John Constantine Totally Explained

Everything about John Constantine totally explained

John Constantine (May 10, 1953 in Liverpool, England) is the fictional protagonist of the comic series Hellblazer. The character is an "occult detective", in the tradition of Jules de Grandin or Carnacki. The character first appeared in the horror comic Swamp Thing #37, written by Alan Moore in which he was a recurring character. He has also made regular appearances in the various incarnations of The Books of Magic, and has made cameo appearances in several DC and Vertigo Comics.

Creation

John Constantine first appeared in 1985 as a recurring character in the horror series Swamp Thing, in which he acted as a "supernatural advisor" to the main character.
In these early appearances, Constantine was depicted as a sorcerer of questionable morality, whose appearance was based on that of the musician Sting (specifically, as Sting appeared in the movie Quadrophenia). Alan Moore created the character after artists Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben, who were fans of The Police, expressed a desire to draw a character who looked like Sting. They had already drawn at least one such background character in his likeness, in Swamp Thing #25 (1984); though John Constantine's official debut wasn't until Swamp Thing #37.
Moore has stated, "It struck me that it might be interesting for once to do an almost blue-collar warlock. Somebody who was streetwise, working class, and from a different background than the standard run of comic book mystics. Constantine started to grow out of that."

Characterization

Although a compassionate humanist who struggles to overcome the influence of both heaven and hell over humanity and despite his occasional forays into heroism, Constantine is a foul-mouthed cynic who pursues a life of magic and danger. His motivation has been attributed to an adrenaline addiction that only the strange and mysterious can sate. He also seems to be something of a "weirdness magnet."
Constantine is bisexual and sometimes sexually ambivalent; it was established in Hellblazer #51 ("Counting to Ten") that he had boyfriends, and during the "Ashes and Dust in the City of Angels" story arc (Hellblazer issues #170–174) he seduced a male character named Stanley Manor as part of an elaborate con. It is made both implicit and explicit by dialogue and artwork in the same story arc that while infiltrating the BDSM club that Stanley attended, Constantine had sex with several male, female and transgendered individuals.
While Constantine will and has worn many clothes over the years he was originally portrayed as often wearing a blue pin-stripe suit, tan trench coat and occasionally gloves. As the series progressed his trademark attire become a grungier (or perhaps the same just older) trench coat, white shirt and black tie. Constantine chain-smokes Silk Cut cigarettes, consuming sixty or so a day.

