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Hellblazer (Single Issues)
Hellblazer #1
An apathetic, somewhat amoral occultist, John Constantine always manages to come out on top through a combo of luck, trickery and genuine magical skill. In this seminal Vertigo series, uncover a horror story wrapped in a mystery starring a hero who's at his best and worst, all at the same time...
40 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1988
8 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Delano
460 books351 followersJamie Delano aka A. William James began writing comics professionally in the early 1980s. Latterly he has been writing prose fiction with "BOOK THIRTEEN" published by his own LEPUS BOOKS imprint (http://www.lepusbooks.co.uk) in 2012, "Leepus | DIZZY" in April 2014, and "Leepus | THE RIVER" in 2017.
Jamie lives in semi-rural Northamptonshire with his partner, Sue. They have three adult children and a considerable distraction of grandchildren.
Jamie lives in semi-rural Northamptonshire with his partner, Sue. They have three adult children and a considerable distraction of grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 14, 2024
Finally I am here, Hellblazer is a really long series, that I couldn't help but keep delaying.
But with my mind really empty of great comic series to read, except this, I can finally read this.
I am still reading this pretty slow, specially that first issue was 42 pages or so.
The writing is amazing.
Constantine is a great character.
And the story is pretty good for a first issue, this is what Profesionalism feels like, catch your audience from the first issue, make them unable to deny you, make them helpless to do anything but keep reading.
But with my mind really empty of great comic series to read, except this, I can finally read this.
I am still reading this pretty slow, specially that first issue was 42 pages or so.
The writing is amazing.
Constantine is a great character.
And the story is pretty good for a first issue, this is what Profesionalism feels like, catch your audience from the first issue, make them unable to deny you, make them helpless to do anything but keep reading.
December 3, 2025
lowkey hate this art style but it's the 80's so i'm giving it grace... i've read one piece i can read 300 constantine issues
March 12, 2021
Had I previously read more of him in Swamp Thing, I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed it more.
April 27, 2025
What a phenomenal start for Constantine's solo run, what I especially loved was how subtle the worldbuilding was in this issue. Just slight nods to people, places, or events like New Castle to build this entire world around him that we didn't get from his time in swamp thing. And until looking at the info behind this issue I had 0 clue how many firsts this issue contains, especially being the first appearance of Papa Midnight, that is so cool!! As with most adventures in John's life, this one happens to come to him and really force him to start fighting as he happened to find his old friend, now fiend, Gary in his bathtub covered in bugs. But these are just any bugs, this is the sign for what John will have to face, and what New York is currently facing. You see, Gary knew that John was in NYC seeing Emma, (remember when she died in Swamp thing? John hasn't forgotten either.) and he desperately needed his help and tried to send John a sample of the power he found so John could help. But as it was sent to Emma's house, and no one was there...it was instead sent back to the post office. Where a postal worker felt the pull of the power inside the parcel, and ended up unleashing it on himself and all of NYC. Luckily for us it is still growing and seems to only be able to target one host at at time, but once it takes someone over it inflicts them with insurmountable hunger that no amount of food can put down...until they eventually die from starvation. It's like the bugs are eating them from the inside out and force them to feed it or they become the food themselves.
