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Hellblazer (Single Issues)
Hellblazer #15
Direct sales edition comic book published by DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint. An influential horror comic that stars John Constantine, a man at war with infernal powers. The basis for the movie Constantine.
28 pages, Comic
First published January 1, 1988
23 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Delano
459 books351 followersJamie Delano aka A. William James began writing comics professionally in the early 1980s. Latterly he has been writing prose fiction with "BOOK THIRTEEN" published by his own LEPUS BOOKS imprint (http://www.lepusbooks.co.uk) in 2012, "Leepus | DIZZY" in April 2014, and "Leepus | THE RIVER" in 2017.
Jamie lives in semi-rural Northamptonshire with his partner, Sue. They have three adult children and a considerable distraction of grandchildren.
Jamie lives in semi-rural Northamptonshire with his partner, Sue. They have three adult children and a considerable distraction of grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 12, 2024
I don't like psychedelic stories but I like Jamie Delano's writing and I don't feel like reducing the rating for that.
I think John Constantine fucks a new woman each 2 issues, I am not keeping count, but I am probably not far from the right number 😂
It seems John will get arrested next issue, but I don't think he is really in trouble, since they know he is a magician and they need him, he will just end up explaining the false accusations.
I think John Constantine fucks a new woman each 2 issues, I am not keeping count, but I am probably not far from the right number 😂
It seems John will get arrested next issue, but I don't think he is really in trouble, since they know he is a magician and they need him, he will just end up explaining the false accusations.
September 17, 2014
What a schizophrenic issue this has been for John Constantine and the readers themselves. As the continuation of The Fear Machine storyline, Shepherd's Warning is decidedly blunt with its core narrative and yet weirdly evasive at the same time especially when it comes to the real significance of the story I'm currently following at this point. I gotta be honest: I don't really care enough to know what's going to happen next, and my only connection to Hellblazer right now is our ruggedly handsome and inconsistently aggravating titular hero, and even that remaining source of interest is becoming muddled with confusion and annoyance at best.
I'm not really sure how I would even review Hellblazer now when the story it's currently hinged on is nothing that excites or intrigues me but I do try everything to keep myself invested in what I'm reading which has proven sadly strenuous. I truly hate it when reading feels obligatory and books that make me feel this way are often the ones I never bother to pick up anymore. Hellblazer continues to cruise that fine line but I'm not giving it up, of course, seeing as I've made a commitment and I do believe that some promising events are starting to take shape in this issue that could unfold in the next ones.
I would like to discuss the details of that but I fear that even I can't comprehend yet what I just saw, especially when John Constantine himself acts as an unreliable narrator (which is something we can't blame him for, seeing as he was drugged and was therefore hallucinating). What's more fun than reading the delusion sequence of a drug-addled passively cynical occultist-on-the-run? As it turns out, everything else because this is such a painful state of mind to find John Constantine in, a man who is an inherently resourceful survivalist who basically lives his life as a constant middle finger aimed at the powers-that-be, but ironically keeps finding himself around (hell, maybe even unknowingly seeks out) people and situations that test the limits of his self-preservation instincts.
Story of John Constantine's life, I guess.
As much as I claimed not to like the direction of the series at this point, I could still find worthwhile gems along the way, such as John's surprisingly great chemistry with the child-woman Mercury who seems to me feels like a surrogate daughter he wish he had. Mercury makes a comment about the fact that John, in the heat of the moment, calls her his "little girl" which is something quite endearing and a little sad (when we remember his dream from issue #14 about his mutant two-headed seal offspring). In addition to that, John finally shags the mother, Marj, in this issue. It's a relationship that never appealed to me (even in the later parts for Dangerous Habits). I actually would prefer to read more about John and Merc's interactions. I just feel like they had a more complex interplay, and I certainly feel that John should be hanging around someone of the opposite sex who isn't a possible shag-buddy. And Merc is exactly that and she provides him with a center (based from what I've read about so far). She also shows him a more humane sort of compassion towards John than her mother does, and I say this because I think Marj is sexually attracted to John from the get-go and desires no more than just a physical closeness. It feels really empty when the intimacy can only be sexual and I feel that John always required more.
Meanwhile, I feel as if John and Merc connected as easily as they had because they have a lot in common; both are sensitive souls trying to make sense of the chaos in their lives. That's why I enjoy reading them together because Merc could easily be a reflection of who he is trying to suppress using some sort of falsehood of machismo; a younger, less sardonic female counterpart who can understand the self-inflicted damage he had been casually prone to, and perhaps even learn to deal with through Merc's aid.
