personal, as individuals are physically wired to feel these things differently.
I didn't read the final inclusion in this collection, Vertigo Secret Files as this is a lot of character background material from 2000 - ten years after these issues were published. I've already given myself enough spoilers via reviews, wikis and articles from comics sites and didn't want any more. It's a strange item to put here. Don't know why they didn't put it in a later collection including issues from that time.
But the rest of what was here was so good, as far as I'm concerned, that these two pieces near the end didn't seriously detract. There's a poignant theme here in which two or three times over, Constantine wants to, and tries to, undo the consequences of his previous actions, but there's only a small amount he can do; the best he can manage is to stop things getting ever worse. That is likely to strike a chord with many readers of a cynical comic - and it's also a very Dark Age retort to traditional superheroes and their extensive powers. Even if grimdark itself became a cliché after a while, this conclusion feels powerfully satirical once again, a bump back down to reality, when read after Avengers: Endgame.
(read & reviewed August 2020)
February 7, 2017
3.5
One, I miss demons. Two, I prefer the TV series Constantine if for no other reason than his appearance is consistent.
This volume is pretty good. It takes place weeks after they fished him out of the ocean. He went to recuperate at a friend's house in a small town. The first issue gets him close to a serial killer called The Family Man in the press. He usually leaves one member alive, but he always kills the children. The serial killer story is the main thread of the volume.
Each issue has its own theme and the artists are not the same. The worst for me is Neil Gaiman 's story - Hold me. It is hard to read, the colours are somehow wrong and even though the idea is interesting, it feels unfinished.
This volume is demon-less. This is not to say there isn't anything paranormal going on. There are sounds that can wake up the deepest and worst desires and behaviour in people. Even Constantine isn't immune to them. Then there are fictional characters coming to life chasing other characters for one reason or the other. There are undead and ghosts; we can't forget ghosts. Still, no real demons.
As for Constantine himself, he is his usual philosophical self and here he even gets the chance to right his childhood wrongs.
One, I miss demons. Two, I prefer the TV series Constantine if for no other reason than his appearance is consistent.
This volume is pretty good. It takes place weeks after they fished him out of the ocean. He went to recuperate at a friend's house in a small town. The first issue gets him close to a serial killer called The Family Man in the press. He usually leaves one member alive, but he always kills the children. The serial killer story is the main thread of the volume.
Each issue has its own theme and the artists are not the same. The worst for me is Neil Gaiman 's story - Hold me. It is hard to read, the colours are somehow wrong and even though the idea is interesting, it feels unfinished.
This volume is demon-less. This is not to say there isn't anything paranormal going on. There are sounds that can wake up the deepest and worst desires and behaviour in people. Even Constantine isn't immune to them. Then there are fictional characters coming to life chasing other characters for one reason or the other. There are undead and ghosts; we can't forget ghosts. Still, no real demons.
As for Constantine himself, he is his usual philosophical self and here he even gets the chance to right his childhood wrongs.
February 27, 2022
And so another instalment of the ground breaking Vertigo Hellblazer series has been completed - this edition contains stories from the late 80s and early 90s (wow I cannot believe it was that long ago). True these are not necessarily sequential - part of the appeal of this series is that the book showcases the stories in their intended order rather than their published one (I am no expert on this series, after all that is the reason I am reading it, so I cannot really declare how outrageous this statement is or not)
The book contains a number of short (single issue) stories as well as a longer more indepth (and brutal) story that this volume takes its name from. As you can imagine there are a number of styles presented here, so more easier to follow than others however what really surprised me was how much I recognised in style and format as well as the writing. Then again considering how influential this series was on the comic book world and what it ushered in it is hardly surprising that I would see the connection.
The book contains a number of short (single issue) stories as well as a longer more indepth (and brutal) story that this volume takes its name from. As you can imagine there are a number of styles presented here, so more easier to follow than others however what really surprised me was how much I recognised in style and format as well as the writing. Then again considering how influential this series was on the comic book world and what it ushered in it is hardly surprising that I would see the connection.
September 11, 2015
Ah good writers make all the difference (and this is gonna the first time I say "wow Grant Morrison is not a bad storyteller").
Rereading Fear Machine after so many years last arc was not a good experience, I found it overly long and convoluted and paced poorly, so going into Family man I was a bit worried as we are going into some of the most memorable stories of my Hellblazer reading history. So how does this arc fare? Wonderfully awesome, a true testament to what a good writer brings to a book:
World: The art is still 80s art and I'm still having trouble adjusting to it, I've read so many comics over the years and I've seen the slow change from pen and paper to now digital and jumping back to 80s wow it's ugly. The world building this time around, is still just as strong, this has not been Hellblazer's problem, his world is interesting and deep and full of interesting places, scenarios and people, the world building is just as strong.
Story: Man, this is what happens when you have good writers writing good stories and also Delano finally finding his groove again. I won't go into story details as I don't want to spoil it but let's start with Family Man, it's paced well, the story is clear and easy to follow, the dialog is fun and John is introspective as always. The villain and the story this time around is just intimate and frightening it's a really good Hellblazer story. Enter Grant Morrison with his tale, I'll be the first to tell you I'm not a fan of his work with DC comics but man is he ever good here. His tale is intimate, it's creepy and paced wonderfully. I found it to be an awesome 2 part Twilight Zone episode. The ending was very Hellblazer and the story was just different enough to not be a better version of Fear Machine. Neil Gaiman, what can I say, he is a writing God, his one shot story is simple, but heartbreaking and moving, this is a master storyteller telling an intimate tale that makes John so much more human and empathetic than his huge chunks of internal monologue. The art also in those tales is way better than the main Delano stories and the art makes for better storytelling. Really really good stuff!
Characters: John is just as deep, sure there is still the huge chunks of internal dialog which is a staple for this series but man this time Morrison and Gaiman bring a whole new level of development that doesn't require huge chunks of dialog. This time the art is there to support the tales, these tales are simple in their execution but pull on a specific development of John as a character and man does it ever pay off. This is just awesome stuff and paints a much more human and flawed picture of John than huge chunks of dialog will.
This is by far the best arc since the first trade, it took 2 really poor trades to get here, but man it's worth it, the next arc is iconic and should be amazing!
Onward with the next book!
