Product Description

Movie star...comic book icon...John Constantine, the legendary chain-smoking, hard-drinking man of the occult is back - and as usual, he's his own worst enemy!A major new era in the Hellblazer saga begins as John gets back in the trenchcoat, and starts to put his life back together. Of course, things never go that smoothly, as a harrowing trip to Newcastle and near-drowning at the hands of a brutal gangster leads John to a community where the wronged take brutal and lethal magical revenge, and introduces a major new enemy!Red-hot writer Andy Diggle ("Swamp Thing") and regular series artist Leonardo Manco take Constantine back to basics - with a bang!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28304 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
"* "Superman, with his tights and pants, would look askance at this kind of superhero. Inspector Morse would clap him in irons. But hero he is." - The Sunday Times "John Constantine is the most human character in mainstream comics today... A journey you can't afford to miss." - Neil Gaiman, author of The Sandman"

About the Author
Andy Diggle is a rising star in the comics field. He established himself as a writer for (and editor of) 2000 AD, has written Swamp Thing, Adam Strange, Green Arrow: Year One and The Losers. Leonardo Manco is an accomplished artist who has worked on a variety of projects including Apache Skies, Thunderbolts and Master Darque. He is the regular artist of Hellblazer and Loveless.

Customer Reviews

don't blame the kids - they're just possessed
Great art, great stories. A good stand-alone book which could be read by someone with little knowledge of JC's backstory, and a return to the British grit that made the comic great. Diggle echoes Delano's social commentary, seeing what a much older John might have to say about post-Thatcherite Britain.

Looking forward to this getting better, but it's already good.
The Denis Mina stint was a bit below par, I felt, so it's great to see Constantine getting his act together. As another reviewer has said this is an excellent jumping on point for new readers but more importantly it's getting back to what Hellblazer was all about when the two writers who did the most to develop him (bar Alan Moore of course) had their runs.

Delano wrote British horror ala Ramsey Campbell, dark and disturbing plots with grubby and perverse characters. Ennis style was less dense but just as dark and actually gave Constantine a bit more humanity. But in the middle of it all was his ex-punk political cynicism.

Constantine holds all those in authority with utter contempt whether in this world or the astral plane.

This is modern Britain, Blair's Britain, Brown's Britain. The legacy of New Labour, ASBOs and post-Thatcherite consumerism. The only class system that exists is differing shades of scum. Violent estates a product of social atomisation and tabloid frenzy. Murder, mayhem and most importantly...Magick, lurk in ever shadowy corner.

The mage with the cigarette wand is back, and Diggle looks like he's going in the right direction. Looking forward to this getting better, but it's already good.

the return of john constantine
latest collection of issues of the dc comic hellblazer, telling the story of john constantine, the chain smoking trenchcoat wearing working class british master of magic. The comic has been around for a long time and had a great many creative teams. This collects the first eight issues by the latest, writer andy diggle and artist leonardo manco. A long running and very popular character, john is appealing because he's a magician with a hard attitude, and he does things that we can but wish we could.

Actually, this is a good jumping on point for new readers as it pretty much takes the comic back to basics. the first two issues, a story called in at the deep end, find john back in london after some time away, falling into a deadly trap whilst looking into the murder of a gangsters daughter. but there's more to this story than meets the eye, as john has a few tricks up his sleeve.

The next two issues collect the following story in which john goes to a place in scotland where he was one an inmate when it was an asylum, determined to purge himself of bad things he picked up there. a clever story that effectively takes the character back to basics. new readers will have no trouble with the continuity involved and long term fans will like it.

the next four issues, a story called joyride, involve john looking into suicides and deaths on a london estate. this all ties in with a strange group who offer grieving parents a chance for revenge. That they may regret taking.

This story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and introduces a worthy new foe for john.

All drawn with superbly stylish art by leonardo manco that really fits the tales, and written by a writer who perfectly understands the character and his setting, this is classic hellblazer. a treat for long term fans of the comic, and there's never been a better time to join them