INTRODUCTION
If there are any frequenters of this blog, many of them, given my past posts, would have assumed that the first character I would profile in the new feature on this blog would, in fact, be Batman; given my not so subtle affinity and obsessive reverence for the character. However, I never really considered it, partly due to the fact that A LOT has been written about the character of Batman including by me (see the above link) and I am not sure what else I could contribute that would be novel and or nuanced. Thus, I have decided to profile my second favorite comics character John Constantine.
THE BASICS
Name pronunciation and publication history
John Constantine (contested pronunciation: British creators and writers say his name rhymes with turpentine (tyne) whereas Americans have his name rhyme with serpentine (teen) I prefer the latter to the former) was created by Alan Moore , Steve Bissette, and John Totleben, originally appearing in Alan Moore's The Saga of the Swamp Thing # 37 in June 1985. In 1988, he became the lead character in the book Hellblazer (1988-2013) finally canceled after its 300th issue. The character has since lived on in solo titles of Constantine (2013-2015), after The New 52 relaunch, and Constantine: The Hellblazer (2015-) after the Convergence event. To increase continuity and broaden the brand, during "The New 52" relaunch, DC comics also created multiple Justice League teams. The Justice League team that was formed to deal with magic, supernatural threats and the occult, was deemed Justice League Dark (JLD) (2011- 2015) of which Constantine was their reluctant leader. The re-branding of the JLD into "Dark Universe" (in line with Guillermo del Toro's upcoming project of the same name) has since been stalled until late 2015 (I am not holding my breath).
Personality and Appearance
"I might be a little rough around the edges, sure. But I'm on the side of the angels, mate."
Constantine in the episode "Haunted"
Constantine in the episode "Haunted"
John Constantine is a chain smoking, foul mouthed, working class, anti-establishment, cynical adrenaline addicted con-man. He is both an anti-hero and a reluctant one; meaning that while he tries to avoid heroic deeds or tasks, once he undertakes them, he is willing to sacrifice others for the greater good, and sometimes for his own selfish nature (justifying this by weighing his own value in the fight against evil over others). He is pragmatic, practical, and has little patience for hope and idealism especially if it hinders necessary action. He is not above using people, and all forms of violence, torture and murder in order to keep the mystical balance. For Constantine, the ends, definitely justify the means.
This gruff an rigid exterior is a front for an individual who is deeply emotionally scarred by what he has seen, and wracked by the guilt of his past deeds and the loss of (almost) everyone close to him (such as the Newcastle crew). This later motivated him to be a self defined "Occult- Hero" to try to atone for what he believes are stains on his soul. This perception of himself frequently makes him prone to reckless behavior that usually results in gambling with his own life (and ironically) the lives of others.
Constantine's personality often has a polarizing effect in others. John's charisma and persuasiveness allows him to make friends (and lovers) easily. However, those who know him for any length of time, either have undying loyalty to him, or despise him completely. Ironically, for many of John's associates, it has been combination of both. Constantine never has a simple relationship with anyone, they are all layered and complex.
He is defined as bisexual, but canonically he seems to be closer to pansexual as he has had relationships with men, woman and various demonic forces. Additionally, Constantine loves Silk Cut brand cigarettes, punk rock, any type of alcohol, black coffee, and burnt bacon and eggs.
Constantine was created using the visual model of pop artist Sting. He is British, hailing from Liverpool, England. He has blond hair and blue eyes standing at least 6 feet tall with a lanky lean build without being overly muscular. His body displays various magical sigils; as wards or to increase magical resistance. In almost every issue, Constantine wears dark (usually black/brown) pants and dress shoes, a white button down dress shirt, a black or blood red tie in a loosened Windsor knot, and his trademark beige/tan trench coat and gold lighter.
Constantine is also one of the few characters that was allowed to age throughout his initial 25 year publication. At the beginning of Helblazer, Constantine is around 33 years old (through the NewCastle story flashes back to when he was in his early 20's) This means that Constantine was almost 60 years old by the time Hellblazer was canceled in 2013, This was later Retconned when Constantine was folded into the larger DC comics universe after "The New 52", making him, perpetually between the ages of 32-35 years old.
Powers and Abilities
Constantine is the most powerful mage and greatest con-artist in the DC Universe.
