I’ve wanted to love Constantine for a long time, it has all the right ingredients to be amazing; A coarse, attractive, unabashedly bisexual lead, a supernatural chthonic underworld, magic, mystery and grungy rock and roll.
Despite this I’ve only ever felt ambivalent about the series, and I’m sure whether it’s because I feel like I’ve missed too much or whether that’s part of John Constantine’s allure. Even after going back and reading many of the historical issues I felt like I didn’t know John constantine, other than the fact that he tortures himself incessantly over one mistake decades ago.
With the release of the 2015 series of Constantine: The Hellblazer I feel like everyone is on even footing again, whether you know a little, nothing, or a lot, the story makes sense, we’re getting to know John Constantine, slowly, little by little. The story line in Constantine has always been fresh and unique, and the new series doesn’t fail to live up to this high standard. I think it’s one of my favorite features of this series is that almost anything can happen and I never see it coming.
With less than half a dozen issues out so far, the series has already played around with a huge variety of art styles, and instead of fracturing the storyline it serves to keep reader on their toes never knowing what to expect.
As I mentioned earlier, John Constantine is openly bisexual. I think this variety of sexuality across DC’s lineup of series is fantastically inclusive. While this comic is nowhere near as homocentric as Midnighter, John Constantine is still a wanton coquet with enough men to keep his sexuality authentic.
If you like Supernatural, Buffy, The Dresden Files and other stories in this genre, then Constantine is definitely worth giving a go. Very few people fall in love with it, but I still think it’s a great filler comic to keep you busy.