Відео

Sorry can’t watch it. Logic be damned that’s not how you say his name I will catch the next video

‘The Fear Machine’ stands out as an underrated and ambitious high point of the era. But in terms of best runs, it has to be Carey for me, who I feel comes the closest to realising the groundwork laid out by Delano: the cynical, rebellious and self-defeating character beats, the vulnerability and fragility behind the persona, the maddening contradiction between his political perspective and inter-personal politics, the sharpened political consciousness and the well researched and more cerebral magical theory as well as a hint of the deeply spiritual amongst the horror.

The various adaptations over the years have always failed to reach the heights of the comic series, to my mind, largely because they fail to appreciate Hellblazer is a period piece. It’s very contemporary to it’s time and John’s narrative voice only really soars as a working class scouser, up against it in thatchers Britain. Part of the enduring appeal for me has been seeing the character age more or less in real time with the ongoing publication of the comic series. It gives a great sense of mortality and grounding to the character, particularly by the time of the closing Milligan run. When it works, it’s a joy to see his increasingly outdated and jaded perspective at odds with the social changes happening around him. He feels like a man out of time but it’s also reassuring seeing the un-conquered punk spirit still spitting back in times where the counter-culture has felt particularly quiet. He’s the old punk inside all of us that refuses to die and demands to be heard.

Social commentary always sucks like a cheat wound.

The Unknown Solider series by Ennis is excellent read and worth a read. Much more grounded than his works on Hitman, The Boys and The Punisher. Closer to his time on Hellblazer.

GA as a leftist, except he shot boy scout which clearly was a symbol of government in Miller's view.

Compelling yet disturbing to watch. The bunny & the doll.. _Yeah that broke me!_ 🪆🐇

Misogyny and pedophilia. Trademarks of whyte men. Not surprised by this.

Paul really ruined Spider-Man comics I really hope he doesn’t never ever ever shows up in it in Spider-Man movies TV shows or video games

I had a Superman #75 stolen out of my pull box when it came out at my LCS and the shop couldn't get me another copy, so I wound up having to get a 2nd print so I could finish reading the storyline. Meanwhile at the LCS up the road they were selling copies for $125 dollars or more if they could keep them in stock. Flash forward to 2004ish and I wound up buying a copy for $20 at a comic con and later found out I overpaid by $10-15 b/c of nostalgia mostly. Still haven't opened that polybag LOL. Meanwhile, in 2024 both of those comic shop locations are permanently closed.

After initially watching your video 1 year ago, I finally tracked down all 11 issues and finished reading it today. I honestly enjoyed it, but was left wanting more. It’s a shame the protagonist has almost completely faded into an obscure comic history with few folks remembering him or his story.

Great work explaining the history as well as your other videos on who owns Miracleman and the themes of the series. I have wanted to read the saga for awhile now, but never picked up the trades. Now I plan to. Thanks and keep up the great work!

It is to this day my favorite Marvel Event. I revisit it every year and it has aged beautifully. Ronan and Kr’lt taking storming Hala and taking it back is just character development perfection for these two nemesis.

The music creeps me out

Thanks!

loved Hellblazer!

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this book was meant to be a parody on the way annoying Batman fans percieve the character and applying that BS perception to a villain. I don't wanna defend a book I genuinely don't like, but I can tell most people misse dthe forest for the trees with this comic.

Been watching your videos lately, time to start picking up some trades. Also, how to you compare Morrison's FM to that of the one presented on the Doom Patrol series on MAX?

Great video

Can you imagine if comic book adaptations had been taken seriously in the 90’s like they are now and Sting had actually been cast as an accurate version of the character? We might have even gotten a Timothy Hunter Books of Magic before the whole Harry Potter thing.

Wow you're even more handsome than I imagined! You kinda look like Kyle Mclachlan more handsome.

Glad to see you talking about Swamp thing, it was a series I picked up on a whim a few years back because I knew Alan Moore worked on it and just an interest in the character. Funnily enough it actually introduced me to one of my favorite comic writer and artist; Rick Veitch! Some day I'd love to see you do a whole retrospective or whatever on his work to introduce more people to his work; especially since "Boy Maximortal" is ending soon, though I know you have done a video on the original series. Regardless keep up the great work, your videos always put a smile on my face and make me want to read more comics and check out series I might not have otherwise :)

Loved your editing.

In a DC multiverse, Constantine could actually be played by Sting! He does act. I haven't read this series beyond Swamp Thing. Thanks for this very good overview!

Hellblazer is a great story, though the early years are definitely steeped in the occult ideas of the 80's, which have agee... Weirdly.. (Comment for the algo)

How are you not going to have a werewolf in the show? A weasel? Really

More people need to watch your videos.

I've always found the comic series very interesting and would love to read it myself, but the political opinions that the writer has put into it mean I'd rather not delve into it. And before anyone says, I like Frank Miller's work, even if I roll my eyes at some of his stuff.

Fantastic video! I look forward to all the parts!

Constantine correct pronunciation is TINE not Teen neither Taine like you are saying lol. It's a mfing Italian name.

They f*cked up Spiderman realatonship this time, like honestly, if they want to replace peter just let him settle down, have a family and a good career in earth 616, I'm so done with seeing my boy peter suffering from these bull shit. I'm done with MJ at this point too, just let Peter move on and marry Black Cat, every Spiderman fan want to see him happy, not to stuck in these mess up events. Also, f*ck u Paul.

