Death and Cigarettes #3

That was bollocks.

Winter's gone, and so is Hellblazer, after 25 years and 300 published issues.

I'm not the world's greatest comic geek; in the recent years I haven't read many titles outside the Vertigo stuff and the occasional Aliens book by Dark Horse, but I was an avid 'blazerite, and even though the recent Peter Milligan run felt like a cheap parody at best, I'm going to miss this series like hell.

The man himself, our anti-hero, John Constantine - Sting-lookalike British arsehole on paper, L.A.-dwelling Keanu Reeves on film - got rebooted as a younger, family-friendly version in his new series (rated T+, with an extremely creative title, although the fandom will always be referring to it as Heckblazer), slipping into convenient continuity not just with his fireball-throwing Dr. Jones rip-off Justice League Dark self, but also the rest of the colorful superhero-y businesses of the mighty DC Universe. Sigh.

You know, the really-really good thing about Hellblazer is, I mean was, that despite all the magical craziness  the hordes of demons and blood-soaked horror, the stories were mainly always about the screwed up life of one guy, a not in any way normal, but relatively average, and relatable guy. At least in comic standards. John didn't have any superpowers. He knew some magic tricks, sure, and was skillful at manipulating the living shit out of any friend or foe, but his only real "gift" was the ability to con himself out of any given situation, masking his fear and way too caring personality with stinging one-liners, that bastard image and masterfully faked self-confidence.

In many ways - many wrong ways too, I must add - this character channeled our everyday lives and fears, serving as both a contemporary symbol and a gambler's guide of working class society, something that Whatever-Man, Dr./Mr. Random, and watered down DCJCs will never achieve.

Am I getting sentimental? Sod it, here's to 25 years of fine reading material, 300 issues, mini-series, and several one-shot specials. I wonder how far Heckblazer will get before the inevitable cancellation.