So where exactly did this come from? After John called his good friend Chas over to watch and give some medicine to Gary so he will finally calm down, plus a bunch of bug spray to kill all the bugs crawling over Gary, John was able to put Gary into a trance so he can tell him what happened. That is when Gary is able to tell John how he found the demon Mnemoth. It all started in Tangier when Gary was walking the streets without a dollar to his name...when he saw a mute Sudanese boy thrown into the street. he was covered in tribal markings and was shriveled up. Gary felt the urge and took the boy back to his room where he immediately performed an exorcism. He was able to drive the demon Mnemoth out of the boy and into a vial. The boy died in the process but Gary was quite proud of himself being able to trap a demon in the bottle. But it didn't last long, But all the while Gary could feel the demon calling to him, calling to his needs, asking to be put inside of him...another thing to get high off of. But Gary holds out and mugs a tourist to get back so he can get John's help...but of course John was off somewhere else, wasn't he? Gary tried to hold out in John's apartment, but it continued to call to him, and then the bugs started to arrive. He knows that if he keeps it around it will make him do terrible things...which is when he tries to send it to John in the states. But of course we have already seen how that turned out. Before Gary passes out, John was able to get him to draw a fairly accurate picture of the boy and his markings. Using that picture, John was able to bring it to his Professor friend at the British Museum, who was able to pinpoint the markings as originating in Sudan. Where there is only one tribe still practicing the sacrificial magic that would of made the markings.
So with that John packs his bags for Sudan and gets a guide to take him out to the tribe. There he meets with the village elder that uses magic to speak all languages and communicate with John. He actually expected John the previous day, but I guess we have also seen how worthwhile his magic is. John and the elder are able to share memories so the elder may show him what happened to the village and the boy, and of course they do this by taking drugs together. The images we get in these pages are amazing, as we see the drug induced trip John goes on, and how he watches as the man takes out his own eye and swaps it with one of John's eyes so they may share vision. There John sees as Mnemoth infested their land and how the elder took the boy as a sacrifice to store it in and how he cut the boys tongue out so he may not curse anyone else and let the demon die within him. But what he now knows is that he failed to see the boy to the end. The boy was picked up by slavers and now Mnemoth is free to grow and hurt others. The elder blames himself completely says he should of stayed until the end, but as John puts it: "yeah, well. Never look back's a good motto in our line of business. Too many bloody ghosts following."
After a few hours John flies back to pick up Gary and then brings him to NYC. Previously in the issue he called ahead to an old friend...Papa Midnight, a NYC resident mystic who has also noticed the increased hunger brought on by Mnemoth. But at the moment his magic cannot tell him the name or give him any information about the demon. Papa midnight actually runs a high end club in NYC, with an illegal gambling den in the back that Constantine once made off with $50K. So as you can imagine Papa midnight may not be too enthused to see Constantine at first glace. John is able to get Gary through the backdoor fairly easily, but it's the giant of a servant that Papa keeps around that immediately becomes an issue. Lucky for us the zombie is all bark and no brains, and John is able to yell at him into submission like a dog. As John heads up to see Papa Midnight, as expected Midnight is not happy to see him...but John is able to appeal to his senses fairly quickly. They have both felt the disturbance in New York and John is here to help but needs the magic of a powerful magician. Papa says he will consider it, and that's all John needs to hear. He goes ahead and leaves Gary in papa's care and heads off into the city to investigate further.
There is only one lead John has at the moment and he doesn't like it, as it means he has to go back to Emma's house as that is where the package was posted. As John makes his way in he finds someone else taking up the apartment, an artist that became inspired by Emma's death. According to John he got her hair color all wrong in his painting, but even seeing the painting resembling her struck John to his core. He found out from the artist that he sent the package back to the post office. As John leaves the apartment the thought of Emma begins to hurt him...and even worse he then starts to see her. Literally, she appears and begins talking to her. But she is dead, so either she is a ghost or he is insane. He decides to play it fairly straight when talking to her, doesn't give away any information just as she doesn't talk to much about where she ended up. But she does tell him that she is here to help him with the Mnemoth problem. He can't touch her but they begin to walk the streets together, even if he knows that others can't see her. But suddenly on the street corner they run into one of Mnemoth's victims. A vegan man who suddenly develops the taste for meat in bulk before dying in front of them. Following the trail of bugs from the man leads John and Emma to a cathedral swarming with them. As he swings open the door he finds the giant bug image of Mnemoth about to begin another feeding on a priest. John is able to catch him by surprise, but Emma has to warn John to run away...he is no where near powerful enough to take this thing on. And John quickly realizes it as Mnemoth approaches to take him. He is forced to leave the priest behind, and if it wasn't for Emma it would have had him as well. John cannot do this alone, he is going to need Midnite and he is going to need Gary. Let's get this show on the road!!