Rereading Fear Machine after so many years last arc was not a good experience, I found it overly long and convoluted and paced poorly, so going into Family man I was a bit worried as we are going into some of the most memorable stories of my Hellblazer reading history. So how does this arc fare? Wonderfully awesome, a true testament to what a good writer brings to a book:
World: The art is still 80s art and I'm still having trouble adjusting to it, I've read so many comics over the years and I've seen the slow change from pen and paper to now digital and jumping back to 80s wow it's ugly. The world building this time around, is still just as strong, this has not been Hellblazer's problem, his world is interesting and deep and full of interesting places, scenarios and people, the world building is just as strong.
Story: Man, this is what happens when you have good writers writing good stories and also Delano finally finding his groove again. I won't go into story details as I don't want to spoil it but let's start with Family Man, it's paced well, the story is clear and easy to follow, the dialog is fun and John is introspective as always. The villain and the story this time around is just intimate and frightening it's a really good Hellblazer story. Enter Grant Morrison with his tale, I'll be the first to tell you I'm not a fan of his work with DC comics but man is he ever good here. His tale is intimate, it's creepy and paced wonderfully. I found it to be an awesome 2 part Twilight Zone episode. The ending was very Hellblazer and the story was just different enough to not be a better version of Fear Machine. Neil Gaiman, what can I say, he is a writing God, his one shot story is simple, but heartbreaking and moving, this is a master storyteller telling an intimate tale that makes John so much more human and empathetic than his huge chunks of internal monologue. The art also in those tales is way better than the main Delano stories and the art makes for better storytelling. Really really good stuff!
Characters: John is just as deep, sure there is still the huge chunks of internal dialog which is a staple for this series but man this time Morrison and Gaiman bring a whole new level of development that doesn't require huge chunks of dialog. This time the art is there to support the tales, these tales are simple in their execution but pull on a specific development of John as a character and man does it ever pay off. This is just awesome stuff and paints a much more human and flawed picture of John than huge chunks of dialog will.
This is by far the best arc since the first trade, it took 2 really poor trades to get here, but man it's worth it, the next arc is iconic and should be amazing!
Onward with the next book!
February 27, 2025
Firstly, I didn't actually read this collected edition but read the individual issues on DC Infinite.
And then, I didn't read every issue collected in this. I skipped issues #25-27 and 32-33.
The biggest thing I got out of this 'Family Man' story line is that John is a flawed character. He can be selfish and give into his fears.
I liked how we were able to see moments where John was more caring, like with his niece.
It's good because it makes him more human but some of the things he does makes it hard for me to relate to him.
I also appreciated the sort of epilogue to the story line in issue #31. Though, I still think the ghost grandpa getting into bed with his granddaughter, terrifying her is creepy AF.
As this has a sort of connection to a Sandman story line, I read them consecutively and the difference in art style's is quite jarring. I definitely have a preference.
And then, I didn't read every issue collected in this. I skipped issues #25-27 and 32-33.
The biggest thing I got out of this 'Family Man' story line is that John is a flawed character. He can be selfish and give into his fears.
I liked how we were able to see moments where John was more caring, like with his niece.
It's good because it makes him more human but some of the things he does makes it hard for me to relate to him.
I also appreciated the sort of epilogue to the story line in issue #31. Though, I still think the ghost grandpa getting into bed with his granddaughter, terrifying her is creepy AF.
As this has a sort of connection to a Sandman story line, I read them consecutively and the difference in art style's is quite jarring. I definitely have a preference.
September 6, 2019
Well finally we get a good main arc in this series but the rest? Meh.
So the main arc is The Family Man, and it's actually really good. An old guy is going around and basically possesses people to kill their family. From a little kid smashing his mother and father's brains in and so on. So John decides to go head to head with him but not without losing someone in the fight. Not to mention even the aftermath is pretty interesting. Neil Gaiman's story is also pretty good for a one shot.
But the rest of the stories in here are pretty dull. Morrison's story did nothing for me and the last two issues in here were a drag to get through. Fucking dog issue was horrible.
Overall, better than the previous two volumes but nothing amazing. Finally moving on to volume 5 which would be Ennis's start. This is a 3 out of 5 at best.
So the main arc is The Family Man, and it's actually really good. An old guy is going around and basically possesses people to kill their family. From a little kid smashing his mother and father's brains in and so on. So John decides to go head to head with him but not without losing someone in the fight. Not to mention even the aftermath is pretty interesting. Neil Gaiman's story is also pretty good for a one shot.
But the rest of the stories in here are pretty dull. Morrison's story did nothing for me and the last two issues in here were a drag to get through. Fucking dog issue was horrible.
Overall, better than the previous two volumes but nothing amazing. Finally moving on to volume 5 which would be Ennis's start. This is a 3 out of 5 at best.
September 24, 2015
I was going to give this three stars, but I thought about it and realized I only liked maybe one or two of the issues. I will admit I am a pretty big fan of occult detective stories, and the idea of Constantine does appeal. What I didn't like were very few of the stories in this volume are what I would call occult detective in theme. Some toe the line. Most are about the wreckage of human evil on society. That's not my thing. I like my monsters non-human (or once human). We have stories that go from a serial killer who preys on families to an underground scientific facility that broadcasts sonic waves that cause people to tap into the darkest aspects of their subconscious. The prose story at the end was more along what I expected, although it very dark in theme and content. Of course, the story in the aftermath of Constantine's battle with the Family Man on his family was definitely an bonafide occult detective story, but not in the old school/classic horror kind of way. Very much in the vein of 90s era Constantine though.
What I did like was that even though no one would call Constantine an upstanding man, he showed that he does believe in right and wrong, when confronted with the Family Man. He had to make a tough decision that I believe that any human who is not a bonafide sociopath would struggle with. He comes out of it shaken deeply. I think that while Constantine is very much antiheroic, he has a kernel of goodness deep inside. It does come out in most of these stories, well mostly.
So far, I'm not really that enthused with the original run of Constantine. Your mileage may vary. I'll not give up, but this is not a graphic novel series I will read back to back.
Overall rating: 2.5/5.0 stars.
What I did like was that even though no one would call Constantine an upstanding man, he showed that he does believe in right and wrong, when confronted with the Family Man. He had to make a tough decision that I believe that any human who is not a bonafide sociopath would struggle with. He comes out of it shaken deeply. I think that while Constantine is very much antiheroic, he has a kernel of goodness deep inside. It does come out in most of these stories, well mostly.
So far, I'm not really that enthused with the original run of Constantine. Your mileage may vary. I'll not give up, but this is not a graphic novel series I will read back to back.
Overall rating: 2.5/5.0 stars.
November 22, 2014
In the midst of the Hellblazer inaugral run by Jamie Delano, there were a couple of notable guest writers that submitted a few fill-in issues. In fact, Gaiman and McKean's contribution for Hellblazer #29 would be enough to give this collection five-stars. Still, this is a stand-out arc by Delano as COnstantine took on a serial killer.
