Constantine: The Hellblazer Provides Jumping-On Point for TV Fans

If dug the very short-lived Constantine TV series, and want to follow more of the character’s adventures, you should be checking out Constantine: The Hellblazer. It’s a prefect series to dive into the character with, as it requires no prior knowledge of the character, and there’s enough of the spirit of the TV show to feel familiar.

James Tynion IV and Ming Doyle have crafted a first story arc that provides an interesting mystery while giving us a look at John Constantine’s origin as well. The simple set up is that Constantine is haunted by the ghosts of every person whose death he is responsible for. And while those people are already dead, something is hunting down their spirits and erasing them–permanently. Constantine has to look to his past to figure out who or what the killer is, and there’s plenty of unresolved issues waiting for him.

Through four issues we’ve had Riley Rossmo, Vanessa Del Ray, Chris Visions and Ming Doyle providing pencils at different times. Ivan Plascencia’s colors have given the book a consistent look despite the different artists, and the look of the book overall really matches the vibe of Tynion and Doyle’s story. John Constantine is a mess of a man, and both he and the world he inhabits look like they’ve been through hell.

As I mentioned before, you really don’t need any prior knowledge of Constantine to jump onboard this new series, and fans of the TV show will find there’s a lot more to John Constantine than what they saw in that shortened season of television.

That’s not to say we’ll never see Matt Ryan don the trench coat ever again. He’s actually going to be appearing in at least one episode of Arrow this season, so who knows what that could lead to.