Fictional character history

In Constantine's early appearances in Swamp Thing, his past was a mystery; his life as a child and young adult wasn't developed until Jamie Delano's Hellblazer stories. There, we found out that he was born in Liverpool, England, on May 10, 1953. His mother, Mary Anne, died giving birth to John and his stillborn twin brother because an earlier abortion—forced on her by John's father, Thomas—had weakened her womb. Because he was unable to accept responsibility for his wife's death, Thomas blamed John and the pair grew up with a deep dislike for one another. Whilst in the womb, John strangles his twin brother with his own umbilical cord; in a parallel universe glimpsed in Hellblazer #40, the twin survives to become the well-loved and well-adjusted magician that John never was.
   While only children, John and his older sister Cheryl lived briefly with their aunt and uncle in Northampton to escape from their father's alcoholism and subsequent imprisonment for stealing a female neighbour's underwear. They later then moved back to Liverpool when their father was released. As a child, one of John's first acts of magic was to hide all of his childhood innocence and vulnerability in a box to rid himself of it. Later, in the 1960s, a teenage John ran away from home, but not before a botched curse on his father caused him to become withered and frail. John eventually made his permanent home in London in 1969, rooming with Francis "Chas" Chandler, a young man who has since gone on to become John's closest — and longest surviving — friend.
   During the 1970s, John became involved in occult circles in London, and visited San Francisco, where he met, and subsequently began a relationship with, the female magician Zatanna. He also became enamored of punk rock; after seeing the Sex Pistols at the Roxy Club in London in 1977, John cut his long hair and formed his own band, Mucous Membrane, whose members included Chandler (as a roadie), a drummer named Beano and fellow Liverpudlian Gary Lester.
   John's first venture into occult "heroism", as depicted in a flashback in Hellblazer #11, was a disaster. On tour with Mucous Membrane at the Casa Nova Club in Newcastle, he found the aftermath of a magical orgy gone horribly wrong: an abused child, Astra, had conjured a hideous monster that took revenge on the adults who were tormenting her, and the monster refused to leave.
   With typical recklessness, John convinces some members of the band, along with several occultist friends, to try destroying the creature by summoning a demon of their own. Unfortunately, this demon wasn't under their control and after it had destroyed the child's monster, it torments Constantine's friends and took the child to Hell. John suffered a nervous breakdown after this incident, and was committed to a mental institution, which he drifted in and out of over the years. He was severely abused by the staff during the time he spent there, as they believed that he was the one who had molested and murdered Astra. John was never officially cured in any way — his time at the asylum ended when a local criminal used his influence to spring John for his own purposes.
   The guilt of Astra hung over him for many years until, in his mid-forties, he used some magic and con-artistry to free not only her, but also the souls of all the other children trapped in Hell. As for the rest of the "Newcastle Crew", the incident left the group both physically and psychologically scarred.
   Years later, John was able to persuade the same group to help with his investigation of the Brujería cult, as seen in Swamp Thing #37–49. However, the cult murders most of them, including John's then-lover, Emma. These people, and others who have died due to John's carelessness, have continued to appear to him as silent, reproachful ghosts. Chas is one of his only human friends to have survived a long-term association with John.
   In his late thirties, John contracts terminal lung cancer. During this time, he came to the aid of a dying friend, Brendan, who had sold his soul to the First of the Fallen, the most powerful lord of Hell. When the First came to collect the soul, John tricks him into drinking holy water, which renders him helpless and prevented him from collecting the friend's soul at the appointed time.
   For this, the First promised to make John suffer unprecedented torment in Hell when he dies. Slowly dying from cancer, John hatches a plan to save himself from eternal torment. He secretly sold his soul to the other two Lords of Hell. When they discover Constantine's actions they realized that they couldn't allow him to die, or else they'd be forced to go to all-out war over his soul - a war whose only winner would be "the Lord of the Hosts" (for example God) and his angels. However, they were also far too stubborn and proud to enter anything resembling an alliance. As a result, they were forced to cure John of his cancer.
   Constantine then went on to have a series of adventures and misadventures playing the role of puppet and puppeteer with his signature style and profane sarcasm. He has been wanted for questioning in relation to several cases (ranging from murder to extortion) that have since been solved and has, in America, a prison record serving time for the suicide of a man called Lucky that the police had misconstrued as murder. After a prison riot and an FBI agent orchestrated his release from prison Constantine traveled across America for a time on a personal quest to ask the forgiveness of the widow of Lucky, for whose death he felt responsible even though he was innocent of his murder. After encountering, roughly in order, the psychotic pornography-making relatives of Lucky, a huge black boar, and a group of snowbound killers, Constantine's journey culminated in his discovery that Lucky's widow had joined a neo-Nazi group. Constantine, who has often evinced a dislike for "fascists", disassembled the group from the inside and burned the widow's house to the ground after Lucky's ghost revealed the real reason for his suicide.
   At this point Constantine was contacted by the same FBI agent who had initiated his release from prison and asked to take part in an attempt to incriminate billionaire Stanley Manor (whom the agent knew was responsible for numerous illegal and immoral acts but who, because of his wealth, could never be brought to justice). To this end Constantine frequented a BDSM sex club, seduced Stanley, raised the ghosts or the illusion of the ghosts of Stanley's parents, and finally faked his own death.
   As yet it's unclear how Lucifer's retirement and Azazel's capture by Dream has affected the deal he made to save his life, or what he traded Azazel and Beelzebub his soul for in the first place.