Hellblazer was a bastion of excellent writing during this era of comics.
Hellblazer was a bastion of excellent writing during this era of comics.
December 20, 2012
An interesting mix of stories in this fourth volume. The main Family Man story is excellent and chilling, especially since it sees Constantine battling a human foe rather than a magical one. I do wish that it didn't have both Grant Morrison's insane 2-parter and Neil Gaiman's superb done in one planted smack bang in the middle of it however; both fill-ins are great, but really disrupt the flow of the story overall. The final few issues of the trade are good aftermath, though the meaning of the final issue, 'Sundays Are Different' kind of escaped me. The final prose story at the back was a nice way to end the volume too.
June 17, 2021
The Fourth Volume of Hellblazer was very good. Its only true weakness is the execrable art.
Delano has John Constantine taking a break from dealing with demons to dealing with strange people. The first story about a character from a book who has chosen to be a real person, reminded me of the premise for the "Fables" comic series. The very next story introduces the Family Man serial killer.
What is interesting about this tale is that JC has no desire to get involved and has actually helped the Family Man select his victims, albeit unknowingly. The Family Man story takes a break with 3 issues of guest writers. In this case it was a 2 issue story by Grant Morrison loosely inspired by Dr. Strangeglove and then a single issue story by Neil Gaiman.
Both the guest stories were good. Gaiman's was touching. Then we move back to the Family Man story and finish the volume with two single issue stories. One about a possessed junkyard dog and one about JC spending a "normal" Sunday.
Overall, this is some truly interesting and original work. Constantine is a character that you at once despise and admire. The people in the stories tend to treat him the same way. He is complex and unapologetic. It is a shame, though understandable in light of the time, that the art never does justice to the quality of the writing. That is a shame since some of these stories would look really interesting in the hands of a better artist.
A classic work of modern dystopian horror. Hellblazer is certainly the best way to get a true feel for the character of Constantine.
Delano has John Constantine taking a break from dealing with demons to dealing with strange people. The first story about a character from a book who has chosen to be a real person, reminded me of the premise for the "Fables" comic series. The very next story introduces the Family Man serial killer.
What is interesting about this tale is that JC has no desire to get involved and has actually helped the Family Man select his victims, albeit unknowingly. The Family Man story takes a break with 3 issues of guest writers. In this case it was a 2 issue story by Grant Morrison loosely inspired by Dr. Strangeglove and then a single issue story by Neil Gaiman.
Both the guest stories were good. Gaiman's was touching. Then we move back to the Family Man story and finish the volume with two single issue stories. One about a possessed junkyard dog and one about JC spending a "normal" Sunday.
Overall, this is some truly interesting and original work. Constantine is a character that you at once despise and admire. The people in the stories tend to treat him the same way. He is complex and unapologetic. It is a shame, though understandable in light of the time, that the art never does justice to the quality of the writing. That is a shame since some of these stories would look really interesting in the hands of a better artist.
A classic work of modern dystopian horror. Hellblazer is certainly the best way to get a true feel for the character of Constantine.
February 3, 2016
4,5*
It's really really good.
It's really really good.
November 19, 2017
I'm still finding it really hard to get into this series but this volume was at least better than the last one. Since these volumes have so many issues and this one is kind of all over the place I took some notes while reading so I could go through it issue by issue. Although really my general opinions for all of them are just like 'eh, it was okay'
Issue 23 was this thing where apparently John has a friend who turned out to be a fictional character living in our world. It was okay but honestly seems more like something that should be in Sandman than Hellblazer. Issue 24 introduces the Family Man plotline which is a serial killer who murders families and ties it back into the previous issue. Issues 25 and 26 are a complete detour from the overarching plot and what I can only describe as an 80s version of The Wicker Man [the original not the remake]. Honestly it sounds more interesting than it is.
Issue 27 is the obligatory Neil Gaiman issue which I'm sure most people would be thrilled about but honestly I like his novels way more than I like his graphic novels. Issue 28 was actually kind of fun, mostly because there's a tie in to the 'Cereal Convention' from Sandman and even though that was not my favorite Sandman storyline it's always nice to be able to go 'I understood that reference!' I feel like when they were trying to figure out what to do with issue 29 they were like 'well John hasn't slept with anyone for about 9 issues so we should probably just get that out of the way'. Yeah, okay.
Issue 30 lost me a bit because it's when John finally kills the Family Man and it goes into this whole thing like oh John feels so bad, it's so hard, it's his ~first murder~ and I mean ...in a way I get it. It is definitely the first time he's got a gun and purposely shot and killed someone, but this is in no way a new thing. Most of the deaths he's caused you can write off as accidental [Richie and Astra at this point] but you at least have to admit that he straight up purposely killed Gary. And there are others that I know have happened at this point chronologically but we haven't learned about them yet. IDK, I'm just like am I really supposed to feel bad for him right now? I feel like that's my main problem with the series in general at this point really.
Issue 31 was really interesting because it goes a little bit into John's backstory and relationship with his dad. Issues 32 and 33 were really more like filler/wrap up although there were a few good moments in there. Then there's a thing at the end that is from one of the specials but it's a prose story and I am generally incapable of focusing on a prose story when I'm in comics mode so I skipped over it.
So yeah I guess it was an okay volume although I'm still sitting here like 'when am I gonna get to the good stuff'. Soon hopefully. I can't believe I just wrote that huge review either ...
Issue 23 was this thing where apparently John has a friend who turned out to be a fictional character living in our world. It was okay but honestly seems more like something that should be in Sandman than Hellblazer. Issue 24 introduces the Family Man plotline which is a serial killer who murders families and ties it back into the previous issue. Issues 25 and 26 are a complete detour from the overarching plot and what I can only describe as an 80s version of The Wicker Man [the original not the remake]. Honestly it sounds more interesting than it is.
Issue 27 is the obligatory Neil Gaiman issue which I'm sure most people would be thrilled about but honestly I like his novels way more than I like his graphic novels. Issue 28 was actually kind of fun, mostly because there's a tie in to the 'Cereal Convention' from Sandman and even though that was not my favorite Sandman storyline it's always nice to be able to go 'I understood that reference!' I feel like when they were trying to figure out what to do with issue 29 they were like 'well John hasn't slept with anyone for about 9 issues so we should probably just get that out of the way'. Yeah, okay.