So where exactly did this come from? After John called his good friend Chas over to watch and give some medicine to Gary so he will finally calm down, plus a bunch of bug spray to kill all the bugs crawling over Gary, John was able to put Gary into a trance so he can tell him what happened. That is when Gary is able to tell John how he found the demon Mnemoth. It all started in Tangier when Gary was walking the streets without a dollar to his name...when he saw a mute Sudanese boy thrown into the street. he was covered in tribal markings and was shriveled up. Gary felt the urge and took the boy back to his room where he immediately performed an exorcism. He was able to drive the demon Mnemoth out of the boy and into a vial. The boy died in the process but Gary was quite proud of himself being able to trap a demon in the bottle. But it didn't last long, But all the while Gary could feel the demon calling to him, calling to his needs, asking to be put inside of him...another thing to get high off of. But Gary holds out and mugs a tourist to get back so he can get John's help...but of course John was off somewhere else, wasn't he? Gary tried to hold out in John's apartment, but it continued to call to him, and then the bugs started to arrive. He knows that if he keeps it around it will make him do terrible things...which is when he tries to send it to John in the states. But of course we have already seen how that turned out. Before Gary passes out, John was able to get him to draw a fairly accurate picture of the boy and his markings. Using that picture, John was able to bring it to his Professor friend at the British Museum, who was able to pinpoint the markings as originating in Sudan. Where there is only one tribe still practicing the sacrificial magic that would of made the markings.
So with that John packs his bags for Sudan and gets a guide to take him out to the tribe. There he meets with the village elder that uses magic to speak all languages and communicate with John. He actually expected John the previous day, but I guess we have also seen how worthwhile his magic is. John and the elder are able to share memories so the elder may show him what happened to the village and the boy, and of course they do this by taking drugs together. The images we get in these pages are amazing, as we see the drug induced trip John goes on, and how he watches as the man takes out his own eye and swaps it with one of John's eyes so they may share vision. There John sees as Mnemoth infested their land and how the elder took the boy as a sacrifice to store it in and how he cut the boys tongue out so he may not curse anyone else and let the demon die within him. But what he now knows is that he failed to see the boy to the end. The boy was picked up by slavers and now Mnemoth is free to grow and hurt others. The elder blames himself completely says he should of stayed until the end, but as John puts it: "yeah, well. Never look back's a good motto in our line of business. Too many bloody ghosts following."
After a few hours John flies back to pick up Gary and then brings him to NYC. Previously in the issue he called ahead to an old friend...Papa Midnight, a NYC resident mystic who has also noticed the increased hunger brought on by Mnemoth. But at the moment his magic cannot tell him the name or give him any information about the demon. Papa midnight actually runs a high end club in NYC, with an illegal gambling den in the back that Constantine once made off with $50K. So as you can imagine Papa midnight may not be too enthused to see Constantine at first glace. John is able to get Gary through the backdoor fairly easily, but it's the giant of a servant that Papa keeps around that immediately becomes an issue. Lucky for us the zombie is all bark and no brains, and John is able to yell at him into submission like a dog. As John heads up to see Papa Midnight, as expected Midnight is not happy to see him...but John is able to appeal to his senses fairly quickly. They have both felt the disturbance in New York and John is here to help but needs the magic of a powerful magician. Papa says he will consider it, and that's all John needs to hear. He goes ahead and leaves Gary in papa's care and heads off into the city to investigate further.
