WARNING: The following contains spoilers for John Constantine: Hellblazer #1, by Simon Spurrier, Aaron Campbell, Jordie Bellaire and Aditya Bidikar, on sale now.
John Constantine: Hellblazer #1, published under DC Comics' and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Universe, treats readers to a relaunch of the classic, long-running horror noir comic. The first issue is a refreshing return to what made the original series so great, featuring an emphasis on body horror, supernatural intrigue and the chain-smoking protagonist's cheeky dialogue and occult expertise.
John Constantine first appeared in 1985's The Saga of the Swamp Thing #37, the acclaimed horror series written by comics legend Alan Moore. He served as a source of exposition for readers, an expert on magic that helped explain what was happening to the grotesquely deformed Swamp Thing. It was the first instance in a long tradition of the sorcerer's dealing with body horror, a defining element of Constantine's adventures.
Constantine later starred in his own series, Hellblazer, at first written by Jamie Delano but which later hosted a line of writers looking to experiment with mature, horror-driven stories. The book featured John Constantine lying and bamboozling his way through a host of demons, serial killers and terrors of the night, all while alienating himself from his allies with his morally ambiguous methods. That constant tension of wondering how far Constantine was willing to go before eventually turning into the monsters he fought was what made the series so compelling. It's also what made the character's eventual inclusion within the mainstream DC superhero universe so confusing.
In 2013, DC ended Hellblazer after three hundred issues and replaced the title with Constantine as part of the New 52 reboot. The series positioned John as the leader of Justice League Dark, a superpowered team dealing with supernatural threats. However, Constantine eschewed the previous incarnation's occult noir and body horror in favor of a more traditional superhero tone, an unwelcoming direction to people who were used to years of gritty horror stories. This is why John Constantine's return to the world of haunting, skin-splicing devilry is so exciting.
The first issue of John Constantine: Hellblazer immediately begins with a spectral horde of razor-fingered "angels" skinning a group of drug dealers alive. This is followed by a drunken Constantine getting thrown out of a bar for telling a crass joke about the British royalty. The entire opening is vintage Hellblazer. In addition, a man covered in hideous sores arrives looking to take revenge on John for mishandling a chicken pox spell, signaling a gleeful retread of Constantine's haphazard relationships with the people he associates with.
The main plot centers around a gang of drug dealers called the Ri-Boys headed by the grimy K-Mag, a mystic who can see visions in the entrails of sacrificed animals, which is known formally as a haruspex. K-Mag claims that he's giving his boys a purpose under a British government that doesn't care about the poor and downtrodden, but in reality, he's eagerly willing to sacrifice his gang members for his own selfish means. He demands that Constantine investigate the grisly killings that have occurred on his gang's turf, threatening the life of one of his followers if John doesn't cooperate.
Left with no choice, Constantine investigates Peckham Rye Common, deducing that the "angels" murder anyone engaging in criminal activity. In the issue's climax, the spirits physically infest the body of a heroin addict with "a legion of -- somethings" as Constantine helplessly watches. These swarms feed off the addict's innards and shockingly transform into tiny creatures that pop out of the poor guy's body. It's vile, disgusting, horrifying -- and a triumphant reflection of Hellblazer's body horror roots.
Finally, it should be mentioned that Jamie Delano was able to allow Hellblazer to function as a political commentary on Britain in the 1980s. For all its horror influences, the comic was a lens into the seedy underbelly of London, where the city was at a dangerous crossroads with Thatcherist governance and rampant cruelty. It looks like Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell are following a similar route for 2019, mentioning the impact of gentrification and ending his first issue with a naked prime minister engaging in some sort of mysterious lude act in the company of masked men. What it all means is still up in the air, but rest assured that it looks like John Constantine is revisiting the world of brash observations, political anger and, more than anything, occult madness.
John Constantine: Hellblazer #2 goes on sale Dec. 18.