Issue 30 lost me a bit because it's when John finally kills the Family Man and it goes into this whole thing like oh John feels so bad, it's so hard, it's his ~first murder~ and I mean ...in a way I get it. It is definitely the first time he's got a gun and purposely shot and killed someone, but this is in no way a new thing. Most of the deaths he's caused you can write off as accidental [Richie and Astra at this point] but you at least have to admit that he straight up purposely killed Gary. And there are others that I know have happened at this point chronologically but we haven't learned about them yet. IDK, I'm just like am I really supposed to feel bad for him right now? I feel like that's my main problem with the series in general at this point really.
Issue 31 was really interesting because it goes a little bit into John's backstory and relationship with his dad. Issues 32 and 33 were really more like filler/wrap up although there were a few good moments in there. Then there's a thing at the end that is from one of the specials but it's a prose story and I am generally incapable of focusing on a prose story when I'm in comics mode so I skipped over it.
So yeah I guess it was an okay volume although I'm still sitting here like 'when am I gonna get to the good stuff'. Soon hopefully. I can't believe I just wrote that huge review either ...
July 24, 2025
ass but two stars cause of the bit with constantine’s family
February 28, 2021
Didn’t enjoy this issue much at all.
January 6, 2019
This volume was a massive improvement in my eyes from the previous volume. Saying that, it's difficult to review due to the numerous writers and one-two issue plots that were collected here.
The Family Man by Jamee Delano was the largest story and was, for the most part, a 4-star read. The introduction issue was delightfully weird and off the wall, and the art and story meshed well together. It was let down by the interruption of other issues/stories (I assume there was an editorial reason back in the day), and the ending was a disappointment that didn't live up to the rest of the story in my mind. The stuff with Constantine's dad in particular didn't seem to have the emotional punch it should have, especially knowing what I know about their relationship just from cultural osmosis.
Grant Morrison's two-issue story was alright. It was creepy and atmospheric, I liked the art, but the story itself was a letdown for me.
I enjoyed Neil Gaiman's issue. It was very sad, and very film noir in art style which set it apart from the other issues. It wasn't anything earth shattering but I enjoyed it for what it was.
Dick Foreman's issue was another entertaining stand alone. Who doesn't like a story about a demonic dog? As is becoming something of a pattern with Hellblazer, no matter who's writing it, the ending was a bit anti-climatic.
The "Sunday" story by Jamie Delano was as bizarre and as misanthropic as you'd expect from Delano, and it didn't seem to be anything more than confusing filler, but who knows with this series, it might mean something down the line.
There was also a prose story at the end also written by Delano, "The Gangster, the Whore and the Magician". I actually really enjoyed this, it was sad and lonely and hopeful. It left me thinking that Delano would be better suited to writing traditional books over comics.
The Family Man by Jamee Delano was the largest story and was, for the most part, a 4-star read. The introduction issue was delightfully weird and off the wall, and the art and story meshed well together. It was let down by the interruption of other issues/stories (I assume there was an editorial reason back in the day), and the ending was a disappointment that didn't live up to the rest of the story in my mind. The stuff with Constantine's dad in particular didn't seem to have the emotional punch it should have, especially knowing what I know about their relationship just from cultural osmosis.
Grant Morrison's two-issue story was alright. It was creepy and atmospheric, I liked the art, but the story itself was a letdown for me.
I enjoyed Neil Gaiman's issue. It was very sad, and very film noir in art style which set it apart from the other issues. It wasn't anything earth shattering but I enjoyed it for what it was.
Dick Foreman's issue was another entertaining stand alone. Who doesn't like a story about a demonic dog? As is becoming something of a pattern with Hellblazer, no matter who's writing it, the ending was a bit anti-climatic.
The "Sunday" story by Jamie Delano was as bizarre and as misanthropic as you'd expect from Delano, and it didn't seem to be anything more than confusing filler, but who knows with this series, it might mean something down the line.
There was also a prose story at the end also written by Delano, "The Gangster, the Whore and the Magician". I actually really enjoyed this, it was sad and lonely and hopeful. It left me thinking that Delano would be better suited to writing traditional books over comics.
May 14, 2019
Overall enjoyable read but my fave was #27 Hold Me. WOW. Loved the story and the art. That one was 5 stars all the way.
February 17, 2020
John Constantine, the Hellblazer, the British antihero who dabbles in black magic, battles demons, and occasionally saves the world from supernatural disasters that don’t get reported on in The Guardian, in “The Family Man” (the fourth compilation volume, featuring issues #23-33), is a bit out of his league, as he attempts to stop a very human, non-supernatural serial killer.
Someone is killing entire families, and the police are having a hard time in their investigation. The killer is very careful, as if he knows a lot about what the police are looking for: fingerprints, fibers, blood samples, hair. It’s clear that the killer is either a former or currently active cop, which makes the case potentially even more difficult to solve. An outsider like Constantine, one with a penchant for rooting out evil, is exactly the right person for the job.
All of this is very new to Constantine. He’s used to reading tea leaves or tarot cards, not wiping for prints. But he also knows that evil is evil, regardless of whether it has horns and a tail or wears a three-piece suit.
Writer Jamie Delano has fashioned another dark, suspenseful mystery noir dripping in gore and saturated in cigarette smoke.
While Delano’s “Hellblazer” was wont to tell multi-issue story arcs, there were occasional stand-alone stories. “Family Man” featured two, written by familiar names in the comic book industry.
Grant Morrison wrote a two-issue series (issues #25 and 26) entitled “Early Warning” and “How I Learned to Love the Bomb”, about a small town in northern England that is reeling from unemployment and tough economic times in Thatcher’s England. The town’s only employer is a nearby missile base that houses nuclear weapons. While there to visit a friend, Constantine gets caught up in the town’s annual festival that has roots in ancient pagan rituals. A dark force soon envelops the town, and Constantine is stuck in the middle of it all.
With beautiful monochromatic artwork by David Lloyd, Morrison’s strange tale is a frightening examination of the all-too-real fear and fascination of nuclear war. As anyone who lived through the ‘80s will tell you, it was palpable.
Issue #27 is a story written by Neil Gaiman entitled “Hold Me”. It is an incredibly disturbing and sad ghost story about the homeless, drawn by Dave McKean. Fans of the “The Sandman” will, of course, love it.
There is also a short story by Jamie Delano entitled “The Gangster, The Whore, and the Magician”.
“Hellblazer” is fast becoming my new favorite comic book series of all time.
Someone is killing entire families, and the police are having a hard time in their investigation. The killer is very careful, as if he knows a lot about what the police are looking for: fingerprints, fibers, blood samples, hair. It’s clear that the killer is either a former or currently active cop, which makes the case potentially even more difficult to solve. An outsider like Constantine, one with a penchant for rooting out evil, is exactly the right person for the job.
