Hellblazer, Vol. 26: The Curse of the Constantines

Hellblazer: New Editions

by Peter Milligan, Jamie Delano

It's up to the old mage to solve a few mysteries, but is John Constantine ready for what's about to be thrown at him?

A dying woman's desperate need to see her long lost son sends John Constantine on a mission in "Suicide Bridge," a haunting tale of evil and melancholy that finds John using his occult connections to learn why so many young people are going missing. It's a story full of strange places and desperate lives that leads Constantine to unearth his own connection to the mysterious disappearance of a boyhood friend...and that's just the beginning of Constantine's troubles in John Constantine, Hellblazer Vol. 26: The Curse of the Constantines.

Collecting Hellblazer #292-300; Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood #1-4; Hellblazer Annual #1!

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Dc Comics

352 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2022

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.

He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.

His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.

Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).

Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are three goodbyes in this issue: goodbye to Hellblazer, Vertigo’s longest running title, goodbye to Vertigo itself, which is a bloody tragedy, and goodbye to the pre-New 52 DC universe, as the new broom was well and truly sweeping by this point and the original Constantine was brushed out on his arse in the process.

I really enjoyed this last volume of John Constantine’s shenanigans and would have given it 5 stars if I liked the artwork more.

A lot of people have complained that Constantine goes out with a whimper rather than a bang but, personally, I find this absolutely appropriate for this character. Most working class chancers end up looking back on their lives with horror in a divey pub, I’d imagine. (It always makes me laugh when people refer to Constantine as working class; as far as I can tell he’s never worked a day in his life!)

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final volume of Constantine's original Vertigo adventures is here at last. I'm honestly surprised DC managed to make it to the end, I expected them to give up halfway through, but here we are with the last 14 or so issues of Hellblazer.

We open with a Hellblazer first, an annual. Suicide Bridge manages to fill its page count with some dreary (in a good way) inner monologue and a haunting storyline as well. Did it need to be an annual? Probably not, but more Hellblazer is always a good thing. We then head into the last 9 issues of the main title, starting with House Of Wolves, a story that reveals Epiphany and John have known each other far longer than we thought. Both of these stories are drawn by usual cover artist Simon Bisley, who has pencilled some interiors before and is a great fit for the dark edgy-ness side of Hellblazer.

Curse Of The Constantines takes up the next five issues, seeing John head to Ireland to at last track down his sister Cheryl's missing baby. I thought this plotline was over and done with, but it's nice to see Peter Milligan doubling back to tie it off properly. It meanders a little in the middle with some side-stuff with Epiphany that doesn't really add to the story, but it has a solid conclusion that poses a few interesting questions about the nature of what being a Constantine is really about.

The final three issues of Hellblazer, including the extra-sized #300, are Death And Cigarettes, which sees Constantine finally facing death head on. This is a whistle-stop tour of old Hellblazer characters, and manages to round up the plotlines for most of them quite nicely. It's got that typical Constantine twist, but the ending leaves a little to be desired. It's not clear what happened in the slightest, and while you're free to take your own interpretation away with you, I'm not a fan of super-vague finales like that.

All of these issues are again tag-teamed by the duo of Guiseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini for the same constistently dark and moody artwork that we've come to expect. It's strange, because I've always associated Cammo with Amazing Spider-Man which is like the complete tonal opposite of Hellblazer, but it just goes to show the range that he has as an artist.

And then rounding out the book is Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood #1-4, written by original Hellblazer scribe Jamie Delano, which I'll be honest, I didn't finish. I read issue 1, which was 20 pages of ranting and raving with like 10 panels per page and each one stuffed full of dialogue, and I just didn't care. It's set in the future, with militant monarchists, an aging Constantine, and possibly the daughter of Princess Diana (?) running around, but I was so turned off by the first issue that I didn't have the heart to find out exactly.

Hellblazer goes out with a bit of a bang and a bit of a whimper. Peter Milligan's run and the main title end well enough, although the ending might need one of those "Hellblazer #300 ending explained!" videos that YouTube idiots seem to make for everything. The additional material is less than stellar however.

[Hugo Emanuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Peter Milligan closes out his run, and the Hellblazer title, much like he had allways kept it: a occasionally funny, but mostly dumb black comedy, with piss-poor characterization, and scantly made political points.
Milligan's run is, hands down, the poorer Hellblazer has ever been.
Only saving graces are the artwork by Bisley and Camuncoli, which are sadly wasted on these stories.
The final issue's ending was mysterious and mind-boggling in all the wrong ways.

As far as I'm concerned, Hellblazer ended by issue #250, and prefer to ignore everything that came after that.

The volume closes out with a mini-series titled "bad Blood", written by Jamie Delano. It's not the hreatest HB I've read, but beats anything Milligan wrote, despite it being very different in tone and narrative than previous Hellblazer stories.

