(Hellblazer #18) - John rented a room in the Oscar Wilde hotel, and tried to gather information, but only Satanists would talk to him because he was still accused of the murders Nergal committed. He found Chas’ services were still available to him, but reasoned that it was only because Chas was simple, and afraid John’d turn him into a toad. John went for a drink, and met Detective Geoff Talbot, who he’d tangled with in the past. He assumed Talbot would arrest him, but Talbot admitted there was little hard evidence tying him to the Nergal murders, even though the press was having a field day. They drank together, and John learned that he was in danger of losing his job for pressing his investigation into police corruption. Talbot uncovered a man named Beales that ran a black squad, and John pieced together that they were Geotroniks' muscle. He’d received death threats against him and his wife, but was trying to keep her out of it. They visited Talbot’s home to find that his wife had committed suicide. Shaken, John returned to his hotel, where managers Harold and Ken showed him articles by tenant Simon Hughes, who was drawing attention to suicides linked to Geotroniks. John resolved to meet his neighbor, even though the managers warned him that Hughes was a good boy, not to be corrupted by John. John got a letter from Marj, telling him the Mob had hooked up with the Pagan Nation in Scotland, and asking him about Mercury’s whereabouts. She described mass love-making between the Mob and Nation, and wanted John to experience the wonder of it all. She also dropped that John’s ex Zed was alive and a member of the Nation. John wrote her back before visiting Hughes, who he fund tied up in a closet with a bag over his head.

(Hellblazer #19) - John removed the bag from Hughes, and Ken and Harold walked in, creating an embarrassing situation since they thought they’d uncovered rough trade. John sent them away, Hughes thanked him for saving his life, and noted that this was the first time one of his stories almost got him killed. He layed out the details that Geotroniks were military manufacturers specializing in slectro-magnetic energy, who’d taken a recent interest in ley-lines and psychics. John figured out why they took Merc, but needed more clues.

(Sandman II #3) - Dream of the Endless contacted Constantine because he had learned that at one point Constantine had possession of his pouch of sand. Constantine told him that Rachel, an ex-girlfriend turned junkie, had stolen it. Dream and Constantine went to her residence and found that Rachel had abused the power of the pouch to get high, and inadvertently loosed dreams into the waking world. Dream took back his pouch, which was the only thing keeping Rachel alive. At Constantine’s insistence Dream let her die peacefully with a pleasant dream of Constantine in her mind. As a reward for his help Dream granted Constantine a good night’s sleep, the first he’d had since Newcastle.

(Hellblazer #19) - John wondered if his two days with Dream was pure distraction, but was still grateful for his first nightmare-free sleep in ages. He got Talbot and Hughes taking about Geotroniks, and when they entered a subway station, a homeless man who called himself the Broken Man, and been pursuing Constantine shoved a piece of paper in John’s mouth before committing suicide by throwing himself in front of a train. The paper read “Tremble the G.O.A.G. is coming and featured an insignia. Hughes went white, recognizing the insignia from the ring worn by the man that had strangled him. It was the symbol of Magi Caecus, a secret inner circle of Masons.

(Hellblazer #20) - John was haunted by the suicide’s dying scream of Jallakuntilliokan , and name that echoed with him and his knowledge of magic. John, Talbot and Hughes decided they could all use a drink, and Talbot discussed a contact, a Russian who’d infiltrated the Freemasons, and learned they planned to use Geotroniks for a regime change. John quipped that it was politics as usual, and they went to see the contact, who turned out to be Sergei Antonov, the man Constantine’d pulled from the train crash. They discussed the Masons, and John was feeling woozy, so he went out for some pain pills. When he returned he found Davis, Beales’ new head of the black squad, arresting his friends. John knew Davis as an animal of a corrupt officer from his younger days, but hoped he wouldn’t recognize him. John used a C.I.D. bage to question him, and after Davis gave him a number to the home office, told him it was counter-espionage and he needed to stay out of their way. John knew he’d lost his main allies, and went to the library to research the masons. Mason Webster, who’d tried to kill Hughes, used a sacrifice and the fear machine to summon Jallakuntilliokan,, the god of gods, and the true Fear Machine and John, and all the other mystics experienced the terror.

(Hellblazer #21) - John phoned the number Davis left him, and was told that the under-secretary, who could answer his questions, just left. John was in luck, because the under-secretary was Bartholomew Carter-Browne, and John had a blackmail tape on him from when he had a run at trying voodoo with the Haitian envoy’s daughter. John startled Browne outside a private club, and demanded to know what was going on, as he clearly saw the Masons ring on his finger. After some prodding, Browne admitted that Geotroniks was supposed to build a new regime based on warfare and military technology fueled by fear. John mentioned Jallakuntilliokan, and Browne admitted that he was a godhead, but he was a bureaucrat, and had no interest in such things. He let John follow him on a ride, and admitted that there would be fallout even though a new military regime was looking unrealistic. He told John he was okay because he had friends in high places, and John knew he wasn’t bluffing when his cab let out outside Buckingham palace. John decided he needed to go to Scotland to find Marj, so he contacted Chas. He told Chas he’d be out of his service soon because it was the end of the world. At a pitstop they came across Merc, who’d escaped her captors, and was on the run. John and Merc had a joyous reunion They found Marj, and saw that their camp had been ravaged by the fear magic. John used the ley-lines to understand the horror, and saw a vision of the Freemason Webster sacrificing his captured friends, starting with Hughes, to fully birth Jallakuntilliokan. The connection to such a primal force called up the Terror-Thing, which Merc had accidentally created by powering the fear machine, but fortunately John was rescued from the mystic realm my Merc. The Terror-Thing followed, but Merc put her creation in its place.

(Hellblazer #22) - John’s encounter with the Terror-Thing left him with fitful sleep, and he was woken by Zed. She forgave him for leaving him to die, passively aggressively remarking that she was sure he had his reasons. She’d come into her own as a pagan after the destruction of the Resurrection Crusade, and tried to goad John into action to deal with the fear machine, going so far as to taunt him about his bravery and nerve. John decided he needed to make love to Zed, but she reminded him that they had work to do. The Pagan Nation had a pow-wow, and John theorized that Jallakuntilliokan was an archetype borne of the time when humans were more left-brained and open to the possibility of gods. Zed’s idea was that Jallakuntilliokan was part of Earth itself, a male manifestation of the ley-lines, without the life-giving female counterpart of Feng Shui, or the Dragon Liners to balance it out. Webster was using the Terror-Thing to further the birth of Jallakuntilliokan, so they had to disrupt the ley-lines. Zed ordered Eddy and warrior members of the Nation to disrupt the lines, and assured John his role rested in staying put. John visited Marj bathing in a waterfall, and even though he was completely unsure of his own feelings at that point, he told her he wanted her. She responded that Zed said that had to wait. Merc used her astral self to contain the Terror-Thing, and Zed encouraged John to help her and Marj with tantric magic that would summon the other half of the god of all gods. Their love-making created an egg, and it hatched to summon the female anima. With the ley and dragon lines in balance Jallakuntilliokan’s influence was eradicated. John was swept up in a tidal wave during the ceremony, and rescued by sailors, who assured him the world had gone back to normal. John said that was exactly what he was afraid of.

(Hellblazer #23) - John was fished from the water, and mused that the dragons gave humanity the chance to write a brilliant future, but humanity was too stupid to write it. John was broke for the first time in years, so he sought out his merchant friend Jerry O’Flynn, who seemed reluctant to let him in. When he agreed a blind man appeared, handing Jerrya piece of paper with a black spot on it before fleeing and running into traffic. Jerry claimed John had sealed his doom, because people were after him, and the blind man was Blind Pew, from the novel treasure Island, who’d confirmed his death with the black spot. John thought his friend was telling tall-tales again, and went into business-mode, offering to sell a pint of his own half-demon blood. Jerry was interested, but first had to unload on John, telling him that since his life was more fiction than reality different literary characters were trying to bring him back into the fold. They had to flee the house after an attack by the Big Bad Wolf, and John started to believe him. They went for a drink to forget their sorrows, but were assailed by the Seven Dwarves. John told him to stop acting like a fictional character, but Jerry knew it was too late to change his ways. Jerry entered a library, and the fictional characters tried him, sending him to the limbo of old books. John was warned that a similar fate could one day await him.

(Hellblazer #24) - John made O’Flynn’s house his hideout, selling off valuables for money. He reasoned that if Jerry ever returned he’d pay him back. He found Jerry’s safe, and used divination to crack it. He expected stolen religious icons or books from the Vatican, and was disappointed to find only cocaine. He thought his friend had more class, but John ceased fussing when he counted the fortune in pounds in the safe. A caller arrived, an older gentleman who told John he had a standing arrangement with O’Flynn. John claimed to be Flynn’s caretaker, and handed the man an envelope that was waiting for him. John managed to peak inside, and found pictures and personal information about some seemingly happy families. John started getting calls from customers, and decided to book it before Jerry’s drug dealer friends showed up. He wished he had more quiet reflective time instead of having to think on his feet all the time. He happened upon Jerry’s ledger, and found an ad for television game show Happy Families, with replies like the one he gave the old man. Jerry never seemed like the type to try out being a TV exec, and John thought something was fishy. He read through Jerry’s journals, and realized he was trading with the serial killer the Family Man, getting souvenirs in exchange for a list of victims. John nearly froze, and opened the package the old man gave him, finding a baby bottle full of blood. He damned his friend for sinking so low, and damned himself for helping the Family Man find his next victims. He burned down Jerry’s house, and set off to make things right.

(Hellblazer #25, 26) - Una contacted John about a pagan festival in Thursdyke, and hitched a ride there. He passed Flyingdales Defense Early Warning System, and the trucker giving him a lift commented that it was pointless to have a warning minutes before death. John and the driver both bemoaned Thatcher’s Britain. In Thursdyke he met with Una, and they had a drink, witnessing the party-goers in giant grotesque masks, and an argument about American nuclear bases on British soil. Una and John went to visit Parson Bayliss at his church, and he feared the town had sold its soul, knowing there were underground military bases nearby. The military base was working on tapping invisible energies under the ground, and as a result the festival turned chaotic and murderous, with everyone giving into their darkest repressed desires. John witnessed the chaos, but was soon caught up in it, putting on a carnival mask and joining a parade. Una figured out that certain sound waves blocked out the effect, and she knocked off John’s mask before he could lead a bunch of new followers into the water to drown, asnd slapped headphones on him. Una had a vision of Bayliss, now called Archbishop Bomb, leading followers to their new god, the bombs stored in the new airbase. Una stayed in Thursdyke to protect a group of children from party-goers, and John reached the airbase in time to blast music that made the people come to their senses. He was, however , too late to stop Archbishop Bomb from stealing a missile laden plane and crashing into Thursdyke, destroying the town. John returned to town, witnessing the utter destruction, and deciding that the town had died long ago. He found Una’s camera in the wreckage, and left, hitching back to London.

(Hellblazer #27) - John went to a party in East London celebrating the life of the late Ray Monde. He was introduced to a woman named Anthea, and she soon asked him over to her place. It became apparent she was interested in lovemaking, but John remembered Ray Monde talking about her and her girlfriend Sarah. She admitted she was in a relationship, but was hoping to be a mother, which is why she tried to seduce John. John was irritated, told her she should have been straight with him, and left. He mnet a little girl named Shona, the daughter of one of Anthea’s flat mates, who told him her mother was cold after a homeless man hugged her. John investigated, and found her dead, and soon after he was confronted by the ghost that accidentally froze her to death, a homeless man named Jacko begging to be held. John embraced him willingly, and Jacko’s spirit warmed and departed after someone finally noticed him for the first time in his life or afterlife. John contemplated that embracing made you feel better, not necessarily safe, and that lies like “I’ll never leave you” are a nice temporary comfort. Showing his rarely seen tender side, he knocked on Anthea’s door and gave her a hug.