All of this is very new to Constantine. He’s used to reading tea leaves or tarot cards, not wiping for prints. But he also knows that evil is evil, regardless of whether it has horns and a tail or wears a three-piece suit.
Writer Jamie Delano has fashioned another dark, suspenseful mystery noir dripping in gore and saturated in cigarette smoke.
While Delano’s “Hellblazer” was wont to tell multi-issue story arcs, there were occasional stand-alone stories. “Family Man” featured two, written by familiar names in the comic book industry.
Grant Morrison wrote a two-issue series (issues #25 and 26) entitled “Early Warning” and “How I Learned to Love the Bomb”, about a small town in northern England that is reeling from unemployment and tough economic times in Thatcher’s England. The town’s only employer is a nearby missile base that houses nuclear weapons. While there to visit a friend, Constantine gets caught up in the town’s annual festival that has roots in ancient pagan rituals. A dark force soon envelops the town, and Constantine is stuck in the middle of it all.
With beautiful monochromatic artwork by David Lloyd, Morrison’s strange tale is a frightening examination of the all-too-real fear and fascination of nuclear war. As anyone who lived through the ‘80s will tell you, it was palpable.
Issue #27 is a story written by Neil Gaiman entitled “Hold Me”. It is an incredibly disturbing and sad ghost story about the homeless, drawn by Dave McKean. Fans of the “The Sandman” will, of course, love it.
There is also a short story by Jamie Delano entitled “The Gangster, The Whore, and the Magician”.
“Hellblazer” is fast becoming my new favorite comic book series of all time.
January 27, 2016
The main focus of this volume is on the Family Man killer while other occult events happened throughout. The story was confusing but the drawing was quite nice again. It's good to have the story focusing on more on criminal elements rather than some random fantasy.
June 13, 2017
So far, this is definitely the weakest of Delano's Hellblazer stuff so far, and, particularly with the way this is collected, I could practically feel him getting tired. Right as the Family Man storyline is picking up steam, we get a 3-issue break from Delano to tell a pair of stories by Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman. And don't get me wrong, those are two powerhouses of comics, but their respective stories really don't fit the flow of the Family Man plot, so it feels like a very abrupt departure when they show up.
Also, their stories aren't that great. Morrison had done Batman: Arkham Asylum around the time he wrote his Hellblazer two-parter, and having read Arkham recently, I could sense the same unshapen, chaotic weirdness Morrison used to rely on. He's become so much more polished with his trippiness over the years, and seeing these early versions of his writing really shows you how much he's grown. That said, the metaphor of this nuclear panic story gets pretty muddied and pretty impenetrable pretty fast, so I can't really recommend it.
Same for Gaiman's story. It's by no means bad, but it just doesn't really accomplish anything. It's a heavy-handed tale of a homeless man dying (I guess?) and coming back as a ghost that... needs hugs? I don't know, it's very silly, but I don't think Gaiman was aware of it. So, another skippable entry.
Then, we get the Family Man arc from Delano. It's interesting enough, with some great dialogue smattered throughout, though it never quite settles into a suspenseful groove. Constantine, via a truckload of Pure Coincidence, stumbles across the identity of a notorious serial killer, the titular Family Man. When the Family Man realizes Constantine knows who he is, he sets his sights on him, instead.
Now, the actual plot of this is quite good, and I loved little elements of it. However, this story feels like a bunch of ingredients rather than a meal. There are individual scenes that build suspense, and there are several surprising, singular moments, but overall, the whole Family Man thing just doesn't build. There's a lot of Constantine whining about not knowing what to do, or waxing poetic about humanity, but not quite enough action for a plot that is essentially a thriller. I also have enjoyed Delano's metaphorical, issues-driven stories much more than this one.
So, on the whole, not the best entry, but still pretty decent and worth checking out, particularly if you're doing the whole "read the entirety of Hellblazer" thing like I am.
Also, their stories aren't that great. Morrison had done Batman: Arkham Asylum around the time he wrote his Hellblazer two-parter, and having read Arkham recently, I could sense the same unshapen, chaotic weirdness Morrison used to rely on. He's become so much more polished with his trippiness over the years, and seeing these early versions of his writing really shows you how much he's grown. That said, the metaphor of this nuclear panic story gets pretty muddied and pretty impenetrable pretty fast, so I can't really recommend it.
Same for Gaiman's story. It's by no means bad, but it just doesn't really accomplish anything. It's a heavy-handed tale of a homeless man dying (I guess?) and coming back as a ghost that... needs hugs? I don't know, it's very silly, but I don't think Gaiman was aware of it. So, another skippable entry.
Then, we get the Family Man arc from Delano. It's interesting enough, with some great dialogue smattered throughout, though it never quite settles into a suspenseful groove. Constantine, via a truckload of Pure Coincidence, stumbles across the identity of a notorious serial killer, the titular Family Man. When the Family Man realizes Constantine knows who he is, he sets his sights on him, instead.
Now, the actual plot of this is quite good, and I loved little elements of it. However, this story feels like a bunch of ingredients rather than a meal. There are individual scenes that build suspense, and there are several surprising, singular moments, but overall, the whole Family Man thing just doesn't build. There's a lot of Constantine whining about not knowing what to do, or waxing poetic about humanity, but not quite enough action for a plot that is essentially a thriller. I also have enjoyed Delano's metaphorical, issues-driven stories much more than this one.
So, on the whole, not the best entry, but still pretty decent and worth checking out, particularly if you're doing the whole "read the entirety of Hellblazer" thing like I am.
February 16, 2025
This volume collects Hellblazer 23-33.
Jamie Delano decides to put the supernatural aspect of the series in the background and focus on a more grounded enemy for John: a serial killer. While it might seem a cliché at first glance, the story actually serves a way to explore more about John's childhood in a compelling way. There's a break halfway with an issue written by Grant Morrison which was very cool, and another by (now infamous) Neil Gaiman that showed a vulnerable side of Constantine. There's also two single stories one by Dick Forman that was a bit funny and other by Delano that if you asked me its purpose i'd say it's John's unreliable narration playing with the reader, distracting us from the actual aftermath of the events of 'The Family Man' because the beginning of Vol 5. Dangerous Habits follows a not so cheerful John Constantine.
Overall it was a fantastic run in which John is confronted with the moral dilema of taking justice into his own hands by kiling a man who's murdered dozens of families over the years hidding in plain sight as a police officer. This dilema arises because he's the one doing it, contrary to past events in which friends and enemies alike perished at the hands of demons.
Artwise, David Lloyd did fantastic on Morrison's issues. Dave McKean was very ad hoc for Gaiman's narrative. Ron Tiner, Kevin Walker and Mark Buckingham have an awful style it hurts to see such an ugly Constantine, lmao. My favorite art was in Mourning Magician with Sean Philiphs as artist and Tom Ziuko as colorist, it had the right balance of simple style and color with a somber atmosphere, John looked hottie right there, finally a respite god...like i imagine all these artists had to get the memo that John's supposed to look unconventionally attractive when taking on the job to draw for the comic... somehow most miss it by a mile *facepalm*. Steve Pugh's art was alright i guess, better than Ron Tiner's for sure, lmao. Lastly Mark Pennington drew a normal looking John with the classic comic artstyle for a change, phew.
Jamie Delano decides to put the supernatural aspect of the series in the background and focus on a more grounded enemy for John: a serial killer. While it might seem a cliché at first glance, the story actually serves a way to explore more about John's childhood in a compelling way. There's a break halfway with an issue written by Grant Morrison which was very cool, and another by (now infamous) Neil Gaiman that showed a vulnerable side of Constantine. There's also two single stories one by Dick Forman that was a bit funny and other by Delano that if you asked me its purpose i'd say it's John's unreliable narration playing with the reader, distracting us from the actual aftermath of the events of 'The Family Man' because the beginning of Vol 5. Dangerous Habits follows a not so cheerful John Constantine.
Overall it was a fantastic run in which John is confronted with the moral dilema of taking justice into his own hands by kiling a man who's murdered dozens of families over the years hidding in plain sight as a police officer. This dilema arises because he's the one doing it, contrary to past events in which friends and enemies alike perished at the hands of demons.
Artwise, David Lloyd did fantastic on Morrison's issues. Dave McKean was very ad hoc for Gaiman's narrative. Ron Tiner, Kevin Walker and Mark Buckingham have an awful style it hurts to see such an ugly Constantine, lmao. My favorite art was in Mourning Magician with Sean Philiphs as artist and Tom Ziuko as colorist, it had the right balance of simple style and color with a somber atmosphere, John looked hottie right there, finally a respite god...like i imagine all these artists had to get the memo that John's supposed to look unconventionally attractive when taking on the job to draw for the comic... somehow most miss it by a mile *facepalm*. Steve Pugh's art was alright i guess, better than Ron Tiner's for sure, lmao. Lastly Mark Pennington drew a normal looking John with the classic comic artstyle for a change, phew.
May 17, 2024
The family man has to be my favorite story arc so far. The Neil Gaiman issue was also very good as well.
December 27, 2012
This volume focuses on Constantine facing down the Family Man, a completely non-supernatural serial killer who falls into Constantine's life. This leads to a very slow game of cat-and-mouse. Constantine goes to ground while both hunting and being hunted by the killer.
Instead of a murder mystery, though, we get a rather elegiac tale of Constantine considering the consequences of actively murdering a person*, Constantine's relationship to his father, and Constantine's overall moral responsibility to the world.
Two stories happen during the hunt for Family Man that both emphasize that third theme and confuse the overarching plot as well. The first is about an economically depressed town that has a military base being expanded to include nuclear missiles. There's the question of what's the right thing to do, a priest who's losing his faith, and anti-nuclear protesters. The other is a simple ghost story written by Neil Gaiman which is really about homelessness.
The stories are actually very good and very Constantine, only the timing of them is strange. Just before the nuclear piece, Constantine realizes he just met the Family Man and now has to hunt the killer down--very clearly part 1 of x. To suddenly find Constantine meeting up with a psychic friend in this small town of unemployed people, then, is a bit jarring. Initially I shrugged it off as a filler story while the main artist and writer took some time to catch up (the two stories are not by the primary team), but when we come back to Constantine vs. Family Man, Constantine notes that he's been hiding/hunting for the past three months with no success. So not only did those stories happen chronologically, the comic itself it running in real time. That's a strange conceit.
However, it works in Constantine because Constantine is so much a product of its moment. The series and its stories do not seem dated. Rather, these are stories about the age they're written in. Hellblazer may be about a luck mage and his various dealings with the supernatural, but it's also about Thatcherite England. The issues of how people are living lie at the core of these stories: the fear of nuclear contamination, the rise of ecology as fashion, even the continuing toxicity of class resentment. Constantine wonders if his dad considered Constantine's magic and counterculture interests as a rejection of their working-class life. Those elements make these stories stronger and make Hellblazer stand out as a series. Neat things happen, yes, but what I remember best from all the Hellblazer books I've read are the parts that are largely about England, about that moment, about what it meant to live then.
Urban fantasy, which is the genre this would fall into if it had to fall into one, presents us with our own world, but with a twist--it's the mall, but elves live there; it's high school, but with vampires; it's a private detective, but he uses magic. Those stories rarely rise above passing entertainment though because it's not actually our world; the point of the story is the twist, our world is just window-dressing. In Hellblazer, the world is the thing and the twist, as it were, highlights the issues in that world. This volume does a better job of making that apparent. Even if there are some sillier, even flighty elements in a few of the stories, Constantine finds himself constantly dealing with England and that's what makes for an interesting story.
A final note, I said of the last volume that I almost would have preferred to read it as prose instead of a comic. This volume does end with a prose story and, while the story itself is pretty solid and very Hellblazer, the writing is pretty bad--third-person purple prose told in first-person through dialogue. In fact, it's only bad because characters are literally saying it. Were it just a first-person story, I wouldn't have gotten so hung up on it. It's excerpted from a special edition one-shot released in 2000 and seems to be included here only because it was written by Delano, the primary writer for most of this volume. A curiosity, good for completeness' sake, but it makes for an odd coda to the book, especially since it's set in 1996, the final issue in the volume's from September 1990, and the story is unrelated to any of the events in the collection.
Still, a solid volume overall and a good stand-alone one. While there are nods to earlier storylines, that context isn't essential. You could loan this book out as a taste of what Hellblazer's about without having to explain anything.
*instead of merely allowing them to die or setting in motion a series of events that kill them. This is actually a point where the closing story ties in since, there, Constantine notes he doesn't like to do the deed himself. Still, there's a pretty fine moral delineation happening here.
Instead of a murder mystery, though, we get a rather elegiac tale of Constantine considering the consequences of actively murdering a person*, Constantine's relationship to his father, and Constantine's overall moral responsibility to the world.
