Hellblazer

What started out in DC Comics as a foil to the Swamp Thing in 1988 became a big staple in the early 90s for Alan Moore Since Killing Joke and Watchmen before it in Vertigo Comics.  Hellblazer right now has up to 300 comics in it's mainstream series, as well as a not so recieved adaptation starring Keanu Reeves as the titular character.   Now before you Alan Moore fans reenact the police riot scene from Watchmen near my home, let me explain.  I got introduced to Hellblazer through the movie and I like the movie more than the comic.  Mainly because I already seen too many bad examples of magician style superheroes.  Zatanna Zatara being one of them in my opinion.  Now before you lynch me, read The New Teen Titans comics and Identity Crisis and you'll see why.   Anywho, you are probably wondering why I am bothering with this.  Well there was a bit of a surprise when I first looked it up and said surprise was one of the main inspirations to do this blog.


Ok the story goes like so, Hellblazer is set in a pocket universe within the mainstream DC where magic exists and none of the Mainstream DC heroes are there to fight evil.  In it John Constantine has set himself up to be a confidence man, who did morally questionable things for the greater good.  While adept at magic he has often used his intelligence and cunning skills to deceive his enemies, from petty demons to the Gods themselves.  While no superheroes existed in his universe plenty have shown up.  From Zatanna, to most Famously The Swamp Thing.   Ya the less you hear about Swamp Thing's "Friendship" with Constantine the better.  Let's just say when Swamp thing wanted a child with his girlfriend, but couldn't do the deed himself, he called Constantine.

Now for the fun part, Could It Exist In Real Life.

First and foremost the painfully obvious, DC and Vertigo's settings for Hellblazer took place in a pocket dimension.  I already told you all about the multiverse in my Last Action Hero analysis.  So no going down that road, but the pocket dimension also applies to my transportation theories in Tron and Pokemon. 

The Second is the magical elements and entities.  While that's debatable, much of the elements including heaven and hell are based off myths and legends of the real world.  So obviously I consider myths to have truth to them.  Characters such as the Antichrist and Archangel Gabriel are exaggarations of their real world myth personas, who want to please their respective fathers, but end up pissing them off instead.  To put it lightly.


Last but not least we have John Constantine himself, not only does he exist, but his own creator seen him.  In 1993 Alan Moore had this to say in Wizard Magazine.  
"One day, I was in Westminster in London—this was after we had introduced the character—and I was sitting in a sandwich bar. All of a sudden, up the stairs came John Constantine. He was wearing the trenchcoat, a short cut—he looked—no, he didn't even look exactly like Sting. He looked exactly like John Constantine. He looked at me, stared me straight in the eyes, smiled, nodded almost conspiratorially, and then just walked off around the corner to the other part of the snack bar.
I sat there and thought, should I go around that corner and see if he is really there, or should I just eat my sandwich and leave? I opted for the latter; I thought it was the safest. I'm not making any claims to anything. I'm just saying that it happened. Strange little story."

If that wasn't enough he met him once again in 2001 which he states "Years later, in another place, he steps out of the dark and speaks to me. He whispers: 'I'll tell you the ultimate secret of magic. Any cunt could do it.' "

Now that is awesome.  Stan Lee may have an astounding record for how many times he's cameoed in Marvel's many cinematic adaptations good and bad.  Moore tops it by meeting his creation in the flesh.

As usual, debate argue and let me know what I missed.  Stay Tuned For More.