From: jlmiller@hamp.hampshire.edu
Subject: DC:HELLBLAZER:John's character through the years.
Organization: Hampshire College
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 18:03:43 GMT

My take on Constantine:

If you want to understand John's _character_, not his life or actions, mind,
but his _character_, I recommend Hellblazer 25-27, written by Grant Morrisson
and Neil Gaiman, respectively.

Discussing John is a tricky business, because there are so many of him, d'you
see? Offhand, I can isolate...um, 5.

The Moore Constantine (Swamp Thing 24 (1 panel, look closely!) various issues
from 37-64): A man of mystery. No one knows how he knows what he knows (whew!)
but he knows a hell of a lot. He's a smug bastard, or at least that's the way
he'd like to appear, but even here we get glimpses of a deeper character. He
really cares about the world and what's in it, and he feels things very deeply.
Also present are some powerful Christ images (I am not making this up! Someone
actually wrote this in a lettercol early in Veitch's run) in "American Gothic."
It's in this storyline that we see the roots of John's guilt, especially over
the friends he'd lost over the course of it. It's also here we first hear the
mention of "Newcastle", something, incidently, I've always considered a joke of
Alan's that nobody got. ho did John look like at this point? And where was
Sting born? You got it.

The Veitch Constantine (Swamp Thing 65-80something, primarily in 65-78): This
one is a little hard to figure, since it coincides very heavilly with the
Delano (see below). But Rick wrote the character first, so I think it's only
air to mention him seperatly. I also think it's only fair to mention Rick worte
what I consider one of the best single examination of John's methods-ST 71. The
Constantine we see here is a little less sure of himself after the harrowing
effects of the spiritual Crisis. But he's still a crusader, helping the Green
maintain a balence whether Swampy likes it or not. And he's still a bastard.
Rick gives us glimpses into John's methods, we see him gathering information in
the was Alan alluded to in ST 37. He's unscrupulous in his ability to gather
said info (viz, his tete a tete with Woodrue in #66), but he's determined to
get the job done. Basically, he's a guy you can deal with.

The Delano Constantine (I) (Hellblazer 1-about 13): John's a man wracked with
indecision and guilt, more often swept along by events than at the head of
them, although he always makes sure to appear he's in control. (We get more of
this feeling because of the first person narration, I think.) Delano had some
continuity problems here because he was trying to work with Rick and the
"Sprout' storyline over in Swampy, while at the same time trying to keep John
in England most of the time in Hellblazer. Regardless of John's faults,
however, he always seems able and intelligent enough to extract himself out of
any situation he gets himself into, sometimes at the cost of his friend's
lives. Notice a trend here? Jhn certainly does, and whether his old friends are
actually coming bck to haunt him, or it's all a personification of his guilt
(stemming from Newcastle, I believe) doesn't matter. This John Constantine ends
with the remembering of a tragedy, the casting off of some emotional baggage,
and the dealing withthe guilt. Bloody fantastic. (ALthough sme of the Damnation
Army/Resurrection Crusade stuff seemed a little, I don't know, blatant.)

The Delano Constantine (II) (Hellblazer 14-41): Don't let that fool you. There
are far more than simply one Constantine in this period..his character
undergoes constant development. At the outset, he's happy, content, as he's
never been in his life (and met up with the coolest teenagers in Mainstream
comics: Merc!). This contentment gradually changes and ends as he leaves the
commune (read womb, this becomes important later) and returns to real, sordid 
life.He discovers, seemingly for the first time, the incredible cruelty of man
and man alone. No demons here, no satanic cults, just a man who happens to be a
murderer of families. And, because at heart John is still an idealist who
simply cannot face the fact that people can be simply evil without any kind of
outside influence, he lets the "Family Man" go. (That is, he doesn't try to
call the cops in on him.) Of course he rationalizes the decision to himself,
who are they going to believe, a fine upstanding former cop (The Family Man) or
a small time street thief like John? Insert here the 3 issues mentioned at the
top...in issues 45-46 especially John discovers a side of himself he likes to
deny--the wish to lead and let the sheep follow. To show them his way is the
right way. And,if you look back, it is always there below the surface. In issue
47, by Neil Gaiman, we see the other side to John's "bastard" personality, how
it hurts him and is as much a defensive mechanism as anything else. (This also,
I think, comes out in Delano's stories about John's childhood.

I think this is going to be a "to be continued" people. I've got to go do
schoolwork. In the meantime, what do you think? Comments? 

shade, 
Jonathan. 
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