John Constantine

Fare thee well (AGAIN), Johnny Constantine! We (STILL) hardly knew ye!

December 1, 2020 // 2 Comments

So the new DC Implosion has finally claimed a victim that stings: Hellblazer. It’s not the first time they’ve canceled this book, and this time admittedly doesn’t sting as badly as the original. But still, man… Still… Hellbazer 10-12by Simon Spurrier, Matias Bergara, and Aaron Campbell I’ve really been enjoying this new run of Hellblazer. It’s retained a bit too much of the “sparkly magical shit” Constantine picked up in his six-year [...]

Soul-Crushing Awfulness: The Return of Hellblazer

November 19, 2019 // 1 Comment

So this hasn’t come up much in recent years, but one of our all-time favorite funnybooks is Hellblazer. There’s still over 100 issues of it in the nerd farm collection, from a variety of creative teams, and that’s a rarity at this point. But it’s had so much strong work done on it, so many great runs and memorable stories, from some of the best writers in comics: Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Jamie Delano, Pete Milligan… Even runs I didn’t [...]

Batawangs and Other Things: NSFW Edition!

September 25, 2018 // 3 Comments

So the biggest funnybook news of last week was that we saw Batman’s pee-pee. And since that’s the case, I figured we might as well get that out of the way first, before I give in to the temptation to sell that book for some outrageous price on the interwebs… Batman: Damned by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo I’ve dutifully shared the cover of this book, as per usual, but let’s just cut to the chase and get to the image that’s got everybody talking: Yep. [...]

Waiting for the Killing Blow: Alan Moore’s Twilight of the Superheroes, Part Three

January 9, 2018 // 10 Comments

So here we are, three parts deep in our coverage of Alan Moore’s Twilight of the Superheroes, the great DC Comics cross-over that never was. In Part One, we discussed Moore’s thoughts on cross-over comics in general, and how prophetic his warnings about them have become. In Part Two, we looked at the story itself (a dystopian future where the super heroes have become the defacto rulers of society), discussed Moore’s take on the various iconic characters at the top of the heap, [...]

The Terrifying Notion of Survival: Alan Moore’s Twilight of the Superheroes, Part Two

January 2, 2018 // 8 Comments

So a couple of weeks back, we took a long, rambling look at the introduction to Alan Moore’s proposal for Twilight of the Superheroes, a 1987 DC Comics crossover comic that never happened. To be fair, our discussion was no more rambling than Moore’s own, but it still went on so long that we never quite got around to discussing the actual story he wanted to tell. Though I suppose we did give a hint: But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Moore’s proposal is sprawling, a fully [...]

THE PURGE! Part the Third: Why I Hate Comics

August 10, 2014 // 0 Comments

So the Great Funnybook Purge continues here on the Nerd Farm, and it’s taking far far longer than I thought it would. For one thing, my plan of using a seven-year-old Overstreet guide and E-Bay in combination to figure out prices is turning out to be way more time-consuming than I thought it would be. I can’t use the former, for instance, to find a realistic price for Ed Brubaker’s Captain America run, and finding that long run on E-Bay proved so frustrating that I finally [...]

THE PURGE! Part the First.

July 21, 2014 // 0 Comments

So last week was a great week for funnybooks. New stuff from David Lapham, Shaky Kane, Gillen & McKelvie, AND a new book from Bryan Lee O’Malley! I had a blast reading that shit over lunch on Wednesday. Good comics and a spicy chicken bowl! A little slice of funnybook heaven. But that’s not what I’m gonna write about today. I tried, believe me. But my heart just wasn’t in it. Why? Well, because my funnybook brain is currently wrapped up in THE PURGE. Because [...]

Fare thee well, Johnny Constantine. We Hardly Knew Ye.

February 20, 2013 // 1 Comment

Hellblazer 300, by Peter Milligan, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Stefano Landini And so it ends. The longest-running funnybook for grown-ups in American comics history (*) published its final issue today. And we are all the poorer for it. (*Technically, Hellblazer only shares the title of longest-running adult funnybook with Dave Sim’s Cerebus. That also ran for 300 issues, and was a lot better most of that time (even when its author was busy turning into a misogynist nutbar). But if you count [...]

Crikey! Hellblazer Joins the DC Reboot!

November 8, 2012 // 2 Comments

It is with a heavy heart that I must share the following statement from DC Comics publisher Dan Didio: We’re supremely proud of Vertigo’s HELLBLAZER, one of the most critically-acclaimed series we’ve published. Issue #300 concludes this chapter of Constantine’s epic, smoke-filled story in style and with the energy, talent and creativity fans have come to expect from Peter Milligan, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini. And no one should worry that John is going to hang-up his [...]

The Seedy World of Rafael Grampa, Part One

December 11, 2011 // 3 Comments

BATMAN!! Now that I have your attention… One of the great unsung funnybook artists of the current generation is one Mr. Rafael Grampa. Hailing from Brazil, Grampa has sprung onto the American comics scene somewhat stealthily in recent years, most popularly lending his idiosyncratic vision to drawings of various popular super hero characters, like the one of our favorite flying rodent that we so shamelessly used above to trick you into reading this piece. Not that we feel the least bit [...]