(Hellblazer #28) - Constantine had a dream about the Cass family, who were murdered by the Family Man, visiting him. They were as they appeared in death, and the mother made him hold her young daughter, reminding him he was responsible for their deaths because he gave the Family Man their address. John woke up in a sweat, and wondered why he’d been waiting months to go after the serial killer, after all the Family Man never left behind a witness, and if John didn‘t go after him his days were numbered.. Perhaps John was scared, or wary that he’d actually liked the Family Man when he met him, a fellow traveler on dark paths. Constantine did a little detective work on the Family Man’s long history as a killer, but just like the police he came up with no leads, so he visited Reed Hackett, the man O’Flynn supplied with serial killer memorabilia. John pretended to be the Family Man, and played the role beautifully, getting to see Hackett’s collection, and forcing him to admit that he was a wanna-be killer, but utterly weak and a waste of breathe. In an attempt to lure the Family Man in he called in a police tip about Hackett being the Family Man, and when he was arrested John snuck into the photo, which made frontpage news. John prepared himself for the coming ordeal, when he saw a news item about a murder in an Indian restaurant, and realized the Family Man was already nearby. He panicked, and steeled himself for the idea of murdering his adversary.

(Hellblazer #29, 30) - John suffered another nightmare, and when Chas went to wake him up he went after him with a knife, but fortunately Chas pounded his senses back into him. He wanted to know what John was afraid of, worried he was mucking around with demons again. John let him know the scoop, and Chas wanted to help, even though his wife had just made clear that she wanted Constantine gone. John wanted a gun for defense, so Chas called one of his black-market connections, and set up a meeting. While John was away, the Family Man showed up, and when Chas refused to acknowledge that he knew John the killer beat him bloody, and sliced his ear. John returned, and Chas gave him a bloody postcard from Liverpool the Family Man left for John, saying it had news of home. John’s father lived in Liverpool, and a call to Cheryl confirmed that he was dead, stabbed in the heart. John wept, but he still harbored resentment for his father’s awful misdeeds. Chas was furious at John for not warning him about the Family Man‘s harmless appearance, but he realized he couldn’t return home all busted up, so agreed to help John with the villain. That night Chas made a scene about kicking John out, and when the Family Man followed him to Chas’ cousin Norma, Chas tailed him, recording the nearby hotel he took up residence in to keep a watch on John. The next morning John snuck out the back way, and when the Family Man got tired of watching the apartment John followed him. He aimed his gun, and had him in his sights, but couldn’t pull the trigger, telling himself he needed the murderer’s death to be more personal. Eventually the Family Man realized he was being followed, and lured John into a construction site, ecstatic that someone was giving him sport. The Family Man decided there were too many variables, and after slipping John’s watch, he left the scene. John took an express to Victoria for his father’s funeral, and hoped he’d be pursued, because he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. The bus got a flat, and the Family Man jumped John, with their fight ending up in an underpass. John threatened to shoot, and the Family Man told him he was no murderer, besides, he reminded John too much of his father to kill him. John grazed him, and the Family Man wondered if he was about to become a kindred killer, asking if John experienced the primal rush he always did. He didn’t so the Family Man urged him to keep shooting, telling him he would never understand the mind of a killer if he wasn’t one. When Constantine had second thoughts, the madman grabbed Constantine's gun and committed suicide. John tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he was a murderer now, and what that would leave with him.

(Hellblazer #31) - John went to his father’s funeral, but stayed outside the church, because he was never much for funerals, he thought them phony, and knew there were unresolved issues with his father that would never die. Also, ever since Nergal gave him a blood transfusion churches literally made his blood boil. He knew he needed a way of saying goodbye, so he watched Thomas get cremated. John visited the Masters household, and Cheryl told him that Gemma was having nightmares about their father. In truth he was haunting her, so John went for a walk with Gemma to have a little chat. John admitted that he never liked his father, and his father blamed him for his mother’s death during childbirth. He suddenly realized he’d bound his father’s soul to Earth when he cast a spell of slow death in his youth, tying Thomas to a dead cat that was preserved in formaldehyde. John unearthed the cat, and burned it, and he and Gemma said goodbye to Thomas together.

(Hellblazer #32) - John investigated a series of disappearances in the East End, calling his copper buddy Tony Baxter to get the details. Alcoholics and other refugees at a Simon House were disappearing, and gnawed remains of bones later turned up. John tracked down the source of the problem, an old junk yard run by the mentally deficient Dougie, and his master Inspector Drummond, a former police officer who cast a spell that let his soul inhabit a bulldog. Drummond was raising a dog army, and feeding on the locals. John taunted Drummond, got him to chase him, and eventually got the drop on him with a wrench. Drummond the dog died, and wondered what he’d come back as next, but John told him he should call it quits. The dog army recognized John as their master, but John just told them to shoo.

(Hellblazer #33) - After a relatively quiet month John woke up with a sense of optimism for the first time in a long time. He thought that if he was capable of happiness he might as well enjoy it, and bought apples instead of the silk cuts he usually chain-smoked. He met his old friend Patrick McDonnell, who was a seedy fellow known as Destructo Vermin in the ‘80s and his girlfriend Elise. They took him to a wine bar, and gave him a rundown of their new age attitude. They saw the dawning ‘90s as the ‘60s with a new sense of maturity brought on by the disillusionment of the previous two decades. John was amazed that his old friend was no longer a heartless capitalist, and reminded him that he owed him money for a video of John that he promoted. Patrick swore he’d changed, and would one day repay John for the success he gave him. Patrick was funding a co-op in Ireland, a living environment of artists, and asked if John would live in a show-house there for a while to promote the venture. John was thinking about a new start when the lunch he had upset his stomach and he raced for the restroom. He exited to the same doom and gloom he was used to on a daily basis. He met a fellow traveler who was directing people to deconstruct the monoliths of the city, and return to the world what had been taken. After a hallucinatory walk through the city John found a bar, and reflected that it was an odd day, but Sundays were always different for him.

(Hellblazer #34) - John went to Amsterdam, looking for the designer drug “Death,“ and although he failed to find it, he unearthed an old darkness in himself while at the red light district. John, blind drunk and ravaged with guilt, tracked down Merc and Marj, and Merc was disgusted, but Marj was enthralled. Merc refused to have anything to do with him, telling her mother he was looking to spread around his hurt, and Marj claimed she was jealous that someone wanted to spend time with her, and not her all-knowing messiah daughter. Marj sent Merc on her way, saying she’d do what she wanted for company, and took John into their trailer. John told her he’d lost all purpose and faith, and realized that his every action was guided by a nihilistic darkness inside himself. Marj refused his company, finding John ugly when wrapped up in self-loathing. Mercury had hoped that Zed’s dance would have forever crushed the old, oppressive regime, but people she had faith in to find their way, John and Marj among others, had backslid. She especially regretted losing John, because he could have been a prime-mover in the brave new worlds. Merc felt John win her mother over, talking about his haunted past, and the discovery of a dead-boy’s heart. She suddenly had a vision of young Constantine tugging at her skirts.

(Hellblazer #36) - John woke up refreshed after his night with Marj, but Merc confronted him, reviling his sickness. He said he’d just had a rough few days, but Merc had been poking around his aura and realized he felt responsible for the death of his mother, his friends, the boogeyman of his childhood, and his brother. John was confused about the last bit, as he didn’t recall having a brother, and told Merc she was out of line peeking into his head. He did admit his fear of death and the inevitable hellfire and revenge that awaited. He was ready to bail, but Merc said they needed him, and she told him death was a painless moment between lives, and said she could prove it. Without his permission they traveled into his subconscious, and she showed him a number of tarot death cards, and said he had to choose one. John found himself 80 years old, a survivor of apocalyptic events taken in by the Rising Generation that offered sanctuary because he represented a cautionary tale to the new generation. He broke their rules repeatedly, and was cast out, nearly devoured by dogs before falling from a bridge and drowning. John’s body strangled himself to simulate drowning, and Merc had to call Marj, who resuscitated him. John thought it odd that Merc tried to kill him, but laughed it off and suggested breakfast.

(Hellblazer #37, 38) - John agreed to stay with Merc and Marj, and the adults trusted Merc when she assured them they needed to take their bus to the backroads of East Anglia. The bus broke down, and John and marj tried to fix it, but realized they had no idea what they were doing. Merc ran off to explore a nearby nature reserve, and found a young man name Martin, a budding naturalist with a black eye he admitted his father gave him. Merc took Martin back to the adults, and they gave him some tea and sympathy. His father Archibald Acland came by in a truck, and demanded he come with him. Marj and John had to hitch a ride to find a mechanic, but Merc said she was staying local because she couldn’t stand to see people not being free, and John shrugged and figured she knew what she was doing. They returned to find the bus covered in offal. Merc didn’t offer an explanation, but Martin’s father was the culprit, and Merc had used her psychic powers to make sure he never hurt anyone again. They fixed the car and started driving, picking up Martin’s mother, who told her son she was finally free since Archibald had been taken to a mental asylum.

(Hellblazer #39) - Autumn set in, and John, Merc, Marj and their new friends met up with Zed and Errol who directed them to a beachfront property near a church. Marj woke up John one morning, and he said he felt like he already did this commune thing before. He described his nightmares of drowning and snakes, and Marj interpreted it as his fear and desire of the women around him, and worried he’d leave. She said everything would be fine if he just let her and her friends love him, but John warned that he wasn’t capable of true love, and he’d just ruin her. John had a vision of the Golden Boy that visited him on and off in childhood, and ran after him, crying when he disappeared. He sought out Zed, who gave him a tarot reading. His card was the Hanged Man, the moment between seconds was the Tower, and who he wished to be was the Magus. The memory of John’s twin being stillborn flooded back, and he realized the Golden Boy embodied all the good things about his nature that died when he killed his brother. He resolved to explore the tarot tower, the nearby church, and had Errol load him up with psychedelics. He wandered into a nearby cave, had a vision in which he didn’t kill his twin, allowing his goodness to shine, and disappeared.

(Hellblazer #40) - The Golden Boy was praised from childhood on, and this John Constantine had a vision of his brother as the Sickly Boy, who reached out to him, and whom he damned to Hell, not wanting his light to be sullied. This John saved Astra, but sacrificed an arm to do so, saved Gary Lester’s life, and claimed Ravenscar for the home of his followers, including Zed, Marj, and Merc. Many years later in life he tried to rebirth the Sickly Boy, but seemingly only managed to have his tower struck with lightning. He started to realize that his self-righteousness, and message of “do as thou wilt,” were hollow. John the Sickly Boy appeared, and confirmed what he said, asking him how it felt to be the one that got to live. He discussed with his counterpart the resonating themes in the lives of all Constantines, always including magic and tragedy. They agreed to give it a whirl merging themselves and returning to the world anew instead of fighting to the death. Zed and Merc both saw this story in their dreams, but they could not find John, or the cave entrance he disappeared into. They only found a ,memorial stone and his clothes.