There is only one lead John has at the moment and he doesn't like it, as it means he has to go back to Emma's house as that is where the package was posted. As John makes his way in he finds someone else taking up the apartment, an artist that became inspired by Emma's death. According to John he got her hair color all wrong in his painting, but even seeing the painting resembling her struck John to his core. He found out from the artist that he sent the package back to the post office. As John leaves the apartment the thought of Emma begins to hurt him...and even worse he then starts to see her. Literally, she appears and begins talking to her. But she is dead, so either she is a ghost or he is insane. He decides to play it fairly straight when talking to her, doesn't give away any information just as she doesn't talk to much about where she ended up. But she does tell him that she is here to help him with the Mnemoth problem. He can't touch her but they begin to walk the streets together, even if he knows that others can't see her. But suddenly on the street corner they run into one of Mnemoth's victims. A vegan man who suddenly develops the taste for meat in bulk before dying in front of them. Following the trail of bugs from the man leads John and Emma to a cathedral swarming with them. As he swings open the door he finds the giant bug image of Mnemoth about to begin another feeding on a priest. John is able to catch him by surprise, but Emma has to warn John to run away...he is no where near powerful enough to take this thing on. And John quickly realizes it as Mnemoth approaches to take him. He is forced to leave the priest behind, and if it wasn't for Emma it would have had him as well. John cannot do this alone, he is going to need Midnite and he is going to need Gary. Let's get this show on the road!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2025
(spoiler)
Started with Delano on the mnemoth story long after I read Newcastle and what do I think? So far, I love it really dense, but I love how grounded it feels in England like this is a guy who feels like he's actually from England (because he's British and he's well-versed with the different politics like again the addiction demon l honestly think references the addiction ravaging the UK in the 80s and the dialects people have in the UK but also some prose is just usual Delano goodness if you don't mind These long spans of captions (remind me of a haunted more terse textured version of Chris Claremont in my opinion better implemented respect to Chris Claremont though even if his prose hasn't aged the best for my taste) but also it feels like a good start for John's character out of the pieces that I got from his first introduction ( I believe about issue 37 swamp thing which to fully appreciate will need to read the entire saga)
Delano is dense hard deep political and existential
I do see how people get bored I mean, I love his writing
but damn does he get long even for me 🤣
I understand people who can't stick with it however I deeply appreciate and love what he's trying to do and say with the character and the world he lives in.
Started with Delano on the mnemoth story long after I read Newcastle and what do I think? So far, I love it really dense, but I love how grounded it feels in England like this is a guy who feels like he's actually from England (because he's British and he's well-versed with the different politics like again the addiction demon l honestly think references the addiction ravaging the UK in the 80s and the dialects people have in the UK but also some prose is just usual Delano goodness if you don't mind These long spans of captions (remind me of a haunted more terse textured version of Chris Claremont in my opinion better implemented respect to Chris Claremont though even if his prose hasn't aged the best for my taste) but also it feels like a good start for John's character out of the pieces that I got from his first introduction ( I believe about issue 37 swamp thing which to fully appreciate will need to read the entire saga)
Delano is dense hard deep political and existential
I do see how people get bored I mean, I love his writing
but damn does he get long even for me 🤣
I understand people who can't stick with it however I deeply appreciate and love what he's trying to do and say with the character and the world he lives in.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2021
Está serie es más un ejercicio de imaginación y juego con lo místico que hacerlo emocionante como un cómic tradicional. El monólogo interno de John es lo que hace mover la historia que se pone cada vez más intrigante. Esta historia se enfoca en establecer a Constantine en la forma que tiene que salvar a un amigo y como les ha fallado a otros. Por suerte no es una innecesaria historia de origen ya que las habilidades de John no llegaron de golpe. Es una lectura bien pesada. El diálogo mantiene el ritmo lento igual que un cómic Noir pero peor.
October 18, 2023
NOOO.... THATS DISGUSTING AF
October 9, 2024
Meglio di quelli di supereroi ma un po' confuso
February 19, 2025
The art is very psychedelic.
February 3, 2026
Classic old school art, lettering on point , a smashing story arc , what’s not to love!
Second read of the series !
Second read of the series !
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews