Hellblazer is an adult comic book series from DC Comics. It was first published in 1988 by Vertigo. It features its main character John Constantine.

Looks like Sting? - courtesy ofwww.insanerantings.com/ hell/ gallery/hell_john.jpg

The character John Constantine was originally created by Alan Moore. John was first featured in Moore's Swamp Thing in which he appeared as a man in a trench coat who closely resembled the music artist Sting. As a matter of fact, he was created just because the artists of the Swamp Thing, Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben, wanted to do a character that looked like Sting. Alan Moore had trouble fitting the character into the scene. John was to play a mystic but weren't mystics supposed to be old and proper? So, John was to be different - opposite, actually of what mystics generally looked like in comics.

Finally, John Constantine was given its own comic book series under the title "Hellblazer". Hellblazer…sounds a little queer isn't it? "Hellraiser" should have been the title of the comic book if it wasn't for Clive Barker's film, which had the same title and debuted simultaneously with it. So, DC Comics had to change the title and "Hellblazer" was the best they could come up with. Although the character was from Moore, writer Jamie Delano and artist John Ridgway are credited to be the comic book's creators.

How did writer Jamie Delano come up with such a great story for the comic book? From one of the interviews, Delano actually starts with a topic that interests him or a current occupation he's in. At the time Delano was putting up together Hellblazer, he was interested in various cultural phenomenons which contributed to John's character. Then, Delano begins to put characters and scenarios together. Choice of scenes also come into place but keeping in mind things that will entertain best the readers puts him in the right track. After that, he starts to animate characters and scenes, imagining how they will talk or interact with other characters considering the current situation. Delano's belief that considering the topic of "pre-natal death" will plot a story easily played a large role in developing John Constantine's character.. "Pre-natal death" means death before even being born but what Delano sees here is NOT really what the text says but instead the thought of it. Can you imagine a person with this kind of thought in mind? This character wouldn't give a damn to anything, whether what he or she's doing is morally good or not, which speaks precisely of John Constantine's character.

What attracted most fans to Hellblazer is the unusual character of John Constantine. As this comic book is generally only for adults, it contradicts one of the main features of comics which is the presence of a "role model". Unlike Superman or Spiderman, John oftenly does morally questionable things and although some might be heroic, he does mostly of these things for his mere survival. John was never or mostly seen as polite, speaking of his use of language.