So, overall, a very weak volume, only for completists or people curious about how Hellblazer closes out. But I'd advise readers to stop reading after the end of Andy Diggle's run, and ignore everything after Hellblazer #250.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m sort of indifferent about Bad Blood, and the art was not for me, but the rest of this was great, as usual. And finally my collection is complete.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two stars are about the way Milligan ended the series as well as his run in general. He wrote a weirdly emotional Constantine, put a lot of time into Epiphany who was likeable enough but not a character I needed to follow to the bitter end, and he tried to come across as clever with his final pages but it doesn't work. The last couple of issues just have zero of the energy you'd expect from a 300+ series coming to an end.
As a whole, Hellblazer is great and now that I don't have anymore to read, I'm gonna go into some post-Hellblazer depression. As an ending, this volume is not great.

[AJW · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this is how it ends… Not with a bang but a whimper.

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was tough to give one star but I have to be honest with myself. I've been reading Hellblazer since the first volume 1 trade paperback came out over 10 years ago. I own all 26 volumes, and while the series has its ups and downs (I hated Brian Azzarello's run especially), I generally look forward to those times when every night before going to sleep I have a new Hellblazer trade to read. This is the very final volume of this run, going up to issue 300, before DC, in one of their stupidest, most awful moves they've made, canceled the Vertigo series entirely (and then Vertigo entirely.)

I was hoping for some sort of big finale, essentially what every writer does on the title when they finish out their run. And I'm a big fan of Peter Milligan, whose other Vertigo (and other) work is weird, complex, fun. Basically I considered him a perfect writer for Constantine. I'm pretty amazed how much he drops the ball here. The final few stories really elicit an "ehh...who cares?" So Constantine has some nephew...who cares? Why should I get invested in this guy? This random new relative is what we're going to fashion the entire final stories around? I don't get why.

The very final arc, Death and Cigarettes, feels rushed and incredibly under-explored. This should have been at least six issues, not three. You have no time to take in anything. And the final few pages I found incredibly confusing and unsatisfying. I had to google what's going on there but nobody knows. I like some ambiguity and artsiness but I closed the book feeling incredibly disappointed.

But that's not even the worst thing about this particular volume. For some reason, DC decided to go out of chronological order and include a miniseries called Bad Blood in the second half of this book, even though that was made in 2000, 13 years before Hellblazer 300. This should have gone in an earlier volume, collecting stories from 2000 or so. Having it come after the final issue is bizarre placement and I'm glad I looked it up and managed to read it first (meaning I read the second half of the book before the first half.)

And then how is Bad Blood? It's terrible. An incredibly tedious, boring story about an older Constantine, barely doing anything, but involved in some sort of royal baby scandal with a bunch of characters you have no interest in. I could not care less. I appreciate that it was printed, for completion sake, but wow. I had to force myself to get through this. And to think this story ends the 26 (!!!) volume Hellblazer run. Whoever thought to put that at the end of this trade is incredibly misguided.

A huge disappointment all around. I expect more from both Milligan and Delano, and the disorganized nature of this collection is frustrating.

[Nick Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty great trade and decent enough wrap up for the almighty Hellblazer. Bad Blood was great as well. I don’t usually review trades, and while this one was good, I’d rather speak on the series as a whole.

This is the largest series I’ve read to date. I started collecting the trades 2-3 at a time about 5 years ago. With such a long run and so many people involved, there are definitely some ups and downs. The highs are high and the lows are low, but I feel like throughout the entire run, everyone was able to capture the essence of John Constantine, the bastard we can’t help but love. Other recurring characters, like Chas, were always written with the utmost respect. From the first time I met Constantine in Swamp Thing, I knew he was a character I was going to love. All these years later and John might be my favorite character across all media

Some of the trades have gotten hard to find and pricey if you’re lucky to snag them, but the payoff is as rewarding as you could expect from the endless list of talent involved in the series. Seek this out, you won’t regret it.

[JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suicide Bridge: a single, not bad. Curse of the Constantines: it’s about blood and family and the nephew never mentioned. I like the idea of sometimes blood matters—and sometimes it doesn’t. Death and Cigarettes—a send off, Constantine style. He never really dies. Seems weird to have Epiphany and Finn here. Bad Blood… what was that?

Overall, out in Constantine style, could have done without Bad Blood. So it goes. Onward!

Full review:
https://blog.jverkamp.com/2022/04/17/...

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of an anticlimactic end to the series. I feel let down.

[Nate]

Here it is, the end of Milligan's run and the end of Hellblazer (R.I.P. Vertigo). I've been lukewarm towards Milligan's run; some arcs are good but most of them haven't been too memorable for me. I even had to go back and read my reviews to remember what happened.

This volume opens with the first and only Hellblazer annual, a dark and disturbing one-and-done that epitomizes the series. Nice work.

After that comes a relatively lighthearted single issue story about werewolves. I think this is the first werewolf Hellblazer story? Seems overdue. Anyway, it's a fun romp about the secrets husbands and wives keep from each other.