That's not to say John hasn't been trying. There are a few instances he tries to be personable, tries to engage and interact earnestly with the other members of the community. And it's rather heartbreaking because we come to know John as someone who purposefully hardened himself; who wore his sense of anarchy and arrogance on the outside to drive away anyone that will try to harm him and, in consequence, even the ones who might even love him.
Well, okay, that's enough of my indulgent Constantine psychoanalysis for now. I'll save that up for the next issues and hopefully they'll be more thrilling to read.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MORE OF MY HELLBLAZER REVIEWS
November 22, 2025
I know we are only on part 2 of 12 of the fear machine but wow that one really hit the spot. I love how this one is setting the structure for what fear machine could mean, not only does it seem like John could be contending with an actual fear machine, but he experiences first hand what fear can do when it festers in others and himself. This one also did terribly dream/psychedelic trip WAY better than the nightmare issue a few issues ago. This time it didn’t overstay its welcome and served an overall useful purpose to the narrative on a few different levels. So far this has been one of my favorite issues, and jumping into it we find that John has been with the freedom mob for quite a little bit, even growing out a beard, and is adjusting better to it everyday. There is a calmness to living in nature that you can’t find in the city and John is really finding himself reconnecting with the world in those small moments. In the morning John notices one of the other members of the group come down to the river near him, Myra, he has seen her checking him out before and decided to approach and have a chat. But it doesn’t go exactly how he expected it would, she has been watching him out of fear and having him sneak up on her did not do any favors for her perception of him as she saw the newspaper where he is accused of killing the other people in his building. She makes this very clear and that she wants him to stay away, he tries to tell her that is all lies but without thinking he panics and uses a bit of magic on her to get in her head and basically reset the conversation as if they just met for the day. But John is loosing his touch a bit, as it didn’t exactly work and she immediately realized he did something to her head. He immediately retreats it as well, he recognizes how invasive that is and he is getting tired of all the ducking around his story. The same fear that drives some of them away from him is also preventing him from telling his story.
Of course Mercury and her connection to people can tell that John is in a bit of a mood after that encounter, I’m very glad she is there to have his back and she suggests going on a walk on a nearby ley line to soak up some positive energy. I love this archaic magic and the whole earth is connected ideals that John is able to properly explore in this setting. Mercury is also totally away of what John did to Myra’s head, but she doesn’t seem to mind as she admits she does the same thing when she wants to play but the other kids are too nervous around her. Mercury is such an interesting character, so connected to the world to such a degree that she becomes disconnected from the emotions of others and in a desperate search for normality she exerts control. But as they walk along the ley line, John wondering if Mercury’s dad was an athlete with how quick she is, suddenly he finds that Mercury has stopped dead in her tracks as she came across a fencing blocking off the ley line. It seems to be from a company called Geotronik R&D and Mercury is immediately put odd as it’s messing with all the power in this area. She hops the fence and runs inside in a blind fury and is immediately caught by a guard, John immediately runs to her aid and picks up a large stick and threatens the guard to put her down. Suddenly two other men from the nearby research trailer run out to see what the commotion is. John makes up a story about his little girl wandering in here before he could grab her and this storm trooper assaulted her. John notices that Mercury can’t stop starting at one of them, but the men suggest there is no need to call the cops of they just get out of here. As they leave Mercury pulls her truck of knowing what someone is going to say first by calming John down and saying she doesn’t want to talk about it, only saying that it didn’t feel good to have someone else walk around in her mind but she will be fine. Well that’s concerning but John continues his efforts in ignoring everything as he doesn’t do this anymore. He fears that he could blow up all connections he’s made here if he starts to slip back into his old way of doing things, but with how the story is trending everyone here is at risk if he doesn’t start looking into the events that surround them.
