Hellblazer Un-Cancelled: John Constantine Back in His Own Book!

It's been announced that the longest running Vertigo title (and now DC's longest running title of all), Hellblazer, will be ending early next year with issue #300. John Constantine will then be relaunched in a new solo series, 'Constantine', set firmly in the DCnU...which means, of course, that he'll be the de-aged version seen in Justice League Dark, with none of the last 25 years worth of Hellblazer continuity intact. A sad end for one of the few comics characters who actually grew and changed in real time. The news has not been well recieved by many Constantine fans...

Didn't DC specifically say they WEREN'T going to do that?

Gosh, I hate them sometimes.

Yes, they did say that. But is it really a surprise that they lied, at this stage?
Hellblazer was the last non creator owned title at Vertigo, and many creators will no longer work for Vertigo since the conditions concerning rights were altered in the company's favour some time ago. I suspect Vertigo is on the way out.

tony ingram wrote:I suspect Vertigo is on the way out.

Which is sad because they did some good work. It seems that companies are heading back to the "we must control all" model. Not good for creators, or fans. Unless you're a fan who only likes company produced stuff. (And there are some)
Do you have any more info on the changes at Vertigo? Like, links to articles on their changes, creator reactions, etc. I find this interesting.

tony ingram wrote:The news has not been well recieved by many Constantine fans...

The best part, ha ha, is the number of people on Comic Book Resources berating Constantine fans for complaining. Some people are just serious horse's asses.

Just more of the company-can-do-no-wrong mentality. Depressing.

When I have a little time this afternoon I shall try and dig out some of the recent negative reactions to the changes at Vertigo. From a creator POV, what it seems to amount to is: if you have a creator owned series at Vertigo, that series ends when you want it to and the company can't take it over-but, unlike at Image or any other independent company, you cannot choose to take the book away and have someone else continue publishing it, and DC automatically have the merxhandising rights and any prospective movie/TV rights to the property. I could be wrong, but that's what seems to be the case. Vertigo isn't really a creator owned line at all, these days.

tony ingram wrote:Just more of the company-can-do-no-wrong mentality. Depressing.

That's part of it, but mainly it's just the "I can abuse people who disagree with me because they're stupid and I'm anonymous" mentality.

tony ingram wrote:you cannot choose to take the book away and have someone else continue publishing it

That is bizarre, if true. How do you actually "own" it then?

I'd appreciate whatever you can find. Thanks!

Well, I've now read the final issue of Hellblazer and...what? I'm a little baffled. John just seems to be left hanging, alone and bewildered. A very odd ending.

I read the first issue of the new one. It's. . .fine, I guess.

Sam_Vimes wrote:I read the first issue of the new one. It's. . .fine, I guess.

I have no interest in picking up the new one, any more than any of the other rebooted characters. I'm now down to just two Vertigo titles: Fables and Fairest.

Oh, well, I'm certainly not recommending it, Tony. I just had to see what there was to see, is all, and it's something I never intend TO see again.

Sam_Vimes wrote:Oh, well, I'm certainly not recommending it, Tony. I just had to see what there was to see, is all, and it's something I never intend TO see again.

Why does every character have to be young and pretty, these days? Why can't heroes be allowed to age?Constantine was one of the few characters who aged in real time, but now suddenly he's in his twenties again? Pointless.

Probably something to do with the upcoming movie. They don't want the fangirls to see Justice League Dark or whatever and come to the comics to see some gross old man! It'd be the Hugh Jackman/Wolverine fiasco all over again!

Sam_Vimes wrote:Probably something to do with the upcoming movie. They don't want the fangirls to see Justice League Dark or whatever and come to the comics to see some gross old man! It'd be the Hugh Jackman/Wolverine fiasco all over again!

Depressingly plausible...