Chief Magical Power: Syncronicity Wave Traveling: This allows Constantine to be "in the right place at the right time." or meet the exact person he needs to meet to achieve his desired goals. This allows Constantine incredible "luck" allowing him to fall into money, reshape a fight to his advantage and avoid harm or serious injury. Unfortunately, this often does not extend beyond himself and his friends often pay the price.
Other powers include: Backwards spell casting, evocation, necromancy, invisibility, he can generate movement (telekinesis), fire (pyrokinesis), electricity (electrokenesis), and plants (chlorokenesis); divination, mind control, illusion casting, demon summoning, teleportation, curses, spirit ward creation: including magic circles and golemancy (raising a golem)
Chief Ability: Deception: Constantine is the greatest con-man. He has the uncanny ability to manipulate anyone around him, planning things out in an elaborate chess match. He has been known to manipulate and deceive the most intelligent and powerful heroes and villains in the DC Universe including Batman, Superman, Lex Luthor and DC's version of The Devil and God.
Other abilities: Escapology, Hypnosis, Occultism, Prestidigitation, Stage magic, slight of hand expert, possession resistance, some limited hand to hand combat.
Magical Paraphernalia
The Trench Coat: The coat is sentient and demonic, holding demon powers such as: Cursing, Jinxing, mind control,. So powerful that it caused the death of anyone who didn't have a strong will to resist its bloodlust. When Constantine's Niece, Gemma, sells his coat in an arc in the comics, there is a near war in hell to see who can claim it.
Cigarette Lighter: Constantine is never seen without his signature Zeppo-style, windproof Cigarette lighter. In addition to its obvious practical purpose, John's lighter has a number of magical wards and other incantations engraved into the case. John often uses the lighter to help with spells and rituals (when called for) especially when invoking pyrokenesis. When Constantine travels other realms and/or planes of existence, the Cigarette lighter often acts as a Talisman; anchoring him.
The Trench Coat: The coat is sentient and demonic, holding demon powers such as: Cursing, Jinxing, mind control,. So powerful that it caused the death of anyone who didn't have a strong will to resist its bloodlust. When Constantine's Niece, Gemma, sells his coat in an arc in the comics, there is a near war in hell to see who can claim it.
Cigarette Lighter: Constantine is never seen without his signature Zeppo-style, windproof Cigarette lighter. In addition to its obvious practical purpose, John's lighter has a number of magical wards and other incantations engraved into the case. John often uses the lighter to help with spells and rituals (when called for) especially when invoking pyrokenesis. When Constantine travels other realms and/or planes of existence, the Cigarette lighter often acts as a Talisman; anchoring him.
I'm a Nasty piece of work. Just ask anybody."
Right man, right time.
John Constantine's creation was largely due to the anti-establishment counter culture of the 1980's. These were your resident badasses that faulted conventional authority (others created around a similar time were Frank Castle: The Punisher, and Wolverine). Much of this is fueled by Alan Moore's original interpretation, which still effects the character's motivations in the current comics. The title of Constantine's solo book: Hellblazer was originally supposed to be titled Hellraiser, but was changed as to not confuse the readers with the horror film series. Yet fearing John Constantine and his associates were too adult for their mainstream readers, DC comics decided to establish Vertigo.
A Company Alone.
Vertigo, an imprint of DC Comics, started in 1993 by Karen Berger, Vertigo was originally established so that DC Comics could tell adult themed/centric stories that would not have the watchful eye of self regulation through the Comics Code Authority.To that end, Vertigo, was all creator controlled, owned and operated. thus being as anti-establishment as Constantine himself, whom became the poster child and embodiment of the Vertigo Company which decided to focus on the horror fantasy genre than traditional superhero fare. Also during this time, the equally creator controlled imprint known as Wildstorm broke away from DC comics to become its own thing.
Both Companies had stellar talent which caused DC sales to dip during this time period. For Constantine, he was responsible for "the British Invasion" of comic book writers. The character attracting such stellar talent as the aforementioned Alan Moore, Len Wein, but also Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison. Constantine easily became the most popular and longest running monthly book that Vertigo ever had.
With John Constantine, Vertigo reinvented the occult-detective. He was something completely different while paying homage to the early noir films. Since his creation there have been many imitators and charlatans (throughout many mediums) all don't quite live up to Constantine's gruff persona that was the voice of a new generation of disenfranchised youth.