(Hellblazer #41) - John laid low over the winter, in near-retirement and spending more time with Cheryl and Chas. His memory of the womb-cave and his twin were fuzzy, and he wasn’t sure exactly what happened. One day he woke up spitting blood, and wondered if Nergal’s demon blood was to blame, but after a visit to the doctors he found the more mundane truth, he had advanced stage lung cancer from years of smoking. John was angry in an arrogant way, he’d fought demons and sorcerers, and wanted an epic death, a unique death. John constantly thought about his mortality, and had a dream about the ghosts of the friends he sacrificed, and his father was no in their crew. He raged, telling them he’d taken care of Nergal, and killed the Family Man, so they had no right to expect anything else of him. They told him he came to them, and ghosts couldn’t haunt the living. John woke up in a sweat and vomited more blood. He visited a cancer ward to see what it was like, striking up conversation with an elderly man with lung cancer. He decided the ward wasn’t the way for him, and began to despair, before Doctor Ellis, who’d diagnosed him to make sense of the unusual elements in his blood. John cursed, and hung up on him, furious that there was no way to save himself, and angry at a doctor more interested in his demon blood than his life. He resolved to try magic to save himself, call in a few favors, but as his anger subsided, and fear returned he was convinced he’d fail.

(Hellblazer #42) - John traveled to Ireland, hoping his old friend Brendan Finn might have a cure. He arrived at Brendan’s tower, but he wanted to drink with John and catch up on old times before conducting any business. John noted that alcohol had taken a toll over the years, and Finn revealed that Kit, John’s former flame, had left him years ago. He led John to his basement, where he had a collection of the finest spirits from around the world, and from there to a cavern he discovered that contained one of St. Patrick’s shrines. Finn was mostly retired from magic, but he’d cast a changing spell powered by candles that turned the holy water of the shrine into beer for so long as the candles burned. After a few more rounds, John admitted he was dying of cancer, and asked for Finn’s help. Finn laughed and cried, telling John the reason he was eager for his visit, he hoped John could save him from liver failure. The doomed friends drank into the night, and as Finn slipped away, John prepared to let himself out. His way was barred by the Devil, the First of the Fallen, who’d come to claim Finn’s soul. When John objected the Devil told him his father was in Hell, condemned by the anger he had towards his son. John, now furious, followed the Devil to Finn’s side. Finn had traded his soul for the chance to achieve power enough to assemble the magnificent alcohol collection he’d now amassed. The Devil rarely did such old fashioned business, but Finn also stipulated that he had to claim his soul by midnight of the day he died, and the challenge made it more interesting. At five to midnight John convinced him they should toast a drink, as a drink with the Devil would top any occult achievement Finn had ever made. The Devil enjoyed his brass, and they supped. John doused the candles, turning the beer back into holy water, and the Devil nearly burst in half. John finished him by shoving him into the pool of holy water. John had saved himself, but he knew he was in big trouble when he died, because the Devil would surely make an example of him for his act of humiliation. Before John didn’t want to die, and now he simply couldn’t.

(Hellblazer I #43) - John started to feel the cancer progress, experiencing headaches, nausea, and spitting up blood. He began having nightmares in which he saw the cancer subsume his entire body. John reached out to his contact in Hell, Ellie the succubus, and she confirmed that the Devil was going to torture him and obliterate his soul when he died. In the past, those that defeated or humbled him were men of God, who ascended to Heaven upon their deaths, and were out of his reach. Now he finally had the opportunity to do as he wished with one of his enemies. Ellie suggested John repent, and he laughed, saying the deity wouldn’t be that gullible. She suggested Swamp Thing as someone who could heal him, and John replied that they were on the outs. He cursed Swamp Thing for ingratitude, and Ellie told him that if he was motivated by rewards and thank yous he wasn’t the man she knew. She told him the Snob, the angel Gabriel, was his only hope. John cursed again, as he despised the Snob, but thought he had to try. He found the Snob conducting business in the Cambridge Club with John’s old enemy Charlie Patterson. John forced an audience, and when the Snob told him he’d never understand humans, John quipped that it was funny that demons understood humanity, while God’s angels didn’t. John demanded an explanation for his situation, and the Snob said he was dying because of his bad habit, and he was damned because he had to pay for using his friends as sacrifices, and for disobeying the ten commandments. John was enraged, reminding Gabriel of all the good he’d done in the world. He said the angels only saw in black and white, another reason they’d never “get” humans. John told Gabriel that Charlie worked for the National Front, and threatened to tell his “dad” what he was up to. John got trashed in a bar, and in his haze he came up with a plan to deal with the Devil himself, instead of all of Hell.

(Hellblazer I #44, 45) - John spent some time with Cheryl, and visited his father’s grave, convinced the Devil had lied to him, and that Thomas was actually in Heaven. Cheryl told him Gemma needed her uncle, and John quipped that it was because her father was high on valium all the time. He told her he had to leave forever, and she realized it was the magic he was always involved in that was to blame. He told her magic was garbage, and that he needed her to say goodbye to Gemma for him because he was a coward. John got a lift to London from Chas, who’d gotten a minicab from gangster Mike Adams. John chided him, and Chas was infuriated, and told John it was his fault he was in the situation he was in, and that he was sick of John bossing him around like a child. They reached their destination, and coldly said goodbye. Chas found a note in his backseat from John, who apologized for stringing him along, and gave him some winning bets he’d divined with magic so he could get back on his feet. John took a trip to Parliament to rage against the establishment he’d always fought against. He had no regrets for always fighting the big fish that ate little fish. His last stop was Paddington, and his old apartment that Nergal turned into an abattoir. He implemented his last ditch scheme, calling the other two rulers of Hell, and making bargains with them. He felt himself dying, and slit his wrists to speed up the process. The First of the Fallen arrived to watch him die. As his life faded, Azazel and Beelzebub arrived for John’s soul. John humiliated the Devil by revealing to his fellow rulers how John had bested him. He then revealed that they were both due his soul, as he’d fooled them like fledgling demons. By demon law, someone was owed their due, and John told them they could go to war over his soul, but another rebellion in Hell was guaranteed to be dealt with harshly by Heaven. After the others berated the Devil long enough, and made him see that was would be suicide for all of them he agreed to help save Constantine’s life. The lords of Hell cured John’s wrist, and ripped out his cancer, but they made the process as agonizing for him as they could. John dusted himself off, elated at having bested the lords of Hell, reminded them that it was in their best interests to keep him healthy, and shot them an obscene gesture before walking off.

(Hellblazer I #46) - John coped with duping the kings of Hell, a stupid and costly measure more foolish than anything he’d ever done before. He realized that if the kings went to war, it would have lead to Heaven winning, and humanity becoming slaves of the angels. John realized he’d staked the future of humanity against his life, and he was horrified. He got blind drunk until things made sense for him. He wandered into London to get a bite when he ran into Kit. She sobered him up with coffee, they talked about the good times and how much they both missed Brendan Finn. John was elated, and happy to talk with someone who saw through all his mysteries and lies. Chas walked into the diner, and was shocked to see John still alive, but not phased when John didn’t offer an explanation. John realized he owed Matt a visit, and Kit drove him to his friend. After just a few words with Kit Matt realized how important Kit was to John. He told John that he let her in in a way that he never allowed his friends, and that he should fight for her. Matt hemorrhaged to death, and John left the hospital to weep. Kit found him and cradled him. He warned her that everyone he knew came to a bad end, but she said she was a big girl, and would take her chances.

(Hellblazer I #47) - John mourned for a month, and Kit kept her distance, knowing he was stubborn and would rather wallow in misery than talk to someone. She finally visited him to invite him to drinks at one of their favorite pubs, the Northampton Arms. She also told him his apartment was a wreck, and he should really clean up the pieces of his old diseased lung that were lying around. John was starting to wonder if he should be more appreciative of a healthy adult relationship with his friend. He spent the rest of the daylight hours feeding ducks, feeling elated at how normal he felt, and how good it was to get away from magic and demons. He met Chas and his fellow cabbies at the Arms for a card game. In between raking in winnings from his friends, he learned that the landowner Mr. Carson had sold the Arms. His buyer Quincy, wanted to demolish the grounds, and Carson had sent psychopathic thug Joe Hollis to threaten Laura Collins, beloved owner of the Arms. After cards John sat with Kit, and they talked about their similar views of relationships. John never wanted to settle down and become a parent, and Kit disliked the idea of marriage. They established that they were both single, and proceeded to drink the night away. John realized he felt giddy over Kit, which was why he hadn’t just tried to take her home for the night. When he got drunk enough to tell Kit he fancied her, he passed out. Kit, always better with the drink than he, helped him get home safe. That night Joe Hollis and his crew set fire to the Arms, and Laura died in the resulting explosion.

(Hellblazer I #48) - Kit woke John from his stupor, and made him breakfast, telling him he’d made an idiot of himself while drunk, reminding John that he was not a young man anymore. He went out to a café, and pondered getting out of the magic business, because the toll on him and his friends was too high, and he had the chance to make himself a better person, a person Kit would fall for. Just then Chas arrived with news of Laura’s death, and it wasn’t hard for John to figure out that Carson and Quincy were the ones responsible. Despite just vowing not to go looking for trouble, he felt he had no choice but to find justice for the Arms. He got the names of Hollis’ gang from criminal informant Lenny Fisher, but when he arrived at the thugs apartment he found they’d committed a brutal murder / suicide. He felt some sort of supernatural presence, but couldn’t put his finger on it. Another of Hollis’ crew broke into John’s apartment, having been tipped by Lenny that John was poking around, and he blamed John for his friend’s deaths. John was getting pummeled until Kit showed up to subdue the thug by going after a tender organ. She forced him to tell her and John about the whereabouts of the rest of the crew. They were discussing final business at Quincy’s office. John arrived in time to see a possessed Hollis kill his boss Carson. John realized that the murders had all been perpetrated by the ghosts of Lauren and he beloved husband Freddie. John warned them that their motivation had turned from love to hate, and they had to put a stop to their revenge. They agreed when Constantine convinced Quincy to build a new Northampton Arms, one where Freddie and Lauren could settle down in again.

(Hellblazer I #49) - John spent most of Christmas Eve searching for the perfect present for Kit, something that would make her realize how much he cared for her. He got distracted when he realized a ghost was following him around. The sad, dilapidated figure was the Lord of the Dance, the incarnation of revelry that partied with ancient man during the winter solstice. He bemoaned to John that he’d been forgotten, and his time of celebration was now Christmas, devoted to the Christ child. He thought that the church did away with his pagan holiday because they couldn’t stand others being happy in an unsanctioned way. John told him he’d prove that his people were still around, and took him to a pub to meet Chas and his mates and get drunk. The Lord saw that after a few people just wanted to celebrate, caring little if they honored him or Jesus. After a late night they dragged Chas home to the missus, and had to run away to escape her fury. The Lord said Constantine had given him a valuable lesson, and John replied that it was his one good deed of the century. John returned to Kit’s apartment realizing he’d never found her a gift. She told him she hadn’t gotten anything for him either, but decided to make it up to him with a kiss. They slipped off to bed, but she warned him that if he ever left her alone on Christmas Eve again he’d be in for it.