Next up is "The Curse of the Constantines," a five-parter that introduces John's long-lost nephew. I thought this was enjoyable, if predictable. In the grand scheme of Hellblazer, it doesn't stand out, but it's a fine showcase for John and boasts some genuinely creepy imagery. It's impressive that 290+ issues in, Milligan is able to create something new about John's past and make it work.

The final arc, "Death and Cigarettes," has John facing death one last time. It's tense, sad, and touching. I find the ending too obtuse though, fantastic last panel notwithstanding. I'll be thinking about that ending for a while.

All told, I'd say this volume has some of Milligan's best Hellblazer stories. I liked all of them to varying degrees. This is a respectable way to close out a beloved, long-running series.

This volume also collects Jamie Delano's Bad Blood mini, tacked on at the end. It takes place in the future when septuagenarian Constantine has forgone magic and England's monarchy is dying. Like a lot of Delano's stuff, it's heavily political and has splashes of dark humor. It's not his best contribution to the Hellblazer canon, being somewhat convoluted and relying too much on snark, but it's a decent read.

And there you have it. The end of Hellblazer. My interest in the series dwindled somewhat after Carey, and even before him it was inconsistent. But there's plenty of good stuff throughout the series. John Constantine is one of the greatest comic book characters of all time. I'd certainly like to read all 300 issues again one day (and I've already reread some). As for Milligan, I feel I didn't give his run proper thought and attention, because I was reading it more for completion's sake, even if there were parts I liked. However, I don't see my opinion changing that Delano, Ennis, and Carey wrote the best Hellblazer there is.

[Elías Casella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bueno, termino de leer Hellblazer después de como 7 años desde que me compré el primer volumen del ómnibus, por ese capricho mío de leerlo en papel IN THIS ECONOMY. Es una buena conclusión. Coherente, bastante meta, con personajes que me importan. Es verdad que no ata cabos de viejas historias, pero eso está bien. ¿Se retira uno de cualquier carrera dejando todo resuelto? En general no. Ahora: a decir verdad, no lo entendí del todo y voy a tener que hacer aquello que no querría: interactuar con otros fans de la saga. Más todavía cuando veo, por los comentarios de goodreads, que ser un apologista de Milligan como guionista y de Ephiphany como personaje es una postura bastante polémica. Vengan de a uno.

El apéndice futurista que mete Jamie Delano no me termina de convencer. Quizá por las ilustraciones, quizá por lo enrevesado del plot o, lo más probable, porque viene después del "final" y no me deja claro cómo tengo que reinterpretar ese último cuadro de Jon hecho mierda con una birra en la mano si en una ucronía cercana el tipo supuestamente sigue jugando a Cachavacha.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milligan’s run ends on something of a high note compared to the rest of it. The annual is arguably his best issue. The final arc is a bit more of a whimper than a bang, but it does help solidify Delano’s miniseries, Bad Blood, as a canonical “ending.” Bad Blood is itself an odd story, a kind of Old Man Logan, for the character that reads a bit more like a Transmetropolitan story more than a Hellblazer one. The art too seems to be mimicking Derrick Robertson. That said, it is still pretty fun, and I like having Delano having the final say on that version of this character… for now.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a little inconsistent. I blame it on trying to paid out the last few stories with extras. On the plus side, some strong storylines that tie up the series. On the negative side, the extras seem a little cartoonish with trying to hard for the crosses, double crosses and twists.

Felt more like an attempt at a Warren Ellis style story. Regardless, hell of a way to end the series without being too much of a letdown.

[Eric Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

It ends not with a bang but with a whimper. I’ve never read a volume of hellblazer that felt so sexist? Also the whole Epiphany has loved John since she was a girl thing is kind of gross. She is a bad ass character but gets some lame storylines in this. Still it’s the end of a bumpy but overall good series with some great story arcs.

[Viviana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-4 stars most and 4-5 stars art..and 1-2 stars Johno's face sometimes, unfortunately. The last story ..definitely not my fave, different and the arts comicy.. definitely had me smiling here n there with old John looking silly

[Jon Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out with a whimper, certainly not a bang. It read like the ending was enforced at short notice, no logic or reasoning behind the Fates. And then tacking the Dolly storyline on the end multiplied the nonsense.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see why they decided to reboot the series, but it seems like a lost opportunity. They could have let Constantine grow.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give it five stars if it didn’t include the last storyline, “Bad Blood”, which is pointless and awful.

[Peter-Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the Suicide Bridge annual and the last Milligan run but the Bad Blood story is such a let down. Dropped it after issue 1.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Fitting conclusion.

[Letícia Anadias · Rating 3 out of 5]

... that's it, I guess.

esse run do Milligan foi MUITO ruim, apesar de ter algumas (poucas) histórias boas, como as duas primeiras desse volume

[Kevin Pilgrim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished the Hellblazer series and it gets to a open ennding.

Not really a fan of the ending but it was one hell of a ride.

[Phil Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was an amazing journey through 26 volumes of John Constantine's adventures. One of the all time great comic book characters.

[Brian]

Kindle edition

The end of Hellblazer (the comic, not Constantine himself) is embellished with something fun not in the original print comic.