Hellblazer #300
Vertigo, $4.99, color, 48 pages
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artists: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Landini
What kind of send-off do you give a character like John Constantine?
He's not really gone, of course -- he's just moved to The New 52, where he's about 40 years younger. It's just the Vertigo version of the character, who started noticeably aging a couple of years ago, that's going away. Maybe he started aging a little earlier; I'm not sure. But I remember how suddenly it seemed that the character went from vaguely 40-ish to suddenly complaining about turning 60 a couple of years ago. It occurred to me then that they might be paving the way to killing off the character, or at least something dramatic to turn back the clock.
And, in a way, both of those things have sorta happened, and other things besides. It's all in the final issue of Hellblazer, the third and last chapter in "Death and Cigarettes," in which the fates have decreed that John Constantine will die, and there's nothing he can do about it. And, sure enough, for two issues he's been telling everybody he's going to die, and there's nothing he can do about it. And, sure enough, here comes his last issue, he's still going to die and he still hasn't done anything about it.
But as his wife Epiphany says, he's bloody John Constantine -- can he really go to his final reward without a fight? Without a plan? Without a con? Constantine has said for two issues that, yes, that's exactly how he has to go. There's no fight, plan or con to be had here. It's fate.
Really? Fate? John Constantine? Riiiiight.
What kind of send-off to you give a character like John Constantine? A bloody good one, mate, and just the sort he deserves. Hellblazer #300 is that send-off.
Replies
I remember being shocked that Garth Ennis showed Constantine's 40th Birthday party in Hellblazer #63. How could he show a hero being so OLD (as it seemed to me then)? And if, as this seemed to attest, they were going to age Constantine in realtime, where would it end up?
That was in Mar 1993, and it looks like they did age him in realtime after all. Glad he got a good sendoff. I liked that there was a Constantine comic out there, but the backlog of stories that I'd have to read to get caught up became way too large waay too long ago for me to want to jump in at any point in the last 10 years or more.
They probably played their hand too early bringing him straight into the main DCU. It would probably have been better to rest the character for a few years before introducing him to the DCU. But the long game, or the dry powder, isn't their forte, I know.
It's really the end of an era. Hellblazer is one of the few long-running titles I've bought from Issue One (January 1988) to the last, and I think the only one I bought new as each issue was published -- no back issues of the ones published before I discovered the title, like with Master of Kung Fu or All-Star Western/Weird Western Tales/Jonah Hex and no back issues or trade paperbacks to fill in gaps, like with Fables.
As for John Constantine's age, he was aging more-or-less in real time. The 2000 four-issue miniseries Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood, set in 2025, aged JC appropriately.
I guess I just didn't notice it until he started talking about turning 60, or maybe didn't want to notice it. For one thing, he aged much better than me!
Did he have a 50th birthday observance?
I don't think there was a 50th birthday celebration. I don't remember one, and can't find any mention online. I'm guessing 40 was thought of as edgy, but 50 is getting seriously old--and there was no intention of ending the title then. I'm staying away from your review, Cap, because I won't be reading this until the trade comes out!