(Hellblazer I #50) - John and Kit spent the next three days in bed together. Their bliss was interrupted when John went to the bathroom and found mutilated pigeons, with the words “Hampstead Heath” written in their entrails. He told Kit he had to leave for a bit, which irritated her to no end. At the Heath he met the King of the Vampires, who led an army of London’s outcasts, demonic, and undead entities. He wanted to chat with John about magic, and show him that he belonged in his little band of evil. He asked John about his contemporaries the Demon, Dr. Fate, the Phantom Stranger, and the others. John thought they were garishly-clad fools playing superhero. John said he was an everyman who practiced magic, but they were all taken in by the hype of their own powers, and as men of mystery were a laugh. He was also bitter that their lives seemed so easy while he could barely handle day to day existence. John disliked that the King instantly tried to get chummy with him, and made it clear they were not friends. He had to repeat this sentiment after the King caught an officer who wandered in on their gathering and gruesomely dispatched him. The King lovingly went over the pleasures of life as a vampire, and told John he’d love to make him one. John refused, and cast aside the King’s plea that they were similar. The King was powerful, but he was also unconscionable. The King offered him a job as his spy on the magical community, so he could make his own dark plans and know if the forces of good were planning retaliation. John told him where to go, and the King threatened to kill him. John said he’d never help anyone like the King, because that would make him an arrogant jerk too. He debased the life of a vampire, and the King demanded he give a convincing example of why being mortal was better, threatening to end him if he couldn’t.. John said he enjoyed sunrises and the warm lips of someone who honestly loved him. The King cursed him, and told him to leave. He returned home to Kit, and they agreed to stay in bed for another three days.

(Hellblazer I #51) - John’s friend Jerry Monaghan, a reporter for The Naked Truth, was doing a piece on unusual spiritualist churches when something possessed him. He burst into John’s apartment, yammering and drooling while John tried to remember how to do a proper exorcism. After a few hours he succeeded, but Jerry had not wholly truthful. He was a masochist who enjoyed the pain of possession, and he’d collected another sixty spirits inside himself. John was aghast, and decided to leave him in the magic protective circle and sort out for himself how to deal with the spirits fighting for his body. He reasoned that he should go to the laundromat, and clean the clothes Jerry had messed when the first spirit left him. Denying to himself what he was avoiding he chatted with three old, who told him they were expecting their deceased friend Florence to show up by 10 o’clock. Another Laundromat patron found “abbatoir” in a crossword, and John had ghastly red visions. A phone call came from him asking what he was hiding from, and making supernatural threats. Something burst into the butcher store next door, and John investigated, finding Florence, using meat to finish her body and meet her friends. John ran off into the night.

(Hellblazer I #52) - John woke up, letting Kit sleep in, and faced the day with hope, realizing Kit brought him lots of reasons to smile. Sir Peter Marston, the royal family’s fixer, tracked him down, and convinced Constantine he needed his help dealing with a recent torture and murder. The two men despised each other, and John stole his limo’s keys out of spite, even though he planned on meeting Marston later in the day for details on the case. John met Kit for lunch, and reminisced about the time he and Brendan blackmailed Marston for a few grand after getting Polaroid's showing his deviant behavior. Kit told him to enjoy the case, but reminded him that if he was moving in with her he better keep the supernatural out of her life. John started to feel sorry for himself, worrying he’d inadvertently get her hurt and she mocked his sense of doom until he promised to stop taking himself so seriously. John met Marston, who took him to the Caligula Club, a secret meeting place where the UK’s most powerful and wealthiest could indulge in every sordid desire they had. He said it was better for the powerful to work out their demons in private instead of in affairs of state. John was disgusted, and told Marston to get to the point. Marston tried to bully him, and John threatened to send him to Hell. Marston backed off, even in his place of power he was unsure of how powerful John was. Marston told him that on New Year’s eve a member of the royal family summoned a demon, which had possessed him and killed the recent murder victim. When John learned that he’d be going after the prince of Wales he decided the case was right up his alley.

(Hellblazer I #53-55) - The possessed prince committed more murders, and Marston showed John the false police reports they were using to cover it up. John expected to be handsomely rewarded for helping solve the case. Marston said he hoped serving his country would be reward enough, and John quipped that serving one’s country always seemed to equate to helping those in charge. Marston knew John might try to expose the royal secrets he’d seen, and was keeping an eye on him. The prince’s brother, prompted by his wife, met John, and asked him to botch the case and let his brother die so he’d be one step closer to the throne. John refused, and used his magic to replace the brother’s cocaine with his uncle’s ashes to hammer home how much he despised him. John warned Marston of the brother’s intentions, and shook a tail from both of them before catching up with Kit, who’d decided to let him move in, and warned him that if he still thought of himself as a tough guy she’d done some sweet portraits of him while he was asleep. John contacted his friend Nigel Archer, an old time revolutionary and psychic, to hold a séance with the prince’s friends Scot’s guard Dave Hezlet and twins Hugh and Holly Elliott. The séance involved the prince’s victims, who Nigel temporarily reunited with their souls. This drew the attention of the demon, and John, knowing their rules, told him he owed the innocent souls for taking their lives, and demanded his name. The demon was none too happy, but had no choice but to give its name, Calibraxis. It also revealed that it had been in London before, in possession of Jack the Ripper. John tracked down the true story of Jack the Ripper, spending days calling in favors, and blackmailing a top mason. In the 1800s Prince Eddy had an illegitimate son by a prostitute, and her friends sought to blackmail the royal family. The queen ordered them killed, and contacted top freemason Sir William Gull. He had little appetite for murder, so his Masonic friends performed a summoning, and he was possessed by Calibraxis. The possessed Gull brutally murdered and dissected the prostitutes. The infamous murders were called the Jack the Ripper slayings. His work complete, and his mind broken by Calibraxis, Gull was put in a mental ward. He told Nigel what he’d found, and Nigel wanted to go to the press immediately. John reminded him there was a demon on the loose, and they had to stop him before even contemplating bringing down the royals. John found Ben Cox’s copy of the Grimorium Verum, a directory of Hell, and planned to use it to stop Calibraxis. John and Nigel met Marston again, who was called away by a disturbance at the Caligula Club. John rummaged through his office and found that Marston had a copy of the Grimorium himself, raising a few questions. The séance had woken the prince enough to resist Calibraxis, so the demon returned to the Caligula Club, and started eating people, until John showed up and he attacked him. Dave Hezlet bound the prince, and John and Nigel prepared for the exorcism. Marston had Hezlet kill the Elliotts and the witnesses at the Caligula Club, and John and Nigel knew they were next. John confronted Marston about his copy of the Grimorium, and he admitted planning to put a demon in charge of England. He dreamed of England returning to its old power with no liberal opposition and a strong military, but admitted he’d chosen the wrong demon. John knew he’d just try again, so after the exorcism he handcuffed Marston to a pipe, and sent Calibraxis inside of him. Desperate for one last meal, Calibraxis forced Marston to eat himself, and then dragged his soul to Hell. John and Nigel realized the prince would go unpunished, but they were keen enough knowing they’d banished a demon, and stopped Marston’s mad plan.

(Hellblazer #75) -

(Spectre III #15) - The Spectre was ready to cast judgment on the world, and Phantom Stranger was recruiting heros to stop him. He had Dr. Fate at his side, and wanted to recruit John Constantine, but he was a complete wreck due to his alcoholism. Fate offered to cure him, but Stranger said that was not their place.

(Green Lantern III #81) - Coast City; Although no one invited him, Constantine was among the heroes who attended a memorial service for Green Lantern Hal Jordan.

(Trenchcoat Brigade #1-4) - While having a drink in a bar in New York City Constantine saw a news report about someone terrorizing Russian immigrants with a hammer and stake, and Constantine knew it was Mister E. Constantine called together the Trenchcoat Brigade and E told them he suffered from visions of a world eaten up by the cancer god M’nagalah, and knew that Pyotr Konstantin somehow caused it. E took the Trenchcoat Brigade on a trip to the possible future of his vision, where the only person left alive was Pyotr. Pyotr summoned the Whining Ones to attack the Brigade. The Brigade won the fight and Pyotr told them they could avert the tragedy he caused if they took him back in time to the 1600s. In the past Pyotr cast a spell to force the Brigade to confront and deal with each other’s past failures and guilt while he set off to prevent his past self from setting off the chain of events that unleashed M’nagalah. The Brigade conquered each other’s guilt and found Pyotr, who’d failed to stop his past self. The Brigade traveled to the time of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, when Pyotr’s past self and Elliana of the Leshy, whose people had been destroyed by mankind, would bring M’nagalah to Earth. Constantine’s containment spell failed to stop M’nagalah, but it was vanquished when E took M’nagalah into his body, conquering it.

(Hellblazer I #170-174) - John survived the prison riot, and learned that he'd been framed for "Lucky" Fermin's death by S.W. Manor, who'd paid "Lucky's" wife handsomely for him to commit suicide with a gun John had his prints on. Agent Turro tasked John with getting dirt on Manor, who he'd been after for a while. John started showing up at an adult club in L.A. and made an impression with how voracious he was. One night he saw S.W. Manor bound and whipped, and Manor was shocked that he'd survived his machinations to kill him. John smiled and kissed him. They started dating again, and Constantine presented him with a gift, dirt collected from Hell. He fulfilled Manor's greatest desire, using a flagellating ritual he summoned the shades of Manor's parents. They told Manor how disgusted they were by the man he'd become, and John left the traumatized Manor, laughing on his way out. Manor used his magic to talk to a bird that contacted Richie Fermin, who still blamed Constantine for the death of his brothers. Manor met John at the adult club, allowing Richie to pur the dirt from Hell on John, immolating him. Manor immediately regretted what he'd done, and started seeing Constantine in his mansion. Constantine let Agent Turro in to bust Manor for John's murder, but Manor fatally wounded him. The dying man said he saw Constantine, and Manor wept for having murdered his true love, and committed suicide with a gun.

(Hellblazer I #175, 176) - John returned to England, and visited Cheryl at her new flat in Elster Tower, where one of the residents had just hung himself. Cheryl hit him for letting her think he was dead again, and not contacting her for 18 months. She said Gemma was inconsolable when John stopped coming around, and moved to France. They caught up, and John later went to a diner where he met waitress Angie Spatchcock, who dabbled in magic. John tried to warn her how dangerous magic was, but she scoffed, and he shared his worry about Elster being a beacon of evil. She recommended he look at the Council's list of residents, and said she'd do her own snooping. John visited new resident Gladys Wren, who had mystic symbols on her door. Her son Nigel chased him away, but John knew something was up. He had dinner with Cheryl and Tony, who blamed John for Cheryl's new dependence on alcohol and pills. After a heated argument they were on their way home when they found Spatchcock on their front lawn, slashed by hooligans. John, Cheryl and Tony took her to the hospital, and John learned that her wounds matched those from a number of unsolved murders committed by the "Striptease Killer." John woke up Angie with an infusion of his demon-tainted blood, even though he knew it was probably a bad idea. She pointed him in Gladys direction, and Gladys even invited him in. He found the scraps of flesh her sons had taken as the Striptease Killers, all sealed in bottles. Gladys drank the good memories of the dead girls, and spilled out the bad ones, accounting for the sickness around Elster. Her son attacked him when he smashed one of the vials on his head, releasing the ghost of the dead girl, who haunted Gladys to death. John was saved from the other son by the reinvigorated Angie, who'd followed him. He told her the case was closed, but didn't elaborate, saying he'd get in touch with her if he ever needed a teen sidekick. John wasn't buying that Gemma lost touch with her parents, and didn't believe she was in France, so he decided to hunt for clues.