SOCIAL CONTEXT
John Constantine is to the supernatural community what Batman is to superheroes. They both often operate outside of the mainstream morals of their respected community. Whereas Batman doesn't often fall in line with the ideals of Superman, Flash or Green Lantern; Constantine often is at odds with Swamp Thing, Deadman, Madam Xanadu and Zatanna, even when they are on the same team. Yet, also like Batman, Constantine is the practical pragmatic voice in the crowd. He is the one that will do what needs to be done, and that, makes him necessary but not generally likable.
A fascinating aspect of John Constantine's relationship with the larger DC Universe is that few people both inside and (definitely) outside the supernatural community know how powerful Constantine really is. This is primarily because Constantine does not use magic unless he has to; often only using wards and magic circles over more direct and aggressive spells. This makes Constantine one of the most underestimated characters, which he consistently uses to his advantage. Most people, when they meet him, haven't heard of him, and those who have heard of him don't think very much of him. It is only those who are close to him, or others who have been conned by him, know just how dangerous he really is.
In his re-imagining through the " The New 52", Constantine's reluctance to use magic was explain though a brief biographical context; stating that when Constantine was younger he did not respect magic and was prone to abuse it. After his encounter with the demon Nergal, and the loss of Astrid and the Newcastle Crew, he vowed to maintain the mystical balance, making sure that no one person became too powerful. This lead to his continuous quest to find and horde mystical items to make sure they do not fall into the wrong hands.
BADASS MOMENTS
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| You know you're badass, when you "flip off" the Devil |
John Tricks the Devil Part 1
One of the most Badass John Constantine moments (that lead to the iconic splash page above) comes from the seminal Dangerous Habits story-line. It concludes with John Constantine tricking The Devil into curing him of Cancer.
John Tricks the Devil Part 2
Angered that A human was able to trick him. The Devil went seeking revenge. His wife told him about Ellie, a Succubus that knew Constantine and how to ensnare him. However, Ellie fled The Devil's grasp and found Constantine, tipping him off to The Devil's plan for Revenge. In exchange for Constantine's assistance, the two would trick the Devil, a second time:
Ellie, as it turns out was in love with an Angel. An Angel who was killed by the Archangel Gabriel for lying with her, a demon. Together Constantine and Ellie forced Gabriel to fall from grace, becoming mortal. Then as an added "middle finger" to The Devil, Constantine bound Ellie to earth so that the Devil could not drag her back to hell for punishment.
One night, John found himself being stalked by the King of Vampires. In a tense linguistic battle of wits, The Vampire King offers Constantine eternal life to which Constantine replies " Thanks but I like my life just the way it is." To which the King of Vampires responds by threatening John's life. Full of such arrogance, The Vampire King gives John this ultimatum:
Constantine then slowly walks a way. Later, The King of Vampires attempts to drink from Constantine. It is then revealed that after John's blood was mixed with the blood of the demon Nergal, his blood became toxic to vampires.
Getting the drop on Superman
Constantine generally stays away from Superheroes (derogatorily calling them "the capes"). They are not in his world, so he is not in theirs. Many times he sees them as having too much power and control, believing that there shouldn't be too much power in one single body... like Superman. Even though they rarely meet, when Superman and Constantine come face to face, Constantine always likes to be prepared.
REQUIRED READING
The Hellblazer Series pay particular attention to The Odd volumes up to Vol 5. which is amazing
Constantine Vol 1: The Spark and Flame
Justice league Dark beginning with Vol 2-Vol 3 the Jeff Lemire Run
PERSONAL CORNER
When I was a teenager, I channeled that youthful angst into a ever growing obsession with the supernatural and the occult. An obsession that started when I read Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice which lead me to such behaviors as researching Vampires, whittling stakes, hanging out in graveyards and reading about (and practicing) magic and Wicca. Therefore, John Constantine not only speaks to me as a comic book fan, his presence scratches a particular itch I've had for decades.
The Film
Because of this, I have been an apologist for the 2005 film Constantine starring Keanu Reeves.
