Hellblazer TP Vol 01 Original Sins New Ed (John Constantine, Hellblazer)

This really is where it all started. The Swamp Thing appearances were just a prelude.Constantine fans and future writers owe Jamie Delano a big debt of gratitude. He laid the foundation of John the anti-hero, the self-described "nasty piece of work" who walks his path alone. Read "A Feast of Friends" (stupidly dumbed down in the TV series. Such a waste of the superb Matt Ryan's talents) to find out why you wouldn't want to walk it with him. "Ghosts in the Machine" reveals how he got another staple, his dose of demon blood. "Waiting for the Man" (again bowdlerised for the TV) introduces Zed.These are good, gritty, unsentimental Constantine stories, enhanced by John Ridgeway's art and fairly decent colouring.A great start to the Hellblazer collection. If you like these you'll definitely want more. JC is addictive!

Came in amazing condition. Highly recommend for comic readers who want physical collections.

So I first read this in my teens some time around 2000 - 2004 and I found it dull and boring. I didn't find it all that gripping and basically wrote Hellblazer off as a dull , try hard and shock factor tale.Reading it now in a post COVID-19 world; if you replace Thatcher with Bo-Jo, AIDS with COVID , you basically have almost similar situation(s).This time now, reading it just at the cusp of my forties, it all fits and reads even better now.The art is a bit dated, some of the characters are straight up stereotypes, but It was actually quite a head of it's time, plus, the gritty comic book art of the late eighties is amazing and really brings the dark supernatural drama to life.It also predates many other popular stories, which if not for Hellblazer probably would of also struggled, The X Files would grace our screens eight years later, Supernatural , which I can now see has many parallels in just this volume, first aired eighteen(!) years later. There's even a bid to it in The Big Bang Theory.So, what else can I day beyond this? It's not perfect, but it's amazing. The story and political parallels still good up. If you haven't tried Hellblazer, well you got nothing to lose.

The book is great and Constantine has been written perfectly.

The art and characters are very much of their time, I found it very entertaining however, unless you are aware of what Thatcher era Britain/UK was like then some of the references may be lost on you. Even considering this though, the series is still very much a must read of the horror genre.

For me, this is one of the greatest urban fantasy stories out there. I'm not even much of a comic book guy but I loved this. Great writing, wonderful art, and a fabulous British cynical gallows humour and plenty of pathos. As for the book itself, the printing is top-notch and very good value for the money. On to volume 2!

This is probably my first ever solo Constantine comic that I have ever read. The writing changes between poetic delusions and hard booked detectives and turns out quite well. Some of the hell driven storylines feel sometimes bit naive and childish in contrast with the mature language and storylines. The album has several main storylines and only the last crossover doesn't seem to be related to the earlier issues. Maybe it's foreshadowing? Well, I'll find out with the next album.

Really enjoyed this, constantine is a really well written character with lots of sides to him. I also enjoy the spreading of awareness for aids in the 80s and how a lot of people were vilified because of who they loved or what colour their skin was.