Two stories happen during the hunt for Family Man that both emphasize that third theme and confuse the overarching plot as well. The first is about an economically depressed town that has a military base being expanded to include nuclear missiles. There's the question of what's the right thing to do, a priest who's losing his faith, and anti-nuclear protesters. The other is a simple ghost story written by Neil Gaiman which is really about homelessness.
The stories are actually very good and very Constantine, only the timing of them is strange. Just before the nuclear piece, Constantine realizes he just met the Family Man and now has to hunt the killer down--very clearly part 1 of x. To suddenly find Constantine meeting up with a psychic friend in this small town of unemployed people, then, is a bit jarring. Initially I shrugged it off as a filler story while the main artist and writer took some time to catch up (the two stories are not by the primary team), but when we come back to Constantine vs. Family Man, Constantine notes that he's been hiding/hunting for the past three months with no success. So not only did those stories happen chronologically, the comic itself it running in real time. That's a strange conceit.
However, it works in Constantine because Constantine is so much a product of its moment. The series and its stories do not seem dated. Rather, these are stories about the age they're written in. Hellblazer may be about a luck mage and his various dealings with the supernatural, but it's also about Thatcherite England. The issues of how people are living lie at the core of these stories: the fear of nuclear contamination, the rise of ecology as fashion, even the continuing toxicity of class resentment. Constantine wonders if his dad considered Constantine's magic and counterculture interests as a rejection of their working-class life. Those elements make these stories stronger and make Hellblazer stand out as a series. Neat things happen, yes, but what I remember best from all the Hellblazer books I've read are the parts that are largely about England, about that moment, about what it meant to live then.
Urban fantasy, which is the genre this would fall into if it had to fall into one, presents us with our own world, but with a twist--it's the mall, but elves live there; it's high school, but with vampires; it's a private detective, but he uses magic. Those stories rarely rise above passing entertainment though because it's not actually our world; the point of the story is the twist, our world is just window-dressing. In Hellblazer, the world is the thing and the twist, as it were, highlights the issues in that world. This volume does a better job of making that apparent. Even if there are some sillier, even flighty elements in a few of the stories, Constantine finds himself constantly dealing with England and that's what makes for an interesting story.
A final note, I said of the last volume that I almost would have preferred to read it as prose instead of a comic. This volume does end with a prose story and, while the story itself is pretty solid and very Hellblazer, the writing is pretty bad--third-person purple prose told in first-person through dialogue. In fact, it's only bad because characters are literally saying it. Were it just a first-person story, I wouldn't have gotten so hung up on it. It's excerpted from a special edition one-shot released in 2000 and seems to be included here only because it was written by Delano, the primary writer for most of this volume. A curiosity, good for completeness' sake, but it makes for an odd coda to the book, especially since it's set in 1996, the final issue in the volume's from September 1990, and the story is unrelated to any of the events in the collection.
Still, a solid volume overall and a good stand-alone one. While there are nods to earlier storylines, that context isn't essential. You could loan this book out as a taste of what Hellblazer's about without having to explain anything.
*instead of merely allowing them to die or setting in motion a series of events that kill them. This is actually a point where the closing story ties in since, there, Constantine notes he doesn't like to do the deed himself. Still, there's a pretty fine moral delineation happening here.
March 30, 2015
Hellblazer, Vol 4: The Family Man was, without a doubt, the strongest volume of the Hellblazer series I have read thus far. It reinforced the positive aspects of the Hellblazer comic and brought something new to the series as well, namely a new array of writers and artists (mostly) gracing the series and a strictly human foe for John Constantine, our favourite chain-smoking down-and-out low rent living Liverpoolian magus and supernatural sleuth (how many of these can you find in fiction of any medium, anyway? It's certainly a testament to the originality of the Hellblazer series that Constantine is so originally characterized).
"Hellblazer, Vol 4: The Family Man" collects the individual issued issues #23 to #33.
Issues #23, #24, #28, #29, #30 and #31 are all written by Jamie Delano and are pertaining to "The Family Man" storyline, in which John Constantine unknowingly becomes indirectly responsible for the murder of a family at the hands of a serial-killer dubbed "The Family Man". When he realizes what he caused, he decides to stop the killer at any cost. However, "The Family Man" is a resourceful man and Constantine soon finds himself alternating between the role of hunter and prey. This storyline is quite interesting, as it pits Constantine against a entirely human foe. That's a somewhat new and dangerous terrain for Constantine, a man who deeply fears and hates guns and whose foes are generally of supernatural origin. In the words of Constantine himself "Demons I can handle - this trouble's strictly human." This storyline is compelling and even if the motives that fuel "The Family Man’s murders are somewhat lazily constructed edipian references; it's still a very good storyline. Sadly the artwork, mostly done by Ron Tiner, is somewhat unspectacular. Such a great storyline deserved better artwork, but it’s not so bad to the point of becoming an eyesore. The all storyline for me deserves a solid 8.5/10.
The issues pertaining to the family man storyline are, for reasons I can't quite understand, spaced by issues with standalone stories that have nothing in common with "The Family Man" storyline and that are written by other authors (perhaps Delano was on a break or felt he needed more time to work on this specific story). Thankfully those are all great stories that despite cutting the flow of the Family Man saga are very welcome due to their high quality.
Issues #1 to #24 had all been written by Delano. With Issue #25 and #25 that tradition is broken. For the first time we have a new author writing Constantine in the form of Grant Morrison, who does a grat job with his two part story "Early Warning" and "How i learned to Love the Bomb". Constantine heads towards a town whose population is divided between those who are against the construction of an American missile test base and those who favour it, claimming it will bring jobs to a dying town and community. In order to bring the community together, the town organizes a parade (with significant pagan undertones) that goes disturbingly and violently awry once the inhabitants darkest desires come to the fore. It's quite a violent story and it's certainly not for the faint of heart. The artwork by David lloyd is amazing and captures perfectly the grimness of the chaos and havoc that ensues. This Grant Morrison Hellblazer incursion is worthy of a solid 8.5/10 stars.
Issue #27 also features a different artist, namely the highly acclaimed Neil Gaiman, of Sandman fame and more recently, author of "The Ocean at the End of the Lane". Gaiman's story titled "Hold Me" is amazing and surprisingly tender. The artwork by Dave Mckean is absolutely gorgeous and perfectly complements Gaiman's great take on John Constantine. Gaiman’s story gets a solid 9/10 from be, in good part due to Dave Mckean’s amazing artwork.
