9 Best Hellblazer Comics That You Should Reading Update 04/2024

Best Hellblazer Comics

John Constantine, also known as the Hellblazer, is a member of the Justice League Dark. He is also known as the Hellblazer. However, he has had a lot of great solo adventures in his own series. Hellblazer came out with an unusual hero that appealed to more mature readers. Not wearing a costume, he is an everyday man who has inner demons that he can’t get rid of.

This is how it works: Now, he is a regular at DC comics. He started out with DC’s Vertigo imprint, which has become one of its best-known properties over time. Garth Ennis and Neil Gaiman are two of the best writers who have written for Constantine, even though many other people have written about him.

1. Original Sins (Hellblazer #1-9)

Original Sins (Hellblazer #1-9)

John Constantine had been a side character in Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing comics for a long time, but now he has his own comic book series called Original Sins. When he has supernatural powers and isn’t sure who to trust, the storyline is based on that. They are fighting each other. The Damnation Army and the Resurrection Crusade are both fighting each other, and he is caught in the middle of it.

The comic is a great example of how the world of Hellblazer isn’t always black and white. While the show shows both angels and demons, not all of them fit into the good and bad binaries that are used in the show. Finds flaws in both sides of the war. Constantine gets into the war to save his niece, who is taken by one of the Army’s demons.

2. The Rakes At The Gate Of Hell (Hellblazer #76-83)

They worked together on a lot of projects that changed Constantine’s mythos, like this one. People who read The Rakes at the Gate of Hell meet a lot of demons and even Satan himself. Constantine is also desperate to save the few of his friends who are still alive. Constantine meets a former lover by accident.

Garth Ennis’ depiction of Satan in Hellblazer is interesting, just like the other arcs in the book. In this story, Satan isn’t just a one-dimensional bad guy. Instead, there are a few empathetic undertones that show why Satan is there. It doesn’t matter that Constantine does everything he can to take down “The First of the Fallen.” The comic also shows that he’s worn out by the endless cycle of violence that he’s caught in.

3. Hold Me (Hellblazer #27)

Hold Me (Hellblazer #27)

In the Neil Gaiman one-shot project Hold Me, Constantine isn’t the only lonely person. A ghost who wants to be with people is also in the story. But when he touches or embraces a human soul, he kills them right away. When a lesbian couple wants to have a child, Constantine is asked to help them. Ghost and Constantine meet when their paths cross. Constantine just holds the cold spirit in his arms, hoping to get some warmth from it, as he does this.

Because he doesn’t use any of his powers in this story, it’s a little weird. Instead, Constantine can be seen as more loving and caring in this case than he usually is. He, like the couple and the ghost, lives alone and hopes for better days. This is how he is like them.

4. In The Dark (Justice League Dark #1-6)

It marked the start of the Justice League Dark comic book characters in the New 52 continuity. In The Dark brought back some old and new faces to teen readers. A global threat is being made by the Enchantress and they have to fight her off with help from Zatanna, Constantine, Deadman, and Shade The Changed Man.

The six-issue storyline is more exciting than the action because of how the teams work together. The Justice League is a group of superheroes who work well together. This team is made up of people who don’t get along. But when they start to see each other’s flaws, a sense of friendship grows. Fans would be happy for the Hellblazer when he finally finds friends who aren’t going to give up on him.

5. Fear And Loathing (Hellblazer #62-67)

Fear And Loathing (Hellblazer #62-67)

Constantine’s 40th birthday party is the start of “Fear and Loathing in the City.” With a few friends and his long-term love Kit Ryan, Constantine thinks he can finally take a break. But when a close friend dies with Gabriel’s arrival on Earth and Kit leaves him, the tragic hero falls even more into a bad place.

The comic humanizes him even more and shows that even though there are supernatural forces at work, his biggest enemy can be himself. As long as Constantine is living the way he usually does, he goes through periods of alcoholism and stress. It’s a scary look into his mind that would make the readers feel even more sorry for him.

6. Newcastle (Hellblazer #11)

Constantine’s early years are told through the lens of Newcastle, which is very important in the Hellblazer universe. This is a big deal because it shows how he has always been guilty. Constantine who is more cocky makes mistakes that cost him the first person he has on his conscience. It doesn’t matter that Constantine is an important DC superhero. He is still a flawed person.

The pain that he feels after that is hard to read. Finally, it shows how one event can change a person’s whole future. When Constantine looks back at the story in flashback, it is clear that he will never be able to move on from the event.

7. Down All the Days / Rough Trade

Down All the Days - Rough Trade

Issues 68 – 69, 1993

Writer: Garth Ennis

Artist: Steve Dillon

A malicious vampire god or a society that doesn’t care about its poor people and lets them starve to death on the streets? Garth Ennis tackles this important subject in a two-part story arc that pits an alcoholic, homeless Constantine against the first bloodsucker in history. The script is very upsetting when it comes to the homeless. It shows the reader how the poor are abused, prostituted, and ignored in everyday life. It was first seen in Issue 50. The King of Vampires is a parasite who lives on other planets and drained the first man before taking on Constantine’s relatives in the World War I trenches. And even though he looks a lot like James Dean, this vampire doesn’t shine in the sun. Constantine doesn’t fight back very hard after losing the love of his life in the previous arc. The dual still ends on a high note that makes the most of Hellblazer’s rich history.

8. Happy Families / Reasons to Be Cheerful

Issues 200, 202 – 205; 2004

Writer: Mike Carey

Artists: Leonardo Manco, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Steve Dillon, Marcelo Frusin

Nobody would say that being a parent is easy. One of the most sacred and difficult things you can do in this world is to be in charge of raising babies who are your own. That becomes a lot more difficult if your kids are demon-spawned monsters raised in the illusion of home bliss. No, we’re not talking about Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. We’re talking about this corrupt arc in which the she-demon Rosacarnis wrecks Constantine’s life with three bundles of joy that were born from him in a fake reality. We think this baby-making scandal is by far the biggest con ever played on our favorite conman, and it hurts Constantine to his very core. There are three fictitious timelines that show the new Constantine progeny torturing Swamp Thing and stabbing homeless people. Issue #200 is a good place to start the story. The arc also moves in interesting directions, with the kids targeting Constantine’s friends and family to get rid of their patriarch before they try to kill him. It also has the best cameo of Shockheaded Peter since he first appeared in Der Struwwelpeter, a dark German nursery book.

9. Ashes & Dust in the City of Angels

Ashes & Dust in the City of Angels

Issues 170 – 174, 2002

Writer: Brian Azzarello

Artist: Marcelo Frusin

Among fans, this one isn’t always agreed upon. Brian Azzarello wraps up his Constantine-in-America series with a love story that no one thought would happen the way it did. We mean no one. Stanley Manor, a media mogul, is the person who put Constantine in prison. He looks a lot like an orphaned crime fighter, but this one feeds orphans to vampire bats instead of dressing up as one. During their time as teenagers, Manor was conned by Constantine in a very elaborate way. The billionaire is even more angry when Constantine hosts a seance between Manor and his murdered parents that goes very wrong. As a result, Constantine is a ghost for all but two end panels of the five issues in this arc. Manor burns him to death. The real surprise comes when it’s revealed that Manor and Constantine were gay lovers at a seedy S&M club until Constantine was killed in a horrible way. Real question is whether Constantine found true love after dating a bunch of young women who died or went crazy. Or did he just switch teams as part of another elaborate con? Most likely, both. Azzarello proved that he could still twist Vertigo’s most popular book in ways that both challenged and expanded its foundation.