HELLBLAZER 277
magazine, as well as book compilations of comics and artwork issued by Heavy Metal.
Eastman’s editorial choices for the magazine remain edgy and supportive of quality
artistic projects from European or American creators. Arguably, the magazine is now
more openly sexual in content than in earlier years, yet the magazine has never lacked
sexual content. Under Eastman’s ownership, the magazine has maintained publication
through diffi cult years, and continues to be many American readers’ principal point of
contact with European comics.
See also: European Comics
Robert O’Nale
HELLBLAZER. A comics series, initially written by Jamie Delano and drawn by John
Ridgway, that featured the exploits of John Constantine, who fi rst appeared as a mys-
terious British mage who came to the aid of Swamp Th ing during Alan Moore’s
ground-breaking run on that series. Along with Swamp Th ing , Hellblazer served as one
of the fl agship titles in DC Comics’ Vertigo line, a group of horror and superhero
comics that shared mature themes and more unconventional storytelling and artistic
styles.
After Delano’s initial run, the series became a showcase for some of the top British
comics writers, including Garth Ennis , Paul Jenkins, Warren Ellis (whose run came
to a premature end when DC chose to “pulp” a controversial story involving a school
shooting that would have appeared the week following the Columbine shooting), Mike
Carey, Andy Diggle, Peter Milligan, Grant Morrison , and Neil Gaiman. In addition,
Scottish mystery novelists Denise Mina and Ian Rankin, Australian cartoonist Eddie
Campbell , and American writers Brian Azzarello and Jason Aaron have contributed
to the series.
According to Moore, Constantine was created at the request of artists Steve Bis-
sette and John Totleben, who wanted to draw a character who looked like Sting, the
lead singer of the Police. When Constantine fi rst appeared in Swamp Th ing during the
year-long “American Gothic” storyline, he was a well-dressed, mysterious fi gure who
manipulated Swamp Th ing by off ering knowledge of his newly discovered elemental
nature.
In the Hellblazer series, Jamie Delano established a tone of supernatural horror
combined with sharp social criticism of Margaret Th atcher’s conservative government.
Constantine battled corporate and governmental manipulation of the supernatural
realms early in the series, but Delano also had him confront the more conventional
horror of a serial killer in the “Family Man” storyline. In the fi rst storyline, Constantine
suff ers a serious accident, and, in order to hasten his recovery, he receives a blood trans-
fusion from the demon Nergal. Constantine’s demon blood has served as a signifi cant
plot point in later stories.
Delano also fl eshed out Constantine’s back story, including an early career as the
lead singer in a short-lived punk band called “Mucous Membrane.” While the band
