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Want to start reading Hellblazer...

Dublo7Dublo7 Registered User regular
edited April 2007 in Graphic Violence
Sup guys,

Today I went into the comic store to check out a few things and I thought about getting a few Hellblazer Trade Paperbacks.
I've heard Ellis and Ennis wrote the best story arcs that Hellblazer has had to offer, but I decided to put off buying them so I could ask you folk about it first.
I was going to buy "Fear and Loathing" and "Son of Man".
Can I buy these trades without having ever read any other Hellblazer in the past?
Is there anything else I should keep an eye out for in regards to this series?

Thanks!

[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Dublo7 on

Posts

  • Synthetic OrangeSynthetic Orange Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    John Constantine is an asshole and he constantly loses the few friends he makes forever, and his enemies often end up dead, so you can pretty much jump in at any time. There's only a few recurring characters that turn up regularly, including the ghosts that haunt him that you can just fill in through wiki.

    Synthetic Orange on
  • ShoggothShoggoth Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    I seem to remember the fourth trade being the best by far (Dangerous Habits). You could jump into the fourth without reading the previous trades IIRC.

    After that it's kinda eh, and before that it was good.

    Shoggoth on
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  • Dublo7Dublo7 Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Do you mean Dangerous Habbits by Ennis?

    Also, I've heard that Azzarello's part of Hellblazer was awesome. I love 100 Bullets, so I might have to give that a go.

    Dublo7 on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • ShoggothShoggoth Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Dublo7 wrote: »
    Do you mean Dangerous Habbits by Ennis?

    Also, I've heard that Azzarello's part of Hellblazer was awesome. I love 100 Bullets, so I might have to give that a go.

    I edit'd too late!

    Yeah that's the one, it was my favorite out of the ones I've read. Also I remember Fear and Loathing sucking, like a lot.

    I'd stick to the first four trades at first.

    Shoggoth on
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  • ServoServo Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited April 2007
    hard time is my favorite hellblazer story

    dangerous habits is probably the best

    original sins is the first one though (i actually just got it myself, half-price style)

    Servo on
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  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited April 2007
    Dublo7 wrote: »
    I've heard Ellis and Ennis wrote the best story arcs that Hellblazer has had to offer, but I decided to put off buying them so I could ask you folk about it first.

    Ennis, yes, but Ellis wasn't on the book very long at all (he left the book over DC refusing to publish a story about a school shooting that had been written a couple months before Columbine) and what there was wasn't particularly memorable.

    The best Hellblazer writer, for my money, was its first, Jamie Delano. He's been unfairly overshadowed since Ennis's star took off, but he did more than anyone but Moore himself to define and flesh out Constantine. At first glance his issues may not have aged as well as Ennis's; he got decent artists but the splotchy inking and muddy early-90s coloring characteristic of the first Vertigo books means they don't look nearly as smooth as Dillon's art, and the stories were overwhelmingly bleak satires of then-current trends like yuppies and Thatcherism rather than Ennis's earthier, more universal humor.

    Still, they make for absolutely cracking reads. Too bad only two trades of his 40 issues are out yet.

    Jacobkosh on
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  • Synthetic OrangeSynthetic Orange Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Servo wrote: »
    hard time is my favorite hellblazer story

    Everyone loves a bit of prison anal.

    Synthetic Orange on
  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    I <3 me some Rake At The Gates Of Hell. The First of the Fallen's version of the creation story, and John's insight into it, is amazing. Definitely the defining Hellblazer story for me, although one would need quite a lot of familiarity with the backstory to fully enjoy it.

    Indie Winter on
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  • Synthetic OrangeSynthetic Orange Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    It's all kinds of confusing with all these mystic stories with their own Satans going on, then they have to all ALSO coexist in the one Vertigo universe. Messy.

    Synthetic Orange on
  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Not really. There are local Gods, minor deities for specific locations and people, and then there's God, who created them before Men came to be. He tried to destroy them later for some reason, I think he was jealous or something. It was explained in one of the stories, the one involving Merlin and King Arthur.

    And isn't the Vertigo universe also the DC universe? Constantine made several appearances there if I remember.

