This is not a review – this is a eulogy

I remember the first time I met John Constantine – it was the summer 1985, I was 14 and due to start high school in a few months. In a way it marked the end of my childhood and the beginning of adulthood. To be honest I was what you would call a “late-bloomer” and even thought I was entering the 9th grade I looked and acted like i was about to enter the 6th. I was pretty much scared shitless. What horrors lay ahead for me in this new alien world of multiple classes and off campus lunches and Seniors looking for little Freshmen to bully? Who could I turn to to help me? To call for help when I needed it? Who was there to look up too? I found my answer in Swamp Thing #37.

I had always read comics as long as I could remember up to this point, but nothing serious – a random Captain America issue here, a couple of Uncanny X-Men’s there. This went on for years then one day during one of my trips to the corner market, where I would spend time turning the comic book spinner rack, looking for something to catch my eye, I discovered DC Comics Swamp Thing – and it was love at first sight. As luck would have it I had jumped right into the series at the perfect point – right before the American Gothic story arc began. I didn’t know it at the time but I was reading some of the best comics that would ever be produced – but at the moment all I really cared about was that there was werewolves and vampires in this series. But as the months went by and the more I read Swamp Thing something started to change in me – my perception of comics was beginning to be altered. I started to pay attention to the words I was reading, there was something else going on here besides just cool horror stories – it was something that boarded on poetry. I found myself caring less and less about the artists drawing the comics I bought and started to give a shit who was writing these 4 colored adventures that I spent 75 cents of my hard earned cash on. Who was this Alan Moore dude? And what was he doing to my comic book reading experience?

Of course I started reading comics for the art – most of us did – and for years that was all that really mattered. Being a artist myself I use to pour over comic book art and trace the pages to develop my own skills. From there I would cultivate my own style of drawing and begin creating my own comics, both writing and drawing them. I still a box full of tons of comics I did myself during the 1980’s (every once in awhile I’ll take them out for a good laugh). I took this talent with me into High School and it served me well as I excelled in my art class and was the school newspapers artist. I designed logos and posters for the school. Through my art I was able to deflect any random Senior beatings or Cowboy “Hey Homo” heckling or Stoner red eyed gazes. Through my art I was considered “cool” by all the different groups at my High School. When I look back now i can see that the key to this ruse working was doing away with the Captain America’s and X-Men’s, and embracing the world of Swamp Thing and one character in particular, the very cool John Constantine. John personified cool more then any other comic character before him or since. The trench coat The Cigarettes. The language. And it also didn’t hurt that the fucker looked just like Sting from The Police. He first entered my life and yours in issue 37 of Swamp Thing – and I remember it like yesterday….

Who was this mysterious guy who seemed like he had all the answers and none of the answers. Who didn’t flinch in the face of Armageddon but at the same time drove himself to the edge and damned himself over what he had done to those close to him. This Constantine chap was a bag full of contradictions – an enigma. Every issue he would drop hints at the bigger picture that only he knew – giving us crumbs to follow him to the next issue and the next. And follow him I did – right into his very own series in 1988 called Hellblazer. It was here in this series that JC would fully develop into that lovable bastard that we all knew and loved – and love to hate at times.

John would be the first to tell you that he was a bit of a miserable human being but he had this charm about him that made it okay. All the horrible things he inflicted on others we gave him a pass because we knew John had a plan and that it was all for the best…. right? All his machinations and scheming always seem wash out ok – even though the blood on his hands never would.

I could go on for days talking about the man John Constantine was, but I think I’ll let his own words say it best….

“I’m the one who steps from the shadows, all trench coat and cigarette and arrogance, ready to deal with the madness. Oh, I’ve got it all sewn up. I can save you. If it takes the last drop of your blood, I’ll drive your demons away. I’ll kick them in the bollocks and spit on them when they’re down and then I’ll be gone back into darkness, leaving only a nod and a wink and a wisecrack. I walk my path alone… who would walk with me?” – John Constantine from Hellblazer #41

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. John will be sorely missed. Comics lost something very special today – a character that kicked at the gates of Hell and took us along for the ride. A man who made comics cool for a pimple faced 14 year old kid. That kid is 41 now and has changed so much – but John remained that same: fucking cool.

Thanks John for all these years of making comics cool. See you in hell.
-Erik