(Hellblazer I #177-180) - John had Chas drive him around London, and he suspected Gladys knew something of Gemma's disappearance. She mentioned Scrape Gillis, an occult pawnbroker, and John went to his shop to find it burned down, and word was that Scrape was dead. John's next visit was to Tate's for a meeting with Clarice Sackville and her friends, but Clarice refused to give him any help. John knew there was something wrong, and surmised that she was deeply frightened of someone. John sought out Map's help in the London underground, but was rebuffed with an exploding light. John was attacked by two goons, who were shot dead by an unseen shooter. shaken John returned to his flat, where he had a video tape waiting for him. Map appeared to him, saying there was a magic war brewing, and he'd escaped to another plane of existence. He wanted John to watch the tape Domine Fredericks sent him, and chose a side in the war, but to choose carefully. The video showed Gemma with two large thugs behind her, and she said she'd made new friends, including Fredericks, who wanted to meet Constantine for breakfast at the Savoy. Fredericks said he'd killed Scrape because he'd gotten his hands on the mythic Red Sepulchre, but he needed John's help in identifying it among the stores of mystic objects collected from Scrape's shop. John came off cocky as usual, but Fredericks made it clear that Gemma only so long as he wished it. John agreed to meet him at his headquarters, and called Spatchcock, asking if she'd be interested in taking down criminal magicians. She wasn't sure, and when he said how dangerous it would be she turned him down. John arrived at Fredericks' and was furious when he learned that the psychopathic Joshua Wright was the one in charge of watching Gemma. John told Fredericks the story of how his ancestor Aloysius Quinn was in India in the 1840s stamping out cults, and had his soul stolen by the Red Sepulchre. From what Quinn told it was a blade wielded by the Phansigars containing the souls of everyone it was used on. Fredericks had his doubts, but said some of John's story matched up with his own research. John got a moment alone with Gemma, and realized she had no idea she was a hostage. She left home to learn magic, and thought Fredericks had taken her in as a pupil. When John tried to get her to open her eyes she said he couldn't stand the idea of her as competition and ran off. John and Frederick's goons started sorting Scrape's possessions to separate the weaponry. A demon attacked Frederick's home and killed some of his guards, but was disposed of by Wright. John took the opportunity to call to Map, and ask him for some backup, promising that if it came down to saving Gemma's life he'd help Frederick. Clarice had summoned the demon, so Fredericks sent John and two of his goons to kill her over John's objections. John knew where Clarice's safehouse was, but managed to call her and warn her when the goons threw a grenade through her window. John cast a spell of misdirection to save their lives, and returned to Frederick's. He'd figured out that a drawstring was the Red Sepulchre, or the holy knot the Phansigars used to strangle their victims. Touched with a person's blood it let Kali possess them, and that's just what John did to one of Frederick's men. He explained all this to Fredericks while Clarice cast a spell severing Frederick's control over Gemma. The man possessed by Kali killed all of Frederick's men before snapping Frederick's neck. John dispelled the goddess, burned the knot, and the whole affair was finally finished, although Gemma still hated John.

(Hellblazer I #181) - Watford called in John Constantine when the corpse of a man who committed suicide started asking for him. Gary Lester's soul was using the corpse to speak, and warned John that Frederick's friends had summoned the demonic Lukhavim to claim his soul as revenger for killing Frederick's. John was suspicious of why Gary Lester would want to help him, but he sought out Clarice to tattoo him with the protective ward of Hermes. The Lukhavim took Chas and his family hostage to lure in John, and although Hermes protected his body, they were able to separate his soul from his corporal form, putting him on the run. After a game of cat and mouse he led them to the former site of Bedlam, where the souls of madmen attacked the demons. The demons made short work of them, and John knew using them as a distraction was a jerk move, but he really cared about his own survival. Bedlam was on consecrated ground, and two of the Lukhavim were forced back to Hell. The third didn't want John dead, he just said he had a message to deliver. He gave a cryptic clue about a hound at the gates, and John remembered that Frederick's had nightmares about a hound.

(Hellblazer I #182, 183) - John was shaving when he was interrupted by a monstrous emissary of Arawyn Pen Annuvin , lord of the dead. Arawyn sensed a disturbance in the border between life and death, and wanted John to discern what it was. John wasn't interested until the emissary said the disturbance had already affected his friend Angie Spatchcock. Using a spell John located the disturbance in Stone Cross, Bedfordshire, where ghosts in the form of shadows were spreading over the town and overtaking people. John needed a ride there, but Chas' family didn't want Chas anywhere near him, so he sent his friend Kev to take John my motorbike. The possessed set their own town on fire, and the Gironnved, the shepherds of the dead, were culling the possessed to retrieve the displaced ghosts. John located the portal in St. Peter's Fields mental hospital, where he met up with Angie, who was trying to save her brother Jason, a possessed inmate, from the Gironnved. John knew a sacrifice would be needed to close the portal, so he killed one of the Gironnved to shut the door of death. John told Angie something epic was at play.

(Hellblazer I #184) - John and Angie visited the Vatican's secret library and the British Museum reading room to learn more about the shadow hound before heading to Juliema in the Amazon where John said he had someone to talk to. John went to the burned ground where the Parliament of Trees once stood and contact Swamp Thing. He explained that the world of death was bleeding over into the land of the living, but Swamp Thing said he represented one part of Earth and dislikes rising up against another of the world's aspects. John thought he was just being lazy, and succeeded in the difficult task of angering the elemental. Swamp Thing said the Green ran close to the Subtle Realms, and if he learned anything was amiss he'd contact Constantine. Angie wasn't happy with being kept waiting six hours, and told John that his old friend Paho Bokhari talked to her, gave her a card, and hinted that he was doing something bad to Constantine. John took the card, a joker, and his soul switched with Paho's. Paho was playing cards with Goterrez , and the mystic cards that demanded sacrifice would not let either of them leave until the game ended. John raised the stakes with his soul, and Goterrez bet his soul, and the soul of Paho's friend Elena that he kept in his belt buckle. He assumed Paho's attempt to get out of the game meant he had a losing hand. John raised Angie's soul with her permission, because for some reason she trusted him. John's hand won to Goterrez 's surprise, and he was killed by Camilo, the manager of the game. John and Paho explained that they set up the whole scenario to make Goterrez overconfident enough to bet Elena. Angie was not pleased with being used as a pawn.

(Hellblazer I #185) - John and Angie went to Iraq, which contained one of the physical locations of the Garden of Eden on Earth. The Binei Gadol, supposed descendants of Cain, were guarding the entrance, and apprehended John for suspicion of stealing the Testament of Nephilm from them years ago. John saw this coming, and told Angie he needed some long-term insurance, took some of his hair, and told her to plant it close to the Garden. While awaiting his trial by ordeal in a jailcell he asked the Binei Gadol Ghursoon to tell him of her people's knowledge of the Garden. She alluded to the Beast, the only part of God's creation that refused to be named by Adam. Angie returned, and John's ordeal was to plunge his arm into boiling water while proclaiming his innocents, and he would be found not guilty if unharmed. He apparently passed, and was let go, but Angie couldn't believe he wasn't guilty of something he was accused of. John showed her his burnt flesh, he'd used meditation to block out the pain, but they had to start hiking should the Binei Gadol realize they'd been duped. Angie wanted to talk to him about the angel that guarded the Garden of Eden, but John said it would wait. Swamp Thing visited them, and told them two entities had recently escaped the Subtle Realms, and told them that they had been on Earth before, 200 years ago in Tasmania.

(Hellblazer I #186) - John and Angie visited Port Adams, Tasmania, where genocide had been perpetrated on Tasmanian natives. John needed to talk to ghosts since so full-blooded Tasmanian still lived, so he took psychedelic mushrooms and entered the dreamtime, while Angie watched his prone form. John encountered the ghosts of British soldiers, and realized his mistake choosing such a horrific location to find Tasmanians, clearly their ghosts would steer clear of the place. He tried to show the soldiers, who kept reliving their slaughter that they were only dreams of ghosts, but they thought he was talking treason and lines him up in front of a firing squad. A Tasmanian woman's ghost stopped the dreamtime and told John she'd met Angie after his walking in the dreamtime caused a ruckus. She discussed the Kua I'pa as she knew the shadow dog, and returned John to reality. He wondered why she would show him kindness despite the pain she suffered, and she said hate was a starting point, not an end. John and Angie had a moment and embraced.

(Hellblazer I #188) - A homeless man named Jinx asked John for some money and he cast a spell to make a burnt cigarette look like cash. He told Jinx to spend it quick and get drunk, because the end of the world was coming.

(Swamp Thing IV #1, 2) - Swamp Thing returned, with the Alec Holland part of his mind and soul missing, and Constantine knew he was too powerful to be so detached from humanity, so he animated Alec Holland’s corpse and hid Swamp Thing’s “human” half inside of him. Constantine told him he intended to mend Swamp Thing’s mind, and was mildly apologetic for using Alec’s body as Tupperware. John and Alec got a hotel room, but management realized there was something wrong with Alec, and called the police. John hypnotized the officers, and had them give him and Alec a ride to Colorado, where Swamp Thing had become one with the Earth.

(Swamp Thing IV #3-6) - Constantine had Abby Arcane talk to Swamp Thing but he rebuffed her, so John, Alec and Abby journeyed to Germany where he sensed an elemental war between Swamp Thing and Tefe was about to begin. Abby talked to Tefe, who’d claimed her birthright as a flesh elemental of the red with the help of Sargon the Sorcerer, and was ready for a fight to the death with Swamp Thing, who Sargon convinced her wanted her power. Swamp Thing confronted Tefe she gave him no chance to talk, but immediately attacked him. He’d healed the Green, and wanted to work with her to restore the elemental balance, but she was fully in Sargon’s sway. Sargon was using his ruby of life to tap Tefe’s elemental power to achieve godhood. Constantine fruitlessly battled Sargon, who still blamed Constantine for his death at the séance. Swamp Thing was forced to slay Tefe, and absorbed the power of the Red. Constantine sent the reanimated Alec Holland to confront Swamp Thing, and as he held Tefe’s charred form he damned Swamp Thing until Swamp Thing incinerated him. This freed the human side of Swamp Thing’s mind from Alec’s form, and it reunited with Swamp Thing’s elemental power. He had a human template once again, and was back to his old self. He saw what he had wrought in battling Tefe, and was horrified. Swamp Thing resurrected Tefe, but with all the elemental powers concentrated in one being, Sargon could tap into all of them, and turned Swamp Thing’s powers against him. Constantine anticipated this, and knew that Swamp Thing’s newly rediscovered humanity could defeat Sargon. Swamp Thing dispersed all of the elemental powers from his own form, confident they would all find worthy champions, and he disappeared into the Green. Without a power source to tap Sargon sputtered, and cursed Swamp Thing for denying him godhood. Abby knocked him out by clubbing him over the head with a branch. Constantine used Sargon’s rub y of life to reform Swamp Thing as an earth elemental in Louisiana, but Abby said she had had enough, and just wanted to get away and give her daughter a normal life.

(Hellblazer I #250) - Cubs fans hired John to break the curse of the billy goat that kept their team out of the world series. John took a goat to the Billy Goat Tavern and used it as a vessel to summon the demon that powered the curse. The demon got rough with John, but the fanatical Cubs fans tore it to pieces.

(Hellblazer I #250) - John's friend Dave called in a favor to have him investigate paranormal activity following a Bhopal level disaster. John visited a priest's ad hoc hospital center treating children who'd played in the ashes that followed the plant explosion, thinking it was snow. They were being visited by winged beings of ash that the priest believed were devils, but John learned that the plan was refining pure evil, so the leavings were pure good, and the visitors were akin to newborn angels. John told the priest to give them instructions, and he had them smite the owner of the plant. John surmised that the kids had a lifelong connection to the angels, and urged the priest to take them on tour and destroy other corrupt factory owners. John said people didn't believe him when he said he was on the side of the angels.

