From DC Entertainment
Nov. 7, 2012
John Constantine has been a constant presence in the pages of DC Comics, having first appeared in SWAMP THING in the 1980s and up through his current adventures in the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, ANIMAL MAN and SWORD OF SORCERY.
Now, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS announced this morning that the chain-smoking British occult detective will headline his own ongoing comic book series as part of DC Comics-The New 52.
Launching in March 2013, CONSTANTINE will be written by upcoming DEMON KNIGHTS writer and New York Times bestselling author of The Homeland Directive and the sci-fi graphic novel series The Surrogates, Robert Venditti, with incredible art by Renato Guedes (SUPERMAN).
"Few characters in comics are as complex and entertaining as John Constantine, and I'm finding him to be every bit as enjoyable to write as he is to read," says Venditti. "It's my goal to have the new CONSTANTINE series be equal parts familiarity and surprise. This will be the Constantine we all know and love, but facing new and unexpected challenges from both inside and out."
HELLBLAZER, Vertigo's longest-running series which currently headlines John Constantine, will end with issue #300 in February. John Constantine has escaped, cheated, narrowly avoided and even reversed death on multiple occasions. Now, in the conclusion of “Death and Cigarettes,” longtime writer Peter Milligan and artists Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini will test whether he’s got one more second chance in him, giving him the bloody best sendoff he deserves.
http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2012/11/08/dc-comics-unveils-latest-addition-to-the-new-52-constantine
Replies
I kept expecting something like this, but Hellblazer kept escaping the axe. In a way it's appropriate for Constantine to return to the DCU: Swamp Thing is back there, after all. And the current DCU horror is at least as horrific as Vertigo ever got. But it still feels like the end of an era for Vertigo. Hellblazer has outlasted everything else published under the imprint.
True, and most of Vertigo's recent launches have been self-limited miniseries. I guess Fables is the flagship title now.
I'm sorry to see Hellblazer leave Vertigo, but I have to admit I haven't read it for several years now... I think I dropped off during Azzarello's run. I've been meaning to try Milligan's run in trade (I picked up a handful of them a while ago, but just for a finite story), but hadn't got around to it yet.
300 issues is nothing to sneeze at, though.
I've kept up with Hellblazer, and mostly enjoyed it. I did notice a while back that Constantine was subtly aged to where he would be if the book moved in real time -- early 60s -- and suspected it was coming to an end.
But don't you think DC will heave a sigh of relief to finally have the book named something that makes sense? :)
Yes, but I read the Justice League Dark #0 issue, which is supposedly John Constantine's new origin. It was horrible. I don't want that to be the canon origin of Constantine, and if that's the approach they're going to take, then I'm not going to be reading this book.
I'm sorry to hear that Constantine isn't being written well in the DCU, because there's no reason why the new book shouldn't be good. I've enjoyed Hellblazer all along, and the current creative team is doing some of the best issues in a long time. So if Hellblazer has to end, at least it's ending on a creative high note. I've also been buying it all along, and this is an obvious jumping-off point for me. I'll certainly give the new title a chance, but I won't be buying it. I've been steadily cutting back for the last couple years.
Oh, wow. I've been getting Hellblazer since issue #1, even though I've enjoyed it more in the past than I currently do. Frankly, I merely tolerate it rather than actually look forward to it each month.
Still, this is the end of an era.