The main problem with this film is in its casting of John Constantine and Chas Chandler played by Keanu Reeves and Shia Labeouf. They are awful. Not really getting the feel or the nuances of their characters right. However, the other cast members are great; Especially:
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| Tilda Swinton as Gabriel |
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| Dijmon Hounsou as Papa Midnite |
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| Peter Stormare as Lucifer |
Best scene: right out of the "Dangerous Habits" Storyline
I had been so enamored with the film that I had championed its sequel for many years, hoping that we would see more of this world. It was only after I started reading the comics, that the dream died.
Full disclosure: I wasn't into the comic book version of John Constantine until the New 52 relaunch in 2011. Initially, it wasn't the awesomeness of John Constantine that drew me in, it was the thought of and sheer geek pleasure of a Supernatural Justice League Team aka "The Justice League Dark" of which Constantine was on the roster. It was his presence on the team, along with the writing of Jeff Lemire that had me hooked and caused me to pick up the first issue of his solo book in 2013. The rest, as they say is history. I didn't know it at the time, but it was about to get a whole lot better.
The Series
It was in keeping my ear to the ground about a sequel to the Constantine film that I heard about the development of Constantine for NBC. I was very apprehensive that a heavy Supernatural show could ever workon a network like NBC. But I liked the creative team and the direction they said they were headed. I was still a little worried about the look of Constantine, after Keanu Reeves portrayal.
Then they released this Image:
Again I was hooked. He looked like he stepped off the page of Hellblazer, I wanted more, then, the trailer Dropped:
I. was. in. Heaven. It was a brilliant series I ravenously consumed each episode which paid proper homage to the Hellblazer Comics and the "New 52" Version of Constantine. My only gripe about the show: Given what we know about Constantine's coat (see above), why would he keep taking it off in. every. episode?!
However, knowing how the corporate side of TV works, my heart slowly sank as I watched the ratings slip, from its initial high point in the pilot. With the average ratings, being below the standard for a network like NBC, and the overall cost of the show, when the series wasn't picked up for a full season order (making its first season only 13 episodes) I knew it was the beginning of the end. The eventually canceled the show
#SaveConstantine
As the show was slowly dying, running out its final episodes on NBC. Social Media took up the charge to find Constantine a new home with the #SaveConstantine. This was coupled with the hashtages #Constantine and #Hellblazers. While the show didn't find a permanent home, the social media life line kept Constantine in the public consciousness long enough for Stephen Amell and the showrunners of Arrow to take notice.
#ConstantineonArrow
Stephen Amell began supporting the #SaveConstantine campaign back in May 2015 with a series of Tweets where he said if the show was saved, he would guest star. Unfortunately this did nothing to save the (entire) show. This did however, give rise to #ConstantineonArrow. The thinking was, if Arrow couldn't be on Constantine, why not have John Constantine guest star on Arrow.
The result was the excellent episode 3X05 of Arrow titled "Haunted"
Here are some of the best moments:
The Crossover was a major success! The result was Arrow getting a season high ratings Bump. This not only brought more attention to Matt Ryan's stellar performance as John Constantine (and thereby making more people aware of the Original series) But it also put Constantine (the show and the character) in the Arrow Universe that is shared by The Flash, Supergirl, and soon to be Legends of Tomorrow. This means that the character can not only return to Arrow, which, given his episode and the tone of the season, he may show back up for the finale; but he could also show up on ANY OF THESE OTHER SHOWS!
Additionally, Matt Ryan's portrayal of Constantine had such High praise that Guillermo del Toro a self confessed huge Hellblazer fan and producer of the upcoming film Dark Universe based in the soon to be DC Cinematic Universe (think Man of Steel, Suicide Squad and Batman v. Superman) wants to see Matt Ryan back in the Trenchcoat.
Change.org petition
One of the best depictions of Constantine has been Matt Ryan's interpretation of the character. I would love it if he could continue in some capacity whether it be in the "Arrowverse" or through a revival of the show . Please follow this link I have provided sending you to Change.org to Sign the petition to help Constantine, and Matt Ryan's portrayal of such an iconic and refreshing character in popular culture
CONCLUSION
At the end of this, the first Comics Character Profile, I hope you have learned something about a character that you may not have known. I also hope it inspires you to seek out this character in whatever medium you find them in. Please consider my recommendations and give this character a chance, he deserves it. After all, "He's been to hell and back."