Issue #32 features the story "Cheap Tricks" by Dick Foreman. This particular story is a bit run-of-the-mill. Not all that bad but not amazing either. It basically revolves around a demonic dog. If it sounds silly and campy, that’s because it is, but then again that is clearly the point of the story. The story features pretty great art by Steve Pugh. I give it a solid 6/10.
The collection closes with Issue #33, written once again by Jamie Delano. "Sundays Are Different" is a rather uninteresting "character piece" with crummy artwork. Still, its readable so I’ll give it a 5/10.
This volume of the Hellblazer collection officially turned me into a "Hellblazer" fanatic. I am now bent on collecting the all series and if it's as strong as it's been thus far it appears I'm in for quite a treat. It’s the first time in over ten years that I decide to collect a comic series, but now that I “got the bug” I’m thinking of collecting Gaiman’s “Sandman” as well. But Hellblazer will do just fine for the brief future.
"Hellblazer, Vol 4: The Family Man" collects the individual issued issues #23 to #33.
Issues #23, #24, #28, #29, #30 and #31 are all written by Jamie Delano and are pertaining to "The Family Man" storyline, in which John Constantine unknowingly becomes indirectly responsible for the murder of a family at the hands of a serial-killer dubbed "The Family Man". When he realizes what he caused, he decides to stop the killer at any cost. However, "The Family Man" is a resourceful man and Constantine soon finds himself alternating between the role of hunter and prey. This storyline is quite interesting, as it pits Constantine against a entirely human foe. That's a somewhat new and dangerous terrain for Constantine, a man who deeply fears and hates guns and whose foes are generally of supernatural origin. In the words of Constantine himself "Demons I can handle - this trouble's strictly human." This storyline is compelling and even if the motives that fuel "The Family Man’s murders are somewhat lazily constructed edipian references; it's still a very good storyline. Sadly the artwork, mostly done by Ron Tiner, is somewhat unspectacular. Such a great storyline deserved better artwork, but it’s not so bad to the point of becoming an eyesore. The all storyline for me deserves a solid 8.5/10.
The issues pertaining to the family man storyline are, for reasons I can't quite understand, spaced by issues with standalone stories that have nothing in common with "The Family Man" storyline and that are written by other authors (perhaps Delano was on a break or felt he needed more time to work on this specific story). Thankfully those are all great stories that despite cutting the flow of the Family Man saga are very welcome due to their high quality.
Issues #1 to #24 had all been written by Delano. With Issue #25 and #25 that tradition is broken. For the first time we have a new author writing Constantine in the form of Grant Morrison, who does a grat job with his two part story "Early Warning" and "How i learned to Love the Bomb". Constantine heads towards a town whose population is divided between those who are against the construction of an American missile test base and those who favour it, claimming it will bring jobs to a dying town and community. In order to bring the community together, the town organizes a parade (with significant pagan undertones) that goes disturbingly and violently awry once the inhabitants darkest desires come to the fore. It's quite a violent story and it's certainly not for the faint of heart. The artwork by David lloyd is amazing and captures perfectly the grimness of the chaos and havoc that ensues. This Grant Morrison Hellblazer incursion is worthy of a solid 8.5/10 stars.
Issue #27 also features a different artist, namely the highly acclaimed Neil Gaiman, of Sandman fame and more recently, author of "The Ocean at the End of the Lane". Gaiman's story titled "Hold Me" is amazing and surprisingly tender. The artwork by Dave Mckean is absolutely gorgeous and perfectly complements Gaiman's great take on John Constantine. Gaiman’s story gets a solid 9/10 from be, in good part due to Dave Mckean’s amazing artwork.
Issue #32 features the story "Cheap Tricks" by Dick Foreman. This particular story is a bit run-of-the-mill. Not all that bad but not amazing either. It basically revolves around a demonic dog. If it sounds silly and campy, that’s because it is, but then again that is clearly the point of the story. The story features pretty great art by Steve Pugh. I give it a solid 6/10.
The collection closes with Issue #33, written once again by Jamie Delano. "Sundays Are Different" is a rather uninteresting "character piece" with crummy artwork. Still, its readable so I’ll give it a 5/10.
This volume of the Hellblazer collection officially turned me into a "Hellblazer" fanatic. I am now bent on collecting the all series and if it's as strong as it's been thus far it appears I'm in for quite a treat. It’s the first time in over ten years that I decide to collect a comic series, but now that I “got the bug” I’m thinking of collecting Gaiman’s “Sandman” as well. But Hellblazer will do just fine for the brief future.
June 3, 2019
Not a demon to defeat in the main story of this fourth Hellblazer trade but a serial killer named the family man. He gets the name because he kills entire families or just the kids in a family, yikes ! Jamie Delano gets cool assists in this volume, namely Grant Morrison with a weird ass story about nuclear paranoia drawn by David Lloyd, And Neil freaking Gaiman with his Sandman team of Dave McKean and even Todd Klein his letterer. Also on art a very young Sean Philips ( his art here looks terrible but Nice to see him grow over the years) it also contains a cool story about a demon dog writen by Dick Foreman and that one was fun. All in all another cool volume. 3 stars from yours truly. Side note: cant wait for the second volume ! Thats where Garth Ennis his run begins !
March 23, 2020
Mixed
While in many ways more coherent than some prior Delano arcs, the problem with both the Family Man and Grant Morrisan and Neil Gaiman guest issues is that Constantine is rendered passive. He seems increasingly a man abreast walking through carnage more than being involved. This is not as true in the some episodic comic issues, but they also feel a bit monster or meta-narrative of the week. The art is all over the place in this volume, there isn't a lot of consistency of face and atmosphere. It's not bad just radically inconsistent in tone.
While in many ways more coherent than some prior Delano arcs, the problem with both the Family Man and Grant Morrisan and Neil Gaiman guest issues is that Constantine is rendered passive. He seems increasingly a man abreast walking through carnage more than being involved. This is not as true in the some episodic comic issues, but they also feel a bit monster or meta-narrative of the week. The art is all over the place in this volume, there isn't a lot of consistency of face and atmosphere. It's not bad just radically inconsistent in tone.
December 5, 2022
Excellent. very dark in some places, especially with its usage of real-world, no longer copyright characters. Constantine is the best character in the whole industry. So refreshing to see locations not normally seen in these books too.
November 30, 2019
One of Delano's better storylines and it barely even touches magic, staying rooted in plain old human horror, which is bad enough as it is.
August 31, 2022
It's better than previous volumes but all in all it isn't that good. I have high hopes for volume 5 containing the le-gen-da-ry 'Dangerous Habits' story-arc.
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