Appearances in other comics

John Constantine appears in an early issue of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. In the issue, he helps Dream recover a pouch of sand which had served as one of Dream's totems of power. John had purchased the pouch during Dream's imprisonment and it had then been stolen from him by an ex-girlfriend. John and Dream find the woman using the sand as a drug and driven mad by it, and Dream recovers the pouch, granting the woman a peaceful death at John's request and promising to end the nightmares John had been having "ever since Newcastle". John's ancestor Lady Johanna Constantine also plays a significant role in storylines of The Sandman and an Elizabethan-era "Jack Constantine" is mentioned.
   In another of Gaiman's comics, The Books of Magic, John is at hand to show the hero Timothy Hunter around the then-present day DC Comics Universe, along with Mister E, Doctor Occult and the Phantom Stranger. He later appears several times in both the monthly "Books of Magic" series and several mini and maxiseries featuring Timothy Hunter.
   Constantine also makes a small cameo in Vertigo's Lucifer. In issue #5 he's seen drinking at Lucifer Morningstars Bar Lux, among guests that seek an audience with Lucifer about The Gateway out of creation. According to himself he's not there to propose a trade with Lucifer. Only to take "a quick look at the field". Coincidentally, Lucifer Morningstar makes a cameo in Hellblazer Vol.1 #192. Lucifers writer Mike Carey wrote Hellblazer between issues 175-215.
   Constantine is one of the few people aware of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and one of the few to have foreseen it. Although longtime allies Zatanna, the Phantom Stranger, and Swamp Thing are still either active or frequently referred to in the DCU's world of superheroics, the world of Hellblazer has become more realistic and no mention is made of John's interactions with superheroes, which include attending the funeral of Hal Jordan uninvited, drinking with Doom Patrol member Mento, meeting Batman, attending the opening of Guy Gardner's Green Lantern theme bar, helping an incarnation of the Challengers of the Unknown save London from one of the Millennium Giants and, in his own comic, playing host to a stoned Zatanna at his fortieth birthday party.
   More recently, he appeared in the pages of Justice League of America: Wedding Special, during the wedding of Black Canary and Green Arrow. He was sitting behind Metamorpho.
   Constantine was slated to be a main character of the aborted company-wide crossover Twilight of the Superheroes, however the project was ultimately shelved.

Appearances in film and television

In 2005, Warner Bros. released the film Constantine, which is very loosely based upon the Hellblazer comic series. As with all other film adaptations of his works, Alan Moore disassociated himself from the project; his name doesn't even appear in the film's credits. The film significantly alters several aspects of the character of John Constantine (played by Keanu Reeves), who is depicted as being American rather than British and battles mostly against the forces of Hell instead of emissaries from both Hell and Heaven, as in the comics. Details such as the pronunciation of his name were changed: in the comics, the last syllable of Constantine's surname rhymes with "line", whereas in the film it's pronounced "teen". The film (especially its mythology) also includes a number of Roman Catholic elements (including the Catholic sacraments ) absent from the original comic.

Powers and abilities

Unlike most comic book magicians, Constantine rarely uses magical spells, unless he's to, especially in combat. Constantine faces most of his challenges relying primarily on his cunning, his vast knowledge of the occult, manipulation of opponents and allies, and an extensive list of contacts.
   Constantine's blood is demonically tainted, initially by a blood transfusion from the demon Nergal, and later by sex with a succubus. His blood has been shown to have healing properties. It has also acted as a defense mechanism when attacked by the King of the Vampires (Hellblazer #69).
   Although John has generally been shown to lose most fights against a superior combatant and generally avoids physical battles - he's been known to win fights, either by using a magical weapon (Hellblazer #217) or by fighting dirty (Hellblazer #42, #57 and the graphic novel All His Engines).
   Some examples of Constantine's magic:

Divination - Used a pendulum and map to find the location of a magical disturbance. (Hellblazer #4 and #182)
Demon summoning - Summoned the demon Nergal to destroy a monster for him, which it did (although John lost control, due to his inexperience). (Hellblazer #11)
Black magic Cursing - Placed a curse on his father that caused him to waste away. (Hellblazer #31)
Spirit Ward creation - Placed a magical sigil on a succubus named Chantinelle that prevented the forces of Heaven and Hell from tracking her. (Hellblazer #60). As well as using sigils to hide himself from Satan (graphic novel collection Rake At The Gates Of Hell)
Golemancy - Raised a golem. (Hellblazer #167)
Oclumancy - Erased a man's traumatic memories. (Hellblazer #217)
Necromancy - Raised a group of murder victims as zombies to attack their murderer (Hellblazer #230)
Illusion - Making people think he's someone or something else. Or using Illusion to scare susceptible opponents into catatonic insanity (graphic novel collection Hard Time)
Synchronicity Highway or Synchronicity Wave traveling - An instinctual supernatural ability to be in the right place at exactly the right time. This has led John to uncanny luck, like winning incredible amounts of money from Arcade machines and Casinos. Avoiding harm. And more times than not - to meet the right kind of ally to help prevent or stop an apocalyptic event from happening. (Jamie Delano's Hellblazer run). It is questionable how far John's "good" luck can stretch given that his allies and any bystanders that become involved in his schemes and plans often pay a steep price for it.

Constantine has also exhibited considerable mastery in "stage magic skills" - Hypnosis, Sleight-Of-Hand and Escapology.

Real-life appearances

Alan Moore claims to have met his creation on two occasions. In 1993, he told :
2001's Snakes and Ladders, an adaptation by Eddie Campbell of one of Moore's performance art pieces:
Hellblazer by then-author Paul Jenkins. Moore is seen sitting in silhouette at the back of a bar as John Constantine (who is on a pub crawl with the reader) informs us of all that they've done together ('back before I was a player') and raises a drink to him; Moore, in response raises one back in the shadows. Constantine also made light of his previous encounters in real-life with Moore, mentioning that they'd 'bumped into each other a few times'.

Film adaptation

John Constantine was portrayed by Keanu Reeves in the 2005 film Constantine. In this adaptation, his origin story and talents were revised somewhat; he was recast as a bitter, cynical man who had been granted the power to see the half-demons and half-angels that secretly walk the Earth. Constantine finds out that full-blooded demons- specifically Mammon, the son of the Devil- are trying to force their way onto the Earth, and he's the only one who can stop them - if his terminal lung cancer doesn't claim him first. The latter element of the film is very loosely based on the "Dangerous Habits" storyline from the Hellblazer comic.
   As well as giving him this superpower, the film completely changed his motivations. Rather than being a strident humanist with a complete disdain for both Heaven and Hell, the movie's Constantine was a Catholic whose only goal is to get into God's good graces by performing exorcisms; he successfully killed himself for two minutes when he was seventeen, and is now condemned to Hell unless he can perform a truly selfless good deed. In one scene, Constantine pleads with the angel Gabriel to be let into Heaven, but in the comic upon which this scene was based, he only wanted to cure his cancer so that he could go on living. In the comic, Constantine has met and spoken with God on a number of occasions, with John addressing God in his usual flippant and irreverent tone.
   In the comics, Constantine lives in a world where all the gods and their pantheons exist simultaneously, feeding off the beliefs of mortals. In this way, he can walk through the Christian Hell one month and talk to an Aztec god of death the next. However, the movie used an exclusively Judeo-Christian design for its version of the afterlife. It also meant that Constantine changed from being a magician into being a standard exorcist.
   The film also changed Constantine's nationality from British to American, transplanted his base of operations from London to Los Angeles, and changed the pronunciation of his surname (which rhymes with "teen" in the film, but is stated in the original comics as rhyming with "fine", pronounced the same way as "valentine".)
   Successful in its release, a sequel is, as of November of 2007, being developed. Keanu Reeves has stated he's willing to reprise the character.

Homages and analogues

The character of Jack Carter in Warren Ellis' graphic novel series Planetary is an analogue of John Constantine. Ellis had previously written several issues of Hellblazer, a run which ended when DC Comics refused to publish his story "Shoot" because it dealt with the sensitive subject of high school shootings (such as the Columbine High School massacre).

Constance Johnansen was also created by Ellis for his Pryde and Wisdom series for Marvel Comics. She is a female parody of Constantine. Like John, she's wracked with guilt over the loss of many friends.

Grant Morrison originally wanted Constantine to become a supporting character in his Doom Patrol series, but DC's editorial policy at the time prevented Constantine from making extended appearances in superhero comics, for fear of spoiling the realism of Hellblazer. As a result, Morrison created the magus Willoughby Kipling. Like Constantine, he was a chain-smoking, trenchcoat-wearing cynic. Unlike Constantine, however, he was a lifetime alcoholic and looked rather like Richard E. Grant's character in Withnail & I. It was revealed in Hellblazer #51 that he and Constantine have met, and he'd a brief voice-over cameo in Warren Ellis' JLA: Classified story "New Maps of Hell".

Ambrose Bierce was used by Phil Foglio for Stanley and His Monster, after being refused permission to use Constantine. He looks exactly like John. As the character described it "You learn the basics, have a hideous experience in a graveyard, they give you a trenchcoat and steal your razor. Like an assembly line, really." (The character is named after the author and journalist)

Rasputin is a magician who has helped Firestorm come to terms with his position as a fire elemental, in much the same way that Constantine helped Swamp Thing. His role was originally going to be taken by Constantine himself, but like Morrison and Foglio, author John Ostrander was refused permission. Rasputin also turned up in Captain Atom.

Neil Gaiman, a long-time admirer of Alan Moore, created John Constantine's ancestor for his award winning series, The Sandman. Johanna Constantine, despite being more polite than her descendant, showed the same daring attitude. The crowning achievement of her career was transporting the severed Head of Orpheus from France to Greece. After a deal with the Witch / Tramp Mad Hetty, who John himself had made contact with several times, she died at the age of 99, despising her immediate family and was buried somewhere near the temple where she'd left Orpheus. The Two Constantines have met on at least one occasion.

In the Doctor Who Virgin Missing Adventures novel Millennial Rites, a wave of psychic energy engulfs the world. Amongst those affected is "a blond-haired man in a dirty beige trenchcoat" in a Dublin pub.

While it's never stated explicitly, the narrative character in Ookla the Mok's song "Stranger in The Mirror"

mentions several things which make it clear that he's supposed to be Constantine, including a reference to 'the Newcastle incident'.

In John Shirley's novel Hellblazer: War Lord, the British Constantine describes alternate universes, mentioning his movie counterpart (Shirley also wrote the novelisation of the movie):Real time aging Constantine is unusual among comic book characters in that he's aged in real time since his creation. During the first year of his solo series, Constantine celebrated his 35th birthday. Five years later in 1993, he turned 40.
There have been no mentioned birthday celebrations since then, but nothing in the comics has stated a retcon of Constantine's age or the real time development of his comic. In fact, DC Vertigo published a timeline in their Rare Cuts TPB, which establishes birthdates of many characters. This is further supported by the use of dating in the comics themselves. For instance, "All His Engines" takes place at a specific date in 2004, and shows both Geraldine and Tricia Chandler as having aged roughly ten years since their first appearances in issue #84. It has since been calculated that John turned 55 on May 10th 2008.
Further Information

Get more info on 'John Constantine'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://john_constantine.totallyexplained.com">John Constantine Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.