As they get back to camp the first thing John does is apologize to Myra for earlier, he is done secluding himself and he wants to set things right. She seems cool with it and pours him some tea. He then sets out to have a talk with Errol, where he finds him listening to some tunes and working on his “diary,” which is actually a pretty cool cave painting like project where he documents his experiences through pictures he paints in large sheets of paper. Errol begins to explain one of the images about a woman he met in Glastonbury, she stayed with him for a month then went up to Scotland with some pagan types. He mentioned her name was Zed…WHAT?! I completely brushed past this the first time I read it as while Errol is telling this story John is loosing feeling in his face and falling to the ground. Only reason I caught this convo is because once the drugs wear off John mentions his disbelief that Zed could still be alive! Turns out Myra decided to get back at John for getting into her mind by getting into his, while I do think that is cruel I do think Constantine is a character that reflects the idea all magic has a consequence and this is certainly a consequence. Unfortunately she also gave him the type of stuff people have to practice to build up to and the Vikings used to turn into berserkers. John already feels like a bomb. Everyone tried getting him called down and to come back to one of the RVs for downers and a massage but before they could he bolted, yelling that he just wants to be alone and he can handle it. I have to admit I really like this drug trip sequence, as it gave me just as much anxiety as John was no doubt feeling running around the woods and confusing logs for alligators. But other than getting an unworldly connection to the earth, it also helped to setup the “fear machine” we may be literally dealing with while also shrouding the truth through John’s psychedelic eyes. While stumbling around John ends up spotting one of the men from the R&D camp next to one of the stones on the ley line, but he has a device hooked up to the stones and his own head. He begins to hear a hammering and a deep sense of fear as he clings onto his own rock for dear life, the drugs are certainly affecting John and screwing with his vision but the man is also being affected and he is telling out a strange language. John describes the entire world as spasming out and through the images that whirl around him we even get a glimpse of swamp thing. What’s odd is that the rock seems to turn on the man, biting off his hand, and chasing him to slam his face into the rock until he begins to bleed all over it. Much later when John finally wakes up and the drugs have mostly gone from his system, leaving him with a terrible headache, he find the blood still on the rock, the visuals were wild but part of that was real but no sign of the man. But instead of following up on it…John decides to drop it, he doesn’t do this thing anymore. But even if he doesn’t he has already a stumbled into it and as he walks back to camp we see that some of the other R&D folks have spotted him and are reporting his presence during their activities. He gets back to the camp and is pulled into Ur’s camper (Mercury’s mother) as she was dreadfully worried about him. She sees him up with a cup of tea and a nice warm place to sleep, he really doesn’t do well with drugs and she helped roll up his cigarette. Ur mentions that she always has to do that for Pete who was no good at it. Pete was mercury’s dad, and unlike Constantine’s thinking he was not an athlete but a dope dealer, idealist, and all around bloody boring. But as John falls into a slumber he suddenly finds that he is hooking up with Ur. It feels right to both of them, but this is dangerous ground for John as he felt similar feelings when he was with Zed…which causes him to remember that Errol might of told him she is still alive. But as they mention how good they feel suddenly a voice ducks down from the top bunk to mention she feels good as well…it’s Mercury and there is no telling how long she has been there. Ur is a bit pissed she can’t have anything to herself but sets off on her own, mentioning before she leaves that she really liked it when John called her his little girl earlier…she knows just where to hit the spot, lol. Family is something John is not used to, he has this idea that they should be filled with love, strength, and comfort, but as this idea that they fall into heartbreak and jealousy. Unfortunately we may have a bit of heartbreak coming up, as unbeknownst to our group the police are arriving to their camp right now.
Of course Mercury and her connection to people can tell that John is in a bit of a mood after that encounter, I’m very glad she is there to have his back and she suggests going on a walk on a nearby ley line to soak up some positive energy. I love this archaic magic and the whole earth is connected ideals that John is able to properly explore in this setting. Mercury is also totally away of what John did to Myra’s head, but she doesn’t seem to mind as she admits she does the same thing when she wants to play but the other kids are too nervous around her. Mercury is such an interesting character, so connected to the world to such a degree that she becomes disconnected from the emotions of others and in a desperate search for normality she exerts control. But as they walk along the ley line, John wondering if Mercury’s dad was an athlete with how quick she is, suddenly he finds that Mercury has stopped dead in her tracks as she came across a fencing blocking off the ley line. It seems to be from a company called Geotronik R&D and Mercury is immediately put odd as it’s messing with all the power in this area. She hops the fence and runs inside in a blind fury and is immediately caught by a guard, John immediately runs to her aid and picks up a large stick and threatens the guard to put her down. Suddenly two other men from the nearby research trailer run out to see what the commotion is. John makes up a story about his little girl wandering in here before he could grab her and this storm trooper assaulted her. John notices that Mercury can’t stop starting at one of them, but the men suggest there is no need to call the cops of they just get out of here. As they leave Mercury pulls her truck of knowing what someone is going to say first by calming John down and saying she doesn’t want to talk about it, only saying that it didn’t feel good to have someone else walk around in her mind but she will be fine. Well that’s concerning but John continues his efforts in ignoring everything as he doesn’t do this anymore. He fears that he could blow up all connections he’s made here if he starts to slip back into his old way of doing things, but with how the story is trending everyone here is at risk if he doesn’t start looking into the events that surround them.