(Hellblazer I #250) - John visited Dave's Poker Bunker to seek refuge from the holiday festivities. He witnessed Chas get his clock cleaned in hold 'em by Barry the Bandit. John assured the bartender he was there to watch, not play, because he'd been banned for being spooky, and winning too often. Hard-nosed Barry played a desperate old man, and John sensed the man needed the money to buy his daughter, a runaway, out of slavery. The Christmas spirit moved Barry the Bandit to fold on a winning hand and throw the game, and John said he was impressed.

(Hellblazer I #250) - John got drunk on Christmas, remembering how his family's resentment of each other boiled over on Christmas Day, with endless cursing and hatred. John was being haunted by Dave Brown, one of three politicians that were brutally murdered the past Christmas, and he refused to leave until John figured out how and why he'd died.. John suspected a death curse, and the pieces came together when Dave said his political rival George had written part of the Queen's holiday speech the past two years. John confronted George about putting a death curse into the speech and his wife Sheena admitted she was the one behind it, not because she wanted to see her husband succeed, but because she was concerned about money for their children. They screamed at each other in their parking lot as John reflected that Christmas was a curse for a lot of people.

(Hellblazer I #250) - Edward Devere, head of security at the English Museum, called in a favor on John Constantine when the Scythe of Osiris was stolen. Magician Alistair Carswell got hold of it, intending to use it to gain immortality, and Devere reminded Constantine that he could reveal a number of his indiscretions if he didn't help. John went out among the New Year's Eve revelers, vowing to stop getting involved in things as his New Year's resolution. Carswell snatched an infant from the crowd, planning to sacrifice him in front of Cleopatra's Needle with the scythe. John parried the scythe with a stolen champagne bottle, and ended the fight with a kick to the genitals. The police arrived, but John managed to slip away with a woman dressed as a naughty nurse that was impressed with him. Lucian gave John one of his old cast off skins, and instructed him to warm it up and rub it on the scab. Phoebe called John to say lab results said the scabs' molecular structure was unlike anything her technicians had ever seen, but somehow knew he wouldn't be surprised.

(Hellblazer I #251-253) - John and Phoebe got closer, staying up all night and revealing all their secrets. John said he was done getting close to people because he ruined the lives of those around him, and Phoebe said he was just trying to scare her off. She said she was raised in the emotional torture of an English middle class family and worked in an ER, so she could handle whatever issues John had. John kept scratching, and she made him take off his shirt, revealing a large scab growing on his chest. He refused to go to the doctor, but allowed Phoebe to take a sample before she left. John wondered if it was his body's way of telling him to stay away from Phoebe, but decided it was most likely something magical. After failing to find anything in his tomes he went to meet Julian, an ekkimu slumming it in London. Julian's treatment of using one of his old skins to rub on the curse relieved the pain of the scab, but the rest of John's body felt like it was falling apart. Phoebe was haunted by the shade of her unborn child, and called John, desperate for help. John came to Phoebe's aid, and after shuffling her out of the house assured her she was having a nightmare. He took her to her friend Aisha's house, and Phoebe thought it was odd she had a terrible vision about an abortion she'd long ago mad epeace with. John returned to her apartment, and found that his scab was spreading, and an "L" was emblazoned on it. The "child" was an animated scab creature that told John he wanted a relationship with Phoebe, but John realized it was animated only by her memories, and wondered how responsible he was for its creation. John had tea with the creature, and caught it unaware, bashing its head in. He burned it in a field and decided he would never tell Phoebe about the resolution of that night. John found a scrap of old paper, and realized what the "L" stood for. It was a Liverpool Echo article about a '90s dockers strike. In Liverpool John visited his uncle Roy, who gave him an icy reception, expecting John to hit him up for money, and expressing his anger that he never heard from John when his Jean died. John didn't understand his hostility until he had a flashback about the time he almost sold his soul to the devil and his friends Dani and Rich were almost killed. He went to Roy for help, but was in a rage about Everton, and wondered if he'd done something so bad even by his standards that he'd blocked it out. He watched a news report about the death of Sir Lawrence, and remembered when he worked for Lawrence, mentally pushing union leader Mal Brady to betray his workers with a scab curse. The curse had curdled, affecting John, and causing Brady to go mad and kill Lawrence. Phoebe called John, his ruse came apart when the remains of the scab baby reformed in her apartment, and John advised her to burn it. John found Mal, and after confessing that he was the one who ruined his life, cast spells to remove both their curses. John's guilt was preventing the spell from working, so he told off a bunch of dock workers until they knocked the tar out of him, and he felt absolved. John made a date with Phoebe at the Granby, telling her her problems were over, but she never showed.

(Hellblazer I #254, 255) - John figured on spending the night drinking, and refused to admit to himself that he was miserable being single again. He suffered an epileptic fit, and had a vision of the England in 1665 during one of the plagues. A plague doctor pressured the Fernby family to give him their daughter in exchange for a clean bill of health and a chance to leave the sickness of the city. In a daze John wandered to see Phoebe, who admitted him to the hospital. He said they were probably fooling themselves ever thinking it could work between them, and despite her orders for him to stay put he left the hospital and returned home, and was attacked by Emil, whose flat he was watching. Emil apologized, saying he was being followed because of his public activism about the Olympic Games coming to London in 2012, costing taxpayers millions and evicting residents. Emil had discovered the remains of a plague pit on the games construction site, and brought John there, asking if he could raise the restless spirits and have them strike back. John felt another fit, and the ground opened up revealing the plague pit. Emil fled, saying John had the situation in hand, and a plague doctor emerged from the pit. He said he'd done something bad before he vanished. Phoebe's lab results showed John had toxicity in his blood, and had gone looking for him. John said she had no responsibilities toward him, and he wasn't her patient anymore. The plague doctor showed up again, and asked John to move the bones in the pit to give him peace. The ghost was Fernby, and finished the story John had seen in his vision. Fernby's daughter killed the plague doctor that lusted after her, and with Fernby dressed as the doctor they tried to make their way out of the city towards Kent. Soldiers blocked their path, so rather than see his family die of the black death he kdug a grave, killed them, and committed suicide. John called Fernby a coward for killing his family because he was afraid of losing them, and refused to put his spirit at ease. The encounter gave John the courage to tell Phoebe they should risk a relationship, but she replied that she wasn't interested in jumping back into his arms. John made a joke about putting a love spell on her as she walked away.

(Hellblazer I #256-258) - John went to alchemist Epiphany to brew a love potion, and she insisted on knowing why John was so interested in Phoebe. John was starting to realize that as he got older he wanted a bulwark against future loneliness, and he appreciated how average and undamaged Phoebe was. He gave Phoebe a bottle of wine laced with the love potion, claiming it was a peace offering, and snatched a hair from her sweater, later burning it to complete the ritual. John was still using Julian's skin salve, and realized he'd become addicted to it, which he knew shouldn't come as a surprise; bargaining with a ekkimu was rarely wise. John made it past Julian's gatekeeper Alu, and started strangling him, but Julian warned him he'd sic his guardian on him. Julian wanted John to threaten one of the teachers at his school that was preparing to testify against him for assault. John knew he could do it himself, but he was enjoying the idea of having John as a slave. During the scuffle John had taken one of Julian's hairs and slipped the remaining love potion in his brandy, knowing Julian wouldn't be expecting John to use alchemy against him. Phoebe called up John, and expressed her newfound giddy love for him. John wasn't sure how he felt about getting what he wanted, and realized his manipulation might be the worst thing he'd ever done. John spent the night with Phoebe, and got a call from Julian, who was now madly in love with him. Julian wanted him to come over, and knew that John had used magic on him, but didn't care because his new longing was beautifully torturous. Alu wanted to kill John, but Julian made him back off. Julian said he knew John could never love him, but still wanted them to be married. Julian promised John he'd teach him dark and ancient magic that would make him supremely powerful, and showed John the room of his old skins, saying they were all his. John decided against living like an addict, so he set fire to the skins and left. John went to see Epiphany, but she didn't have anything to help him, and knew he'd have to beat addiction the old-fashioned way. She took off her clothes and threw herself at John, but he turned her down because her father was a psychopath who treated her like a innocent, and he still had strong feelings for Phoebe. Phoebe revealed that she'd didn't drink the wine, because a romantic gesture seemed too suspicious for him, and she ran labs on it that revealed he'd tampered with it. She only spent the night with him because she had an itch to scratch, and she said she knew John was rotten, but never suspected he'd be so rotten to her. She showed her big heart by helping John through days of nightmarish withdrawal, and once John was feeling better he got an emergency call from who he thought was Chas. He left for the Granby, but the caller was actually Julian, who wanted to have a talk with Phoebe, not willing to "share" John. John returned to Phoebe's, and Julian had killed her with Mesopotamian death magic. Aisha discovered the body, and blamed John, thinking he killed her because Phoebe rejected him. John fled, and told Chas he was committed to magically resurrecting Phoebe, because he'd promised himself he would not let his life destroy hers. John asked Epiphany for help, and she refused, saying she was busy. Terry Grieves walked in on them arguing, and threatened John, who promised he wouldn't contact Epiphany again. Epiphany later picked up John in her car, and showed him a perfume that could bring back the dead, but warned him that the results could be disastrous if the user wasn't pure of heart. John said he could fake it, and Epiphany made it clear she was only helping because she was interesting in John, and didn't want him to make a saint out of his dead ex. After Phoebe's funeral they dug her up, but John couldn't fake purity, and the perfume didn't work on Phoebe, but did wake the corpses of her ancestors, who John had to put back in the grave. The backfired magic put Epiphany in a coma, and John knew he'd catch hell from Terry.

(Hellblazer I #259) - Chas drove John to Violet Cottage so John could try another tack of bringing back Phoebe. chas reminded him that the cottage was Renee's pride and joy, and asked him to be respectful and smoke outside. John used more old-fashioned magic to get in touch with Phoebe's soul, and found himself teleported into what looked like his own past. He remembered how he first met Phoebe in a Chelsea nightclub in 2007, and how she broke off her engagement for a fling with John, challenging his preconceptions about people. Phoebe then changed into a demon, and John had to flee. He realized he was in Hell, and saw his old friend Kathy George, who was stuck with the soul of serial killer Troy, who'd killed her parents. she said John couldn't help her just yet. John returned from Hell, but the Phoebe demon pursued him, and he used a binding spell to send her back to the netherworld. He realized his actions had bound her soul to Hell, and he burned down the cottage.

(Hellblazer I #260) - John had to avoid the police, because he was the main suspect in Phoebe's death, and Terry Grieves' men were after him for Epiphany being in a coma. Grieves' goons went to John's flat, and he used a spell to make them see him as a bloated corpse, but Grieves was not convinced Constantine was dead. John had Plates forge documents so he could leave the country and head toward India, where he hoped to attain spiritual purity, which would allow him to save Phoebe. Grieves blew up the Granby, and kidnapped Chas, torturing him until he called John begging for help. John promised to save him, but he was lying, and still tried to make his flight. His documents were suspect, so he had no choice but to flee, and convinced Grieves to free Chas. Grieves and his men worked John over, but he convinced them he could help Epiphany. He used magic to enter her subconscious, where her mind had regressed to her childhood self before her life was twisted by magic. Initially she was going to stay there and let her father take care of John, but changed her mind and awoke from her coma. Grieves said Constantine could go, but he'd kill him if Epiphany's condition lapsed. Epiphany knew she now held John's life in her hands.

