RudeBoie

Thinking of picking up maybe 5 of the best Hellblazer collections to read.

Been interested in the series a long time, but there have been so many collections and different writers on it, I don't know where to start.

Suggestions?

pelenor

You really can't go wrong with any of them. (Although, thestories written by Azzarrello really didn't feel like Hellblazer to me). Anywho, have you read "The Books of Magic" compilation? It deals with a young kid (Timothy Hunter) who may or may not turn out to be this ages Merlin. Constantine is one of the four "Magic-Users" who take the kid on a fact finding mission about magic to see if he really want's to walk the road of magic. It's actually a great read, especially when evil magical sects begin to hunt Timothy and Constantine and the others have to protect him. The funny thing about this four issue series, it was printed in 1990 r so and the kid, Timothy Hunter, has glasses and a white owl. Yes, there have been comparisons between Harry Potter and Timothy Hunter. Anyway, it's a great read and the artwork is fantastic. You might also want to pick up some of the "Swamp Thing" collections. That's where Constantine made his first appearance.

Liquid Death

I really enjoyed Ennis' run on the book, in particular Dangerous Habits (which is a parial basis for the movie). I remember it being mostly accessible to newcomers (I think the first Hellblazer book I read was one of Azzarello's - Hard Time - and not all of it made sense to me).

Josh-da-man

The book's best run were the Delano and Ennis runs, from #1 to #84.

Unfortunately, DC has done a shitty job of reprinting the book in collections.

Of the above, the only collections available are:

ORIGINAL SINS (Jamie Delano first nine issues, #1-9)
DANGEROUS HABITS (Garth Ennis' first storyline, #41-46)
FEAR AND LOATHING (Garth Ennis, #62-67) - This begins the collaboration between Ennis and Steve Dillon on the title.
TAINTED LOVE (Garth Ennis, #68-71, Special 1)
DAMNATION'S FLAME (Garth Ennis, #72-77)
RAKE AT THE GATE'S OF HELL (Garth Ennis, #78-83, plus Heartland special)
RARE CUTS (Compilation with #11, #25, #26, #35, #56, #84. Features odds and ends from the Delano/Ennis run, in addition to Grant Morrison's two issues)

Neil Gaiman's single issue, #27, has also been reprinted in CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER COLLECTION (movie adaption that also includes reprints of #1, #27, and #41) and NEIL GAIMAN'S MIDNIGHT DAYS (a compilation of Gaiman-written pieces from various titles).

Also of interest would be Alan Moore's SWAMP THING run, which has been fully collected into TPBs. Constantine's first (official) appearance was in the third TPB, THE CURSE, and that story continues into the MURDER OF CROWS TPB.

Gamblor187

I'm almost finished re-reading my nearly complete run "Hellblazer". I'll post my opinions and recommendations then. For now, you may want to check out the Vertigo site. You can read the first issue here:

http://www.dccomics.com/features/hellblazer/intro.html

cultshock

DANGEROUS HABITS would be a great place to start. Writer Garth Ennis' work on the title remains my favourite.

Sessa17

The Azzarrello run is my favorite Hellblazer run ever. I run a comic book store & when people tell me they want to get into Hellblazer & ask where they should start, I always give them Hard Time to start off with.

The early Hellblazer stuff & Ennis' run is a little hard to get into for someone who has never read a book like this. Hard Time is just a kick-ass story that you don't need to know anything about, it focuses on all the qualities that make Constantine so cool, plus it's prison story & prison stories rule & if you need more it has Barry Corben art which is amazing.

"Hard Time" is about a very guilt-riddled Constantine is in jail and basically floating along, using his magic powers and conman skills to keep himself alive while pissing off everyone around him with his trademark arrogance. The story itself reads as a "jump-on" story for new readers, as much of the time is spent on the inmates reacting to Constantine's antics as he ends up triggering a full-scale canibalism-filled riot .In the end, after hooking himself up to an electric chair and whining some more to an FBI agent who enters the prison to negotiate an end to the riot, Constantine gets convinced to use his power to stop the riot and is allowed to walk away from the prison.

Trust me, RudeBoie, if you never read Hellblazer before, this is the first trade to get. From then on I would just pick up the rest of the Azzarello trades, & then start back-tracking from the beginning.

RudeBoie

Thanks for all the advice : )

Time for an Amazon binge!

Gamblor187

Okay. I've just finished re-reading the everything through the Azzaerello run. My recommendation would be to start with "Dangerous Habits" ("Original Sins" is another good starting point since it contains the first 9 issues of the series, but it's uneven and may dissaude you from going any further) I'll add my comments on the various authors and the TPBs.

As has already been mentioned, John Constantine first appeared in the pages of "Swamp Thing". I always try to read TPBs in order by their original publication. However, if you're just interested in Constantine, you can skip these for the time being. It's not like it's an "origin story". Besides, if you start here, you'll be very tempted to put off "Hellblazer" and just continue collecting Alan Moore's brilliant run on "Swamp Thing". (If you do enjoy "Hellblazer", I suggest going back and picking up all the ST TPBs anyway. It was truly groundbreaking work.)

Jamie Delano wrote the first 40 or so issue of the series. There are purists who will insist that the book was at its best during his tenure, but it's hard to deny the inconsistency of his work. He deserves a lot of credit for firmly establishing the character and his background, and he produced several great stories "The Family Man" storyline and "Newcastle" (Issue #11, which deals with Constantine's first major --- and disasterous --- work with magod/ the occult is a very good story in its own right and still has an effect on the series and the character) are among the best of the series. At the same time, Delano's stories could sometimes be horrendously pretentious and long-winded. (See "The Fear Machine".) Furthermore, while political commentary in a book is not a bad thing, Delano often let it be the main focus of the book. On top of that, some of the stories now extremely feel dated. Don't get me wrong. Delano had a good run, but it's definitely without some major flaws.