As they get back to camp the first thing John does is apologize to Myra for earlier, he is done secluding himself and he wants to set things right. She seems cool with it and pours him some tea. He then sets out to have a talk with Errol, where he finds him listening to some tunes and working on his “diary,” which is actually a pretty cool cave painting like project where he documents his experiences through pictures he paints in large sheets of paper. Errol begins to explain one of the images about a woman he met in Glastonbury, she stayed with him for a month then went up to Scotland with some pagan types. He mentioned her name was Zed…WHAT?! I completely brushed past this the first time I read it as while Errol is telling this story John is loosing feeling in his face and falling to the ground. Only reason I caught this convo is because once the drugs wear off John mentions his disbelief that Zed could still be alive! Turns out Myra decided to get back at John for getting into her mind by getting into his, while I do think that is cruel I do think Constantine is a character that reflects the idea all magic has a consequence and this is certainly a consequence. Unfortunately she also gave him the type of stuff people have to practice to build up to and the Vikings used to turn into berserkers. John already feels like a bomb. Everyone tried getting him called down and to come back to one of the RVs for downers and a massage but before they could he bolted, yelling that he just wants to be alone and he can handle it. I have to admit I really like this drug trip sequence, as it gave me just as much anxiety as John was no doubt feeling running around the woods and confusing logs for alligators. But other than getting an unworldly connection to the earth, it also helped to setup the “fear machine” we may be literally dealing with while also shrouding the truth through John’s psychedelic eyes. While stumbling around John ends up spotting one of the men from the R&D camp next to one of the stones on the ley line, but he has a device hooked up to the stones and his own head. He begins to hear a hammering and a deep sense of fear as he clings onto his own rock for dear life, the drugs are certainly affecting John and screwing with his vision but the man is also being affected and he is telling out a strange language. John describes the entire world as spasming out and through the images that whirl around him we even get a glimpse of swamp thing. What’s odd is that the rock seems to turn on the man, biting off his hand, and chasing him to slam his face into the rock until he begins to bleed all over it. Much later when John finally wakes up and the drugs have mostly gone from his system, leaving him with a terrible headache, he find the blood still on the rock, the visuals were wild but part of that was real but no sign of the man. But instead of following up on it…John decides to drop it, he doesn’t do this thing anymore. But even if he doesn’t he has already a stumbled into it and as he walks back to camp we see that some of the other R&D folks have spotted him and are reporting his presence during their activities. He gets back to the camp and is pulled into Ur’s camper (Mercury’s mother) as she was dreadfully worried about him. She sees him up with a cup of tea and a nice warm place to sleep, he really doesn’t do well with drugs and she helped roll up his cigarette. Ur mentions that she always has to do that for Pete who was no good at it. Pete was mercury’s dad, and unlike Constantine’s thinking he was not an athlete but a dope dealer, idealist, and all around bloody boring. But as John falls into a slumber he suddenly finds that he is hooking up with Ur. It feels right to both of them, but this is dangerous ground for John as he felt similar feelings when he was with Zed…which causes him to remember that Errol might of told him she is still alive. But as they mention how good they feel suddenly a voice ducks down from the top bunk to mention she feels good as well…it’s Mercury and there is no telling how long she has been there. Ur is a bit pissed she can’t have anything to herself but sets off on her own, mentioning before she leaves that she really liked it when John called her his little girl earlier…she knows just where to hit the spot, lol. Family is something John is not used to, he has this idea that they should be filled with love, strength, and comfort, but as this idea that they fall into heartbreak and jealousy. Unfortunately we may have a bit of heartbreak coming up, as unbeknownst to our group the police are arriving to their camp right now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 7, 2024
It's going to sound like I'm trying to be funny, but I'm mostly serious: there aren't enough psychedelic freakout issues in superhero(-adjacent?) comics. I think the medium is perfect for it given the lack of limits on visuals and how you can manipulate time. Plus, with introspective writing like Delano's, it just makes for an interesting journey.
Also, I like John with a beard.
Also, I like John with a beard.
April 16, 2015
"Feel it. That unmistakable thrill of excitement, crackling from groin to pineal gland -- signalling that here is danger, here are dark doings. Ignore it, John. You don't do that kind of shit anymore. You're starting to fit in here -- and it could do you some good. Don't blow it for the sake of a bad day."
December 8, 2015
Psychedelic, that is all.
December 17, 2016
"Deberías arreglar las cosas... disculparte. Y deberías dejar de hablar contigo mismo." Jaja, lo adoro.
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