(Hellblazer I #261, 262) - John arrived in India, and met the Sadhu, who was working as a street vendor, and advised John to seek a prasad from a local temple. John visited his old friend Charles Pankurst-Hawke, who'd become a guru, but he refused to help John find spiritual purity until he lived a year as a beggar or at the very least helped the homeless and sick. John told him to cut the nonsense, and threatened to expose Charles' shady past. Charles gave in, but once John left he called his friend Vikram Dhawan, a Bollywood director who could summon the demonic Colonel Burke, a British man who'd been banished to a dark dimension by the Sadhu in the 1870s for his assault on a young Indian woman. Dhawan sicced Burke on John, but the Sadhu managed to banish him. The Sadhu said he'd summoned John to India because he was too old to take care of Burke by himself, and if John helped he promised to reunite him with his love. Burke had been killing young women in Mumbai, and John waited at his last crime scene, paying a young boy to keep a look at. The police spotted John and pursed him, suspecting the foreigner of being their serial killer, but John vanished down an alley. Burke told Dhawan that John was a powerful opponent, and refused to reengage him unless he gave Burke Meeta, the beautiful starlet he'd discovered. Dhawan claimed to love Meeta, but put a bindi on her that would draw Burke to her. John returned to his hotel where the receptionist said his girlfriend was waiting for him, and John hoped it was Phoebe reborn.

(Hellblazer I #263, 264) - The woman turned out to be Epiphany, who the Sadhu had sent a dream to to draw her to India. Epiphany was disappointed that John still pined for his ex and said she was boring. John told the Sadhu he wanted Phoebe, not Epiphany, and the Sadhu replied that a wise man still did not always realize who his true love was. The Sadhu stated the Age of Kali Yuga was approaching, and would plunge the world into darkness, but John was skeptical. Epiphany researched Burke's family history while John discovered that Burke had killed his handler Dhawan for trying to save Meeta. Charles tried to free India, but John figured out that he was supplying Burke's victims, and demanded the ash and blood mix he used to mark his targets. John returned to the streets of Mumbai, and the boy he'd paid the day before directed him to Meeta's body. The police were still trailing John, and arrested him as the killer. His pleas of innocence were ignored, and the inspector worked him over. Epiphany called the police station with vague threats about what a powerful man John was, but that did no good for John's case. Burke's influence spread as a harbinger of Kali Yuga, and Mumbai was beset by violence and women giving birth to Kali statues. The Sadhu visited the scene of a massacre at a movie theatre, and convinced the inspector that he could cleanse his sins by trusting John to save Mumbai from the wave of violence. Epiphany and John confronted Burke, who threatened to destroy them, but Epiphany learned that Burke deserted his regiment during a battle with the Sepoys, and feared his cowardice being known. John taunted him about being a failure as an Englishman, and taunted him with a white feather like the one he got as a commendation after the battle even though he should have been court marshaled. Burke could not stand the truth about him being exposed, and imploded. To fulfill his promise to John the Sadhu channeled Phoebe's spirit through Epiphany, and she begged John to forget about her, because his mad quest to resurrect her was keeping her soul from moving on to its proper reward. John accepted this, but was miserable. He shared some drinks with Epiphany, and said he was ready to go back to London. Julian had confessed to Phoebe's murder, so he no longer had to dodge the police.

(Hellblazer I #265, 266) - Epiphany told Constantine she was unhappy working in her father's criminal laboratory, and convinced him to let her crash at his flat for a while. John sincerely hoped he wasn't making a big mistake. John got a call from his old mate Faeces, and visited his punk commune the Vicious. Faeces, who was still fighting the establishment, looked just as John remembered him from 1979. Epiphany chatted with one of the Vicious, young Carl, while Faeces showed John an effigy he'd made of Sid Vicious using artifacts such as his boots, syringe and fliptop knife. John was skeptical when he said he'd summoned Vicious' spirit, but the effigy opened his mouth and sang, and John felt young and rebellious again. Members of the Vicious had been leaving to join the Tories, who were looking for street level thugs, and Faeces said it was affecting Sid's health. Carl's friend Viper had recently firebombed a leftist, so John went to see him. Epiphany was outside the flat as backup, and when her father called she assured him she wasn't spending time with John. Tory James and his skkinhead thugs were right behind John, and attacked him with baseball bats until Epiphany busted in threatening them with a gun and forcing them to slink away. John told Faeces he was out because he was too old for such nonsense, and Epiphany decided to party with the Vicious, trying to make John jealous by telling him her plans of hooking up with a bunch of them. John interrupted Chastity and Carl canoodling, and said he'd changed his mind and was there to help out Faeces. Epiphany accused him of being possessive even though he didn't want to be with her, and when he had her cut his hair into the Mohawk he had as a youth she nicked his throat with the blade. Back in full punk regalia John partied with the Vicious, hoping the Tory recruiter would show up. Carl had enough of Epiphany ignoring him with Constantine around, and pulled a broken beer bottle on John. John reduced him to tears by revealing he knew that Carl had stolen his dying mother's money for a heroin fix. Epiphany told him he was cruel, and it was not John's business if she wanted to use the young punks of the Vicious. John admitted that he hadn't used magic, he'd just checked up on Carl's past, and he'd investigated Epiphany as well. Epiphany ran off, telling John to stay out of her life. James contacted John, saying the Tories could use someone of his cunning, and he met some of the conservative higher-ups, Pre-Christian entities that were animating the bodies of former party members. John claimed that Faeces' effigy was one of their own, lost and convinced he was a punk rocker. The higher-ups and Jack visited the Sid Vicious effigy, and attempted to recruit him. Sid mustered all his youthful hate and expressed it in a brain-melting song that killed the conservatives. John traded his punk togs back for his trenchcoat, and told Faeces he had fun, but he really was too old to be acting like he was a teenager again.

(Hellblazer I #267, 268) - John was losing his mind, and visited Epiphany's lab in a fury, suspecting her of using a potion on him. She wanted him to get out, and he saw red, beating her to a pulp. After getting seriously drunk John woke up, and barely remembered what happened. Parts of his apartment began disappearing, and when he ran outside the buildings and streets vanished around him. He called Chas, begging him to pick him up, and worried he might have killed Epiphany, but the street opened up, swallowing him, and he woke up in the hospital ward. The doctors said he was found ranting in alien languages, and doped him up because of his history of mental illness. Chas went to see Epiphany, and was shocked when he saw what Constantine had done to her. He asked her if she knew anything about reality starting to disappear, and she told him to get lost and tell Constantine to crawl into a sewer. After hours at the hospital John hypnotized an orderly to watch his back while he scrawled symbols on the wall and summoned Shade the Changing Man, knowing reality disappearing would be weirdness straight up his alley. John's summoning failed, and he was sedated again. He had horrific nightmares, and soon developed severe phobias of skin flakes and plastic. He blamed his left arm for what he did to Epiphany and decided to be rid of it. He burst into the hospital kitchen and hacked away at his arm until the pain got to be too much, so he compromised by cutting off his thumb. He was forced back to his ward once again, but soon Shade's old friend Lenny Shapiro helped him escape. Shade had finally arrived, possessing one of the catatonic patients, and demanded John kiss him on the mouth.

(Hellblazer I #269, 270) - Kissing Shade John thought about the time he'd kissed Kathy George, and how unforgettable she was. John sensed that Shade was no longer a gentle poet, but malicious and eaten alive by bitterness. John convinced Shade and Lenny to have a drink at the pub with him, and when Lenny mentioned that Kathy thought John was sexy Shade threw a fit and detsroyed their table with a bolt of energy. Lenny said she'd fulfilled her obligation to Shade, and had him send her home, reminding him she was Kathy's friend, not his, and if Kathy had listened to her she would have dumped Shade. After many desperate attempt Epiphany finally got hold of John on the phone, and asked if he had messed with her potions, because her healing salve had further scarred her face. He hadn't, but said he'd help her, even though she emphatically said she didn't want to see him, and he didn't want him to see her scarred face. Shade said he wanted something from John, he wanted him to resurrect Kathy George, and John was having none of it. Reality started disappearing in front of John again, and Shade brought him to another world, the underside of the universal subconscious, threatening to strand him there if he didn't help him bring back Kathy. He said John should have taken her from him when he had the chance, and John suddenly understood the jealousy and hatred Shade was exuding at him. He lied and said he never thought of Kathy after their kiss, and promised him the dead needed to move on, and interfering only hurt them. He seemed to convince Shade, and they returned to Earth and Epiphany's lab, where she'd overdosed on pills. Commented that she reminded him of Kathy. Epiphany shot awake and vomited, the pills she took were another remeby, albeit a desparate one. John almost confessed his love for her when he was afraid she was dead, and she encouraged him to go on. Shade examined her healing salve, and determined that his arrival on Earth caused parallel infections of madness. Since John loved her face, the madness tried to destroy it. Epiphany talked about blaming Carew, who thought he loved her, and John's intuition kicked in. Epiphany lured Carew to the lab, and John took him up to the roof, causing him to think he was being consumed by hellfire. Shade asked Epiphany if John ever mentioned Kathy, and was furious when she said he didn't He manifested Kathy's wardrobe in her lab, and started blubbering over it, causing John to rush downstairs. Carew had used the whispered curse to make Constantine lose his mind if he ever started wanting Epiphany, which resulted in his madness, which he put an end to by murdering Carew. Shade offered to take Epiphany back to Meta, to fix her face with the madness. John pleaded with her to stay, admitting he loved her, and saying they should get married because he wasn't getting any younger. Epiphany was tempted, but decided to leave with Shade, who was pressuring her, for Meta.

(Hellblazer I #271, 272) - John contacted the oracle and barber Joe, asking for a reading about his possible future with Epiphany. Joe brought him to the July 7th Memorial to cause the undead disease, and they spoke to him, saying that Epiphany might be John's last shot at happiness. John's mate Gilbert went looking for proper wedding rings, and found one original by Aleister Crowley, and the companion piece carved from the pelvic bone of a Satanist who suicided. John tried to summon Shade again, but lacked the madness that made him successful last time. In a desperate bid he tossed himself out a window to make the summoning work. John passed through Meta, and Shade shout at him that Epiphany was gone, he'd sent her away after she refused to become Kathy George for him. John landed on the street, covered in cuts and bruises, and was met by the succubus Gloria. He resisted her advances, threatening to put a spell on her that would make her frigid. She told him she was being coerced by Nergel, because Hell couldn't stand the idea of John being happy, and begged him to hide her from Hell like he'd done for Chantinelle. He said he'd sleep on it, and she coerced him into letting her stay on the sofa. John got blind drunk, and made a protective circle around himself before passing out, but failed to finish it properly. Nergal appeared to watch Gloria work, and she said she felt bad because he had true feelings for Epiphany, but Nergal insisted she do as she was told.