    Indie Winter on
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  • Synthetic OrangeSynthetic Orange Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    I'm talking about the half-dozen demons calling themselves Satan running around.

    Synthetic Orange on
  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Again, rogue gods, minor demons with delusions of grandeur and corrupt souls. There's only one real Satan, that's the First, and only one real God. The All His Engines arc did confuse the fuck out of me though.
    as far as I could see no explanation was given as to the return of the Second and Third of the Fallen. The First killed them both a long time ago, so what in the hell are they're doing talking with Azazel about John's soul?

    Indie Winter on
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  • Red or AliveRed or Alive Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    I've always felt uncomfortable with anyone other than Lucifer being the "First of the Fallen", even if I understand the rationale of having a Satan figure who isn't completely indifferent to the idea of devoting his immortality to torturing mortals. Surely a random fallen angel could have acted in the same role, without it appearing that Ennis was engaging in a pissing contest with Gaiman's interpretation and then-established continuity?

    I keep expecting Etrigan, Beelzebub or even Neron to tell the smug fucker he's a delusional twit repeatedly undone by a Scouse sorcerer almost as pathetic as he is (and I mean that in the nicest possible way).

    Red or Alive on
  • SilpheedSilpheed Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    I still can't believe how much the Constantine movie sucked. Why even bother making a Hellblazer movie where Constantine isn't a magician, asshole, blonde or worst of all, not british? Also make him a believing christian and you have a winner. The only good to come out of that movie was Peter Stormare as Satan. Count on us Swedes to be the ones to lord over Hell :P

    Silpheed on
  • Red or AliveRed or Alive Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Silpheed wrote: »
    The only good to come out of that movie was Peter Stormare as Satan. Count on us Swedes to be the ones to lord over Hell :P

    Always the ones you least suspect...

    Red or Alive on
  • ScooterScooter Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Silpheed wrote: »
    I still can't believe how much the Constantine movie sucked. Why even bother making a Hellblazer movie where Constantine isn't a magician, asshole, blonde or worst of all, not british? Also make him a believing christian and you have a winner. The only good to come out of that movie was Peter Stormare as Satan. Count on us Swedes to be the ones to lord over Hell :P


    Actually, after getting used to the comics version of Lucifer that was one of my bigger dissapointments.

    Scooter on
  • SilpheedSilpheed Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Scooter wrote: »
    Silpheed wrote: »
    I still can't believe how much the Constantine movie sucked. Why even bother making a Hellblazer movie where Constantine isn't a magician, asshole, blonde or worst of all, not british? Also make him a believing christian and you have a winner. The only good to come out of that movie was Peter Stormare as Satan. Count on us Swedes to be the ones to lord over Hell :P


    Actually, after getting used to the comics version of Lucifer that was one of my bigger dissapointments.
    I can see what you mean but in a movie with such great amount of suck, it was nice to see Stormares smirking face. My biggest disappointment with the (movie)Constantine character was that he wanted to go to heaven. That really killed the movie for me. Constantine is a trickster who, if he could find a way, would like to sidestep all that heaven/hell crap. He sure as hell wouldn't go all catholic on us and become some sort of super excorcist.

    I mean, this is a guy who made a demon leave by telling it that it was one of the wussiest demons he'd ever seen. Oh well, I guess I should stop bitching over the movie and try to contribute with the comic discussion instead.

    Silpheed on
  • CyberJackalCyberJackal Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Silpheed wrote: »
    The only good to come out of that movie was Peter Stormare as Satan. Count on us Swedes to be the ones to lord over Hell :P

    Always the ones you least suspect...

    Peter Stormare is definitely not the one I least suspect. Especially after making a Volkswagen commercial that I actually enjoyed...

    CyberJackal on
  • sushijerksushijerk Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Actually I did not enjoy Jamie Delano's run at all. I know he laid the groundwork for Hellblazer but it just seems there was so much.....british working class guilt/angst? It was wordy in a bad way and I felt there was an 80s era political undertone that I just couldn't relate to. Maybe that's just me though.

    Garth Ennis and Mike Carey had the best runs on Hellblazer imho.

    sushijerk on
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