Deconstructing the Laughing Magician: Constantine, Hellblazer, & Their Role in the Comic Book Industry

Abstract

For more than two decades, DC/Vertigo’s Hellblazer with protagonist John Constantine stood out from its contemporaries by confronting mature content, utilizing poignant criticism, and subverting audience expectations. Throughout the series, various creative teams allowed Constantine to engage with a mostly realistic world while growing and changing in response to societal evolution. This article analyzes Hellblazer’s examination of contemporary societal discourse as well as the series’ thematic exploration of humanity, as seen through Constantine’s Satanic Panic origins, its critiques of organized religion and U.S. culture, and numerous other social criticisms. As such, several stories spanning the entirety of the series are used to explore Hellblazer’s critiques and commentary surrounding socially relevant issues across several years of real-world progress and comic book content.