Garth Ennis took over and wrote the title until around issue 75 or so. While Delano usually presented tales of "psychological horror", Ennis (as usual) took a more "in your face" approach. He produced some of the series best stories, most notably "Dangerous Habits". While Delano developed the character, it was Ennis who really gave him a voice, making Constantine the man you love to hate to love. He also developed a strong supporting cast. It's not for the squeamish. Ennis certainly doesn't shy away from violence or taking on religion. At times he does go for a bit too much of shock value, but nothing compared to what he has done since. For many, it is considered the defining run of the series. The TPBs are all worthwhile with the exception of "Damnation Flame, which is full of some great images, but is an almost unreadable and ridiculously heavy-handed satire of America. Ennis returned later for one more story, "Son Of Man", which was a major disappointment in my book.
Steve Dillon also came aboard as artist during the Ennis run. I'm not his biggest fan, but he does seem to be a fan favorite on the title.
Also of note about the Ennis run is that this is that he had a big story arc in mind. Things that are set up early in the run are not put to rest until the final storyline. For the most part, this has become the pattern for following writers.

Paul Jenkins was next, and the less said about his run the better. None of his stories are collected in TPB, and I doubt that there's much demand for them. He screwed up the continuity of the title by disregarding some of what had happened during the Ennis and Delano runs. Even worse, his run can be described as "a kinder, gentler 'Hellblazer'", as he tries to make Constantine more relatable and less of a bastard. I'm a diehard fan of the book, but I dropped the title for over a year because I could not take any more of what Jenkins was doing. If I was forced to say something postive about this period, I'd have to go with the art of Sean Philips. And even that's a bit of a stretch. (I like his art, but I didn't like it for this title.)

Then there's the controversial Warren Ellis run. It's pretty hard to judge this one, as it only lasted about a year. His first story, "The Haunted", was a bit too long and mostly forgettable. He followed it with a bunch of single issue stories that are very good. ("The Crib" is one of my personal favorites.) I think that Ellis could have put together a good run and was starting to find his way on the title. Alas, a problem with DC refusing to run one of his stories lead to his early departure from the title. I believe that all of his "Hellblazer" stories are available as TPBs.

Brian Azzarello took over with, in my opinion, mixed results. The stories themselves aren't really a mixed bag. In fact, except for an anticlimactic final story, they were all quite good. But, as siad above, it didn't always feel like "Hellblazer" to me. "Hard Time" and "Freezes Over" are great "Hellblazer" stories and I highly recommend the TPBs. But, at times, this run felt more like John Constantine guest-starring in Azzarello's "100 Bullets". That said, his run was usually very well written. Azzarello has a great ear for dialogue and gives Constantine some of the best lines of the entire series. Marcelo Frusin became became the artist during this run and provided some of the best art of the series. (Of course, that's just my opinion, and I know that several fans dislike him immensely.) If all of this run is not available as TPBs, yet, it will only be a matter of time.

This brings us all the way up to the present with current writer, Mike Carey, who started with issue 175. His run has been very good throughout, but he really seems to be hitting his stride right now. The latest storyline came together in brilliant and unexpected ways and the recent "All His Engines" hardcover ranks among the best "Hellblazer" stories ever. Leonardo Manco supplies the art, and he is easily my favorite artist in the history of the series. I don't believe that any TPBs are available, yet, but they are definitely the way to go for Carey's run. Carey's building one big storyline here, so you'll likely end up very lost if you try to pick up individual issues now. However, the previously mentioned "All His Engines" can be enjoyed without having knowledge of what's going on in the monthly title.

majorjoe23

Gamblor mentioned it below, but I thought I should point out that there is also a collection of Son of Man, collecting 129-133.

FantasticVSDoom

Thanks for the great synopsis Gamblor. I am beginning to buy all the trades now. I have to say the first I read of Hellblazer were Carey's first books a few months ago, and I really enjoyed them so now I’ve decided to go back and collect all the trades that are out. Between this and Lucifer (doing the same with the trades), these are the 2 books I’m concentrating on right now and your write up gives me a good reference to go by.

majorjoe23

If you haven't bought them yet, Milehighcomics.com is having a 40% off sale on their trades right now. You can save an extra 20% using the coupon HAPPY50TH

The savings are pretty insane. They don't seem to have Dangerous Habits in stock right now, though.

D.Zero

DC really has dropped the ball with trade paperbacks of Hellblazer. Most of the Ennis run is quite good and while a lot of people didn't get into what he did with the book/character, Paul Jenkins' run has some good stuff. Warren Ellis had a short but memorable run on the book, most of which is traded and the current writer, Mike Carey, is writing some outstanding stories. In many ways I like the book now as much as during Ennis' time on the title. The recent Hellblazer HC, "All His Engines", which is by the current creative team, is quite a good read as well but I'd wait for the soft cover version.

majorjoe23

Sadly, Carey announced at Wizard World LA this weekend that he would be leaving Hellblazer shortly.

D.Zero

I saw that a little while ago. Carey took a lot of what Ellis brought to the title and shaped it into a really interesting turn on the book. The flipside of him leaving is that we get the first female writer on the book, author Denise Mina. Mina is a Glasgow-based Scottish crime novelist who has written five books, (including her newest Field of Blood). Her Hellblazer story arc will in fact take John Constantine to Glasgow....Credit to Newsarma for the info.