I'm going to miss "my" Constantine. I'd followed his journey for thirty years-I have friends in the real world I haven't known half as long!

tony ingram wrote:It's been announced that the longest running Vertigo title (and now DC's longest running title of all), Hellblazer, will be ending early next year with issue #300. John Constantine will then be relaunched in a new solo series, 'Constantine', set firmly in the DCnU...which means, of course, that he'll be the de-aged version seen in Justice League Dark, with none of the last 25 years worth of Hellblazer continuity intact. A sad end for one of the few comics characters who actually grew and changed in real time. The news has not been well recieved by many Constantine fans...

Just more idiocy. I think unfortunately DC is lost to me.

tony ingram wrote:Just more of the company-can-do-no-wrong mentality. Depressing.

When I have a little time this afternoon I shall try and dig out some of the recent negative reactions to the changes at Vertigo. From a creator POV, what it seems to amount to is: if you have a creator owned series at Vertigo, that series ends when you want it to and the company can't take it over-but, unlike at Image or any other independent company, you cannot choose to take the book away and have someone else continue publishing it, and DC automatically have the merxhandising rights and any prospective movie/TV rights to the property. I could be wrong, but that's what seems to be the case. Vertigo isn't really a creator owned line at all, these days.

Mbast1 wrote:

tony ingram wrote:Just more of the company-can-do-no-wrong mentality. Depressing.

That's part of it, but mainly it's just the "I can abuse people who disagree with me because they're stupid and I'm anonymous" mentality.

tony ingram wrote:you cannot choose to take the book away and have someone else continue publishing it

That is bizarre, if true. How do you actually "own" it then?

I'd appreciate whatever you can find. Thanks!

Read the latest "fight the regime" posts on Tenz boards....before they are retconned. LOL

Resurrecting this topic, with its title changed to reflect the current situation!

The Hellblazer title returns for a second relaunch this month after a Special last month, and unlike the last one, this version seems to be closer in execution to the original. It begins with John rejoining society after having spent some time in Ravenscar, apparently having been driven round the bend by the discontinuities in his own life as much as anything else; there are indications that he remembers being both previous iterations of his character, and it looks as though the principal villain in the series is the older, embittered John  we first saw in the Books of Magic series more than thirty years ago! Intriguing. John also guest stars in the latest issue of the current Books of Magic, in which he is surprised to find that Tim Hunter is no longer the older version he last met (though not surprised enough not to try to kill him).

I have seen it solicited but was so disappointed about the treatment suffered before by old John (JL Dark was terrible) and the end of Vertigo that, for the time being, decided to not try it now...of course that could change!

Barry_Allen wrote:I have seen it solicited but was so disappointed about the  treatment suffered before by old John (JL Dark was terrible) and the end of Vertigo that, for the time being, decided to not try it now...of course that could change!

I think the new series might be more to your taste. Maybe you should try the one-shot Special that comes before the first issue?

In fact I was just thinking to (late) order it, Tony!

Barry_Allen wrote:In fact I was just thinking to (late) order it, Tony!

To me, it read more like the "real" John than anything they've done since Hellblazer 300.

tony ingram wrote:there are indications that he remembers being both previous iterations of his character, and it looks as though the principal villain in the series is the older, embittered John  we first saw in the Books of Magic series more than thirty years ago! Intriguing.

That does sound good. I may have to break my rule, again, to check this out. Thanks for the heads up!

tony ingram wrote:

Barry_Allen wrote:In fact I was just thinking to (late) order it, Tony!

To me, it read more like the "real" John than anything they've done since Hellblazer 300.

That's what I wanted to hear, Tony!

Mbast1 wrote:

tony ingram wrote:there are indications that he remembers being both previous iterations of his character, and it looks as though the principal villain in the series is the older, embittered John  we first saw in the Books of Magic series more than thirty years ago! Intriguing.

That does sound good. I may have to break my rule, again, to check this out. Thanks for the heads up!

Rules, in comics buying (I imagine, in this case) and not only, are made to be broken...?

Barry_Allen wrote:Rules, in comics buying (I imagine, in this case) and not only, are made to be broken...?

Yeah. I seem to do that anyway.