(Hellblazer I #273, 274) - John woke up and pushed Gloria off, and she was surprised that she hadn't made him fall madly in lust. He kicked her out, and was approached by Terry Grieves, who wanted him to use magic to scare some of his Afghan competitors. John refused, and when Terry mentioned that he hadn't heard from Epiphany in a few days, John reminded him that his daughter was an adult. Terry dropped John off and told him he'd made a huge mistake not playing ball. John found Gloria dying in his apartment, having been eviscerated by Nergel for her refusal to continue tormenting John. John went to Hyde Park, and squared the circle tpo locate epiphany, ending up in 1979, and disappointed to learn she'd been spending time with his younger punk self. Epiphany told her John she'd decided to marry him, angering the younger John. John punched his younger self, having always wanted to, and when young John asked his future self how he coped with aging, he told him to keep drinking, dancing with the devil, and pretending not to care. John and Epiphany returned to the present, and John got jealous when Epiphany said she'd slept with his younger self. John wondered why he couldn't remember meeting her in the past, and she reminded him what a heavy drinker he was. Nergal possessed Chas, and had him try to run the couple over, but a synchronicity spell gave John luck enough to dodge. Chas crashed, and the steering column ruptured his groin, so he had to be taken to the hospital. Chas' wife once again told John to stay away from her husband, but Epiphany told her they were getting married and wanted Chas as the best man. At home Epiphany found the succubus heart John was keeping in his fridge because of its' magic power, and admitted to her how Gloria tried to seduce him, but she wasn't bothered. Terry's men were spying on the flat, and Terry brought his goons in, deciding to kill Constantine for being with his daughter. John cast a spell to haunt them with visions of their murder victims, and Terry nearly jumped off the balcony before Epiphany forced John to help him. Terry said they'd get married over his dead body, but reconsidered when John said as his son-in-law he'd help him with his problems with the Afghans.

(Hellblazer I #275) - John went drinking with Chas, Faeces and the ghost of Brendan Finn before his wedding. Faeces said John had changed because he looked happy, and he liked the gloomy Constantine. Kit met John outside his flat, and they were at each other's throats in a few minutes. Kit asked him why Epiphany was "the one," and John said he didn't have to hide anything from her. He admitted he'd loved Kit, but was more in love with Epiphany. The Demon Constantine escaped Hell, and had been stalking Epiphany. He wanted real sensations and pleasures, and decided to take John's place, cutting him to pieces, and killing him. Terry wasn't pleased with John's choice of a deconsecrated church as the place of the ceremony, but Epiphany said it could have been worse, like a pub. Nergal and Terry's rival Afghans attacked the wedding, but Terry's men won the firefight, and Epiphany was wed to the Demon Constantine. The Demon cornered Gemma in the restroom and raped her. She fled afterwards, and vowed to make John pay, not knowing it was a doppelganger. John's soul forced its way back into his body, and he made his way to the church. Nergal claimed Epiphany as his own, but she was protected by her Crowley ring, because Nergal both missed Aleistar as his lover, and feared him as his killer. The Demon Constantine went after him, and Nergal ripped out his heart. The real Constantine was behind the scenes, and took the opportunity to rip out Nergal's spine, having power over him because Gloria had whispered his new true name to him with her final breathe. John and Epiphany gathered their guests, explained the situation, and had a proper wedding.

(Hellblazer I #276) - John and Epiphany returned from their honeymoon on a plane, and Epiphany asked him for some personal details about him she could share with her family. John talked about meeting the devil and succubi in his childhood, and she tried to figure out a positive spin. They arrived at John's Brixton flat to find out that he was being evicted because a developer had bought up the whole section. They went apartment hunting, and John tried to get a good deal by summoning the spirit of a man murdered in the flat, but that made the real estate agent double the price. John learned about the developer Marcus Malloy by using a spell, and found out he was a high-frequency trader, using algorithms to make microsecond investments. This reminded John of an old Celtic spell, which he gave to Malloy that let him break time into smaller units. John knew that he wouldn't be able to control the magic, and after Malloy bankrupted his company with impulsive investments he begged John for help, but the magician refused. The druid Ceangli, who'd first cast the time spell in 60 AD possessed Malloy, and caused him to explode. Epiphany thought John was ridiculous for putting up so much effort to keep his flat, and suggested they still keep looking for a proper home that would suit them both.

(Hellblazer I #277, 278) - John and Epiphany made love, but she became upset when the bandage on his hand came off, revealing his mutilation. John was surprised that it took her aback, but she said she didn't want to talk about it. John confided in Chas, who told him there had to be something wrong with Epiphany, after all, she agreed to marry John. The asylum where John had recently been said his thumb had never been found. The orderly Darrwen had actually brought it to his artist friend Leo, who'd eaten it. John contacted the gods of car wrecks to find someone recently dead so he could get a new thumb, and told Epiphany he wasn't doing it just for her because he'd recently been suffering from phantom pains. He said she looked pale, and told her not to come along. John witnessed the car wreck the gods predicted, and chased off a demon who laid claim on the drivers soul. The demon was quite insulted that John wasn't terrified of him. John clipped off the man's thumb, but the police were soon on the scene, and he was grateful to see Epiphany drive up to the rescue. John called in a favor, and got imitation god's breathe and sulfur from Hell to weld the new thumb on his hand. He returned home to find a panicked note from Epiphany, and went to her lab. She was feeding from the blood of Lady Lazarus, a spirit that tutored her in alchemy school, who'd gotten her addicted to her blood. John banished Lazarus with the remaining god's breathe, and told Epiphany he'd seen her type before, minor spirits drawn to pain. He told Epiphany to forget about her and kick her habit. The thumb seemed to take, but it had a mind of its own, and John prepared to cut it off. Epiphany stopped him, and remembering John had said the owner was on the phone when he died, gave John a phone for the thumb to use. It called up the man's widow, and John went to visit her. He was an art critic named Tom Mott, and had been in fear for his life because Terry Grieves was leaning on him hard. The widow didn't know it, but Terry had been hired by Leo, who spilled some of his dark secrets to Tom while drunk. Gemma had contacted Tamsin and her coven of witches to summon a demon to hurt John like she believed he'd hurt her. She visited Epiphany, and after hitting her ran off with John's trenchcoat.

(Hellblazer I #279, 280) - John called Epiphany to say he might not be home for awhile, neglecting to mention that he was going to visit Terry, and Epiphany told John he needed to have a long talk with his niece. John asked Terry who hired him, and Terry gave up their names, but then asked John for a favor. Looted art from Iraq was on its way to private collections, and the mafia were involved, but Terry made an enemy of the mob when he diverted some choice pieces for himself. John didn't think taking on the mafia was a little favor, and vanished before Terry had a chance to respond. John threatened Leo and Darren, and Terry had followed him, saving him from a beating from Darren by pistol-whipping him, and saying that if anyone had a problem with his son-in-law they had a problem with him. Darren said Leo had Tom killed because he'd found out Leo's early works were actually made by a recently deceased artist that he'd passed off as his own. John lost interest when he saw that Leo'd used his thumb in one of his sculptures, and recovered it. Terry reminded him he was in his debt before John departed. Epiphany helped John remove his replacement thumb, and reattach his proper one. Gemma called saying she was in need of help. She'd summoned a demon to kill Constantine, and it was holding her hostage. John told Gemma not to make any deals with the demon, and was on his way. Gemma remembered how John comforted her when she was young, how he told her Constantines weren't afraid oif monsters. John arrived, and Gemma tried to hit him with a brick. He disarmed her, and she was angered that he had no idea why she wanted to harm him. The demon attacked John, and Gemma left him to his fate.

(Hellblazer I #281) - John tried to talk down the demon, claiming he could get Nergal to mentor her. She said she hated Nergal, and thought John did not live up to his reputation. John felt real terror at the idea of dying and not seeing Epiphany again, and used a Persian binding spell to put the demon between life and death. Gemma went to Epiphany and told her everything she'd done, and why. Epiphany revealed to her that it was the Demon Constantine that assaulted her, not her uncle, and after Epiphany cooked up an elixir of putrescence using the last distillation of Lady Lazarus they went to help John. The elixir caused the demon to grow ill, and John choked it to death with Tom Mott's thumb. Epiphany told John why Gemma thought he'd destroyed her life. He tried to embrace her, but she pushed him off, still blaming him for allowing the Demon Constantine at his wedding. John was disappointed with how he left things with his niece, and when he went home with Epiphany he was feeling vulnerable about how much he cared for her and her safety.

(Hellblazer I #282) - Police approached Terry and threatened him with jail time for siphoning public funds when the Thames Barrier was built. They said they could make the charges go away if he sent one of his men to Belmarsh prison, where the demon Julian currently had the run of the place. Terry immediately thought of John, who initially refused until Epiphany begged him to help, because her uncle Pat had escaped Belmarsh and committed suicide rather than go back. John entered as a prisoner, and met Billy Draper, who was being tortured to death by magic by Julian. Julian warned John not to interfere in his fun, and John covered his cell in wards and cast a psychic protection spell taught to him by the Sadhu. Julian broke through his defenses, and made him imagine he was being flayed alive. Julian had Draper commit suicide, and continued to torment John. Epiphany visited John, and after kissing him to get a saliva sample, analyzed the spit to understand the power Julian had over him. She gave him a tablet to counteract Julian's power, and when John confronted the demon he could tell he was in trouble. John tossed Julian down a flight of stairs, and Julian's fellow prisoners beat him to death. John told Epiphany to never again ask him to do any favors for her family.

(Hellblazer I #283) - John had a nightmare, and when he awoke the bed he shared with Epiphany was floating them down the Thames. John went to see Gemma, who explained to John that she'd auctioned off his trenchcoat and still didn't want to see him, telling him he could have saved her mother's life if he'd tried. The walls of John's flat started bleeding, and Epiphany reminded John he'd promised to tell her if he was going insane again; blaming the occurrences on his magic. John thought his trenchcoat was connected to the incidents, saying it would have its own power after years of absorbing spells and being around demons. Terry interrupted John and Epiphany while they were taking a shower, creeping them both out. Terry said his enemies in the mob were coming, so he was calling in his favor. Muzzie Musgrove bought the trenchcoat, whose evil emanations caused violence in his neighborhood. The coat gave him the confidence to pick up a girl in a bar, but when he tried to dispose of it he was hit by a motorcycle, dying instantly.

(Hellblazer I #284) - John snuck into the hotel of Terry's mob enemies, putting an occult circle that was supposed to give them nightmares. The spell misfired, blowing off one criminal's face, and exploding the head off the other. Terry was displeased, but decided to make the most of the situation by sending one man's nose back to his boss so she'd lay off him. John went to an open field to perform rituals to regain control over his magic, and Epiphany said him putting on a brave face so as not to frighten her was unintentionally terrifying. Epiphany ran into Gemma, who was waving around a knife, and disarmed her. Gemma told her that Tamsin had ordered her to kill a sacrifice as payment for siccing a demon on John, but she couldn't go through with it. Epiphany said she wasn't raising a finger to help until Gemma aided her getting John's trenchcoat back. A young woman named Georgie, who was interested in the occult, found the coat. The trenchcoat knew she hated her mother, and wrapped itself around the mother's neck, hanging her. Georgie was distraught, and set the coat ablaze, resulting in John's current coat catching fire as well.

(Hellblazer I #285) - John saved himself from burning by ripping off his coat, and Georgie put out her fire, not being able to bring herself to destroy the trenchcoat. She left it in a bar where career criminal Jerzey picked it up and took it back with him to NYC, where he was shot dead. John met up with Epiphany and Gemma, and got caught up on Gemma's problem. John put a protective ward around her in his flat, and she said Tamsin used the Book of Demons, which John was familiar with, but was last seen with Marc Bolan in the '70s. Constantine talked to Rick, a record producer he used to know, and convinced him to tell him what Bolan had done with the book by smashing one of Rick's prized guitars that once belonged to Jimi Hendrix. The book had been sold to Donald Wembley, and John found him dead at home. He briefly revived Wembley, who told him Tamsin was his granddaughter, and the mentally ill girl had summoned a demon that'd killed him. Tamsin sent a demon after Epiphany and Gemma, but the ward did its' job, even though they were scared witless. Terry told John the New Jersey mob was ready to go to war with him, and he needed John's help.