Millar is kind of like a guy who seems inspired by much better writers. Like Moore, Morrison, Ennis etc. But he isn't them and it shows. I feel this way about Geoff Johns and Tom King as well I feel like early Spawn was McFarlane showing how much Gaiman meant to him. But he is not Gaiman

FINALLY, an American person who can pronounce JC's name correctly! I met Jamie Delano a few years back, and he said how much the constant mispronunciation irked him, so it's great that you respect the book enough to bother taking it into account! This was a really excellent insight into the Jamie Delano years! Is there any possibility of you covering the subsequent writers' eras? I'd be very interested to see what you thought of Ennis's run, Mike Carey's and even my least favourite, Brian Azzarello's nasty little run on the title!

Nobody tell him about the sequel.

Reread my tpb's so many times in the late 90's and early 00's. I have considered many times filling in the run, but I never find back issues or trades in my area. I agree that Delano gave John a relatability that few writers captured following. Plus Newcastle is a prime example how to script a flashback story that actually contains tension, since we really didn't know what had happened until issue 11. Sure we knew John survived, but the how and why were a terrible revelation that shed so much light onto the man John had become.

I had read some long story about how Alan Moore offered Delano the Hellblazer title... but since i can't confirm that the best confirmation i have would be Karen Berger on The Endless Podcast saying it was Alan who introduced her to Jamie...

Yes marble is dying and manga is different than comic books because comic books are a western format in manga is an Easter format the Western comic book storytelling narrative is the triangle while the Eastern one is the is twist and turns the reason why Western comics especially marvel DC are dying is because when the alienate people with politics and for one they focus too much on the f****** multiverse not enough on creative stories that have meaningful consequences because the universe will just get reset anyway so what's the point it's just pushing politics down people's throats and lazy writing

I can't wait to see the rest of your series covering Constantine. I've owned this series two different times 1-300 and haven't read it either time, sigh. I'm excited to see what I've missed.

Very nice retrospective. Hellblazer was an excellent series that very much deserves to be looked at more closely. Yeah, the problem with poetry is you have poems that deliberately mispronounce things just to make them rhyme. Like the one that famously rhymes "eye" with "symmetry". So putting greater emphasis on what's supposed to rhyme just seems to suggest such a thing is, in fact, being forced. Like a square peg in a round hole. Gotta take the word of the man himself, though. Constantyne it is.

Looking forward to your thoughts on Azzarello's run (which I highly enjoy)

Your overview of Holy Terror is very good. I don’t really like the story but I always like Miller’s artwork no matter how good or bad it is. I understand how he felt at the time, I think most of us were very angry at the time but when you calm down and look back at it you realize not everything is as black and white as you thought

Just shared the video in a Hellblazer group on the socials, hope you get the most views!! Great video once again

Looks like the darker more merc style issues were better. Might have to pick this up.

Excellent work brother. Keep it up.

I picked up Constantine during the Vertigo run, but somehow got a hold of critical Delano stories like Newcastle. I've been fascinated by Hellblazer but not always able to hold on for all the turns the books take. I'll be fascinated to get an overview of the territory, thank so much!

There's demand for this type of material! <3 Thanks for your interesting reviews as usual. I got into the character and the title through Garth Ennis' run, in which I don't recall the pronunciation of the name being specified either way. In my head I always read it as "Constanteen" as in, you know, "Constanteen-ople". I only explored Delano's run (and Moore's Swamp Thing) years later, and by then it was already set in stone that way for me. I liked the movie well enough for what it was, which required refraining myself from comparing it too closely to the source material. The comic book series has London as one of the main characters, and a funny blond protagonist. Seeing the movie set in Hollywood's version of NYC (I think?) with a stoic and overall polite US citizen with black hair felt a bit like they went out of their way to make it "American" (even changing his brand of cigarettes to the Hollywood version of Marlboro IIRC, though at least they didn't make him a non-smoker outright). Still, it's a fine movie. The TV series is so faithful to the spirit of the character and comic book, though! While still adapting the stories and changing a lot of details, but it was such a joy to watch. It really felt like a top-notch run of the series but in TV format. I love it to bits. The cast was great too, especially the actor playing John, he's perfect. It's a real shame it was so short-lived. I would have binge-watched a dozen seasons of that any day. Looking forward to your takes on later runs. To me it's such a mixed bag, it's hard to read as a whole. Most runs by a given writer are at least cohesive and decent to an extent, but I feel for such a flagship title with such an iconic character, the editors could have been more careful who they hired to take it over. At the very least "have you read the series so far?" and "do you understand the main character and his world?" should have been asked before giving someone the lead. Continuity errors and especially drastic change of personality and motivation should have been checked by someone in charge and in the know. I don't care if the writer earned awards for a completely different series, if they're not willing to make any effort to get John Constantine, then they shouldn't have written his series. Similarly, the art changed a ton throughout the years, and not just in style (which is fine and can even be refreshing at times) but in quality. On the one hand you have early Steve Dillon becoming the master that he was for the rest of his career, and on the other hand you have... probably the worst amateur-level crap the aging giant illustrator Corben ever produced (he was never a decent comic book artist to me, and cover paintings was always his forte). I'm half sure the editor published the art as is to avoid hurting anyone's feelings, but unfortunately the end result is so bad it kind of ruins an otherwise great story. Still, there's plenty of great stuff at various points in the series. I wish Warren Ellis would have stuck around for the full run he had envisioned, though (among other things). Thanks again and please keep up the good work!

Re: Our John being a conman, I'd love to hear your opinions on magic and con artistry being treated synonymously in the series. Perhaps in a later video?

Side note: Newcastle is Gordon Sumner's (Sting) home town.

The best!!!

Nice