It's a happy and sad day. John Constantine has been starring in HELLBLAZER since 1988. Today DC has announced that the series is coming to an end. Constantine first made his debut in THE SAGA OF SWAMP THING #37 in 1985. HELLBLAZER, currently under the Vertigo imprint is ending after 300 issues.

This doesn't mean the end of Constantine's adventures. With the return of Alec Holland and Swamp Thing during BRIGHTEST DAY, Constantine has gained a bigger presence in the New 52 Universe. He has a major role in JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK and has appeared in ANIMAL MAN and SWORD OF SORCERY.

To take the place of HELLBLAZER, DC will launch a new series, CONSTANTINE, rooted in the New 52. The ongoing title will begin in March 2013. It will be written by upcoming DEMON KNIGHTS writer (and New York Times bestselling author) Robert Venditti with art by Renato Guedes.

Venditti was quoted on DC's The Source saying the following:

Few characters in comics are as complex and entertaining as John Constantine, and I'm finding him to be every bit as enjoyable to write as he is to read. It's my goal to have the new CONSTANTINE series be equal parts familiarity and surprise. This will be the Constantine we all know and love, but facing new and unexpected challenges from both inside and out.

HELLBLAZER #300, due in February, will mark the final issue of the series. Longtime writer Peter Milligan and artists Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini plan to give him the bloody best sendoff he deserves.

HELLBLAZER #34 (1990) was my first issue and still is one of my all-time favorite covers.

R.I.P. HELLBLAZER.

Hopefully the new series will maintain the original's edginess...

Silkcuts is gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed.

Oh, man.

I can't wait to see the f**king TIDAL WAVE of rage.

A bit of a bummer, but given that DC is integrating a lot of its Vertigo characters that started out as DC characters back into the DCU proper, it's not especially surprising.

I picked up Swamp Thing and Animal Man, two books I've never read, when the new 52 started and have NOT been disappointed. Likewise, when Lemire started JLD, I added it and have been a fan since. Suffice to say, I'm on board with this move as long as it maintains the "adult" edge Hellblazer is supposed to have. Sucks for the Hellblazer fans, but it makes sense from the standpoint of giving a cult-character-already-on-the-rise a little more of a mainstream push. Hopefully, it'll maintain the quality that the older fans have become accustomed to.

I wonder what book this will be replacing. Im guessing Justice League Dark will be cancelled and this will take its place. Since Lemire is going to Green Arrow.

John Constantine is my favourite character of all time. And this is a happy day for me.

i'll give this new book a shot

@xAnimosity said:

I wonder what book this will be replacing. Im guessing Justice League Dark will be cancelled and this will take its place. Since Lemire is going to Green Arrow.

???

its the last book in the forth wave. blue beetle, frankie, legion lost and grifter are already cancelled.

@The Mighty Monarch said:

Silkcuts is gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed.

indeed

Though it could be good if they keep the theme and have a good team behind it.

HellBlazer is getting canned.

:(

Well this is likely the end of everything that's great about the character. He'll be in the "edge" or "dark" categories but will be neither as much as he was under Vertigo. The simple fact that it will be titled Constantine and not Hellblazer speaks my point.
 
I'd honestly rather see the series end with an awesome sendoff than to see him watered down like he probably will be.

Y@sethysquare said:

@xAnimosity said:

I wonder what book this will be replacing. Im guessing Justice League Dark will be cancelled and this will take its place. Since Lemire is going to Green Arrow.

???

its the last book in the forth wave. blue beetle, frankie, legion lost and grifter are already cancelled.

Yeah, Jeff said on twitter that he was staying on JLD.

Meh

Pass. No more new series for me until Tim Drake is restored to a solo title. Yes, even THIS Tim Drake.

This is more proof that DC is building up an event based on Alan Moore's "Twilight of the Superheroes". Google it.

@The Mighty Monarch said:

Silkcuts is gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissed.

What title is canceled ??

The final nail in the coffin for Vertigo...

@aztek_the_lost is going to FLIP!!!!!

I'll give it a shot.

But come on, Katana, Constantine and even VIBE have their own ongoing series. Why don't they just give one to Shazam or Tim Drake or Martian Manhunter?!

Interesting, but I"m not going to get it.

@timdrakerules said:

Pass. No more new series for me until Tim Drake is restored to a solo title. Yes, even THIS Tim Drake.

I love Tim Drake, but unless they restore him to his previous glory, I cannot see myself enjoying him again. The current Tim Drake is a tool.

I guess some title will be axed cuz we got 5 canceled in February ( Frankenstein, G.I Combat, Legion Lost, Blue Beetle, Grifter) and

5 new ( Justice League of America, Untitled Superman, Threshold, Katana, Vibe) + 1 new in March (Constantine)

I wonder if and how fable town gets integrated into the new 52, that will be interesting to see.

Read JLD #0 and i found Constantine a really call character (first time i've read a comic with him in) so i'll be getting at least issue 1.

Huh, I haven't read the series yet and I'm surprised they're ending this.

@InnerVenom123 said:

Oh, man.

I can't wait to see the f**king TIDAL WAVE of rage.

YOu mean of all the people who read Hellblazer? I'm afraid you won't be seeing that because it was such a poorly sold book.

So it's offical,

Wave 3 Are...

• Threshold
• Vibe
• Katana
• Constantine

@tomlikesfries said:

I'll give it a shot.

But come on, Katana, Constantine and even VIBE have their own ongoing series. Why don't they just give one to Shazam or Tim Drake or Martian Manhunter?!

Because DC is giving other characters a chance to sell. I can also bet that New 52 Tim Drake will sell worse then Batgirl. This Tim isn't the same Tim and I can guarantee that it would be written by someone close to whoever is writing the Teen Titans book. Like how DeFalco took over Superboy. Right now, Tim is Lobdell's baby and it would be hard to pry his hands from that character.

Right now Martian Manhunter is hiding too much to give him a series. There is still more to be revealed about him before he can hold his own series.

Shazam won't sell well without a good writer and most of DC's good writers are busy right now. Shazam also has a story being told in Justice League and I think it is safe to assume that a Shazam solo will come after the next even since it is supposedly very Shazam-centric.

SHAZAM, Cyborg, Booster Gold, Martian Manhunter will have big roles in the universe-spanding event. I think we have to wait till after the event to see their fate.

Here is how I know they have big parts in the next big event:

-Geoff Johns and Dan Didio has said that there are big plans for Booster Gold coming up and the last time we saw him is when he witnessed the big kiss.

-DC executives have said there are plans for Shazam in the next event. He has something to do with Eclipso because Black Adam has an eclipso face in the very first event teaser.

-In the very first teaser, it showed Cyborg getting transformed into some sort of monster.

-Martian Manhuter tried to join the Justice League but betrayed them. THings are surely going to be revealed about him in the crossover event.

In order for this to be part of the Fourth Wave, this would have to start in February. They said it's starting in March. Is something getting canceled in February? And what is the other book of the Fourth Wave?

I was okay with the new 52 reboot, but when they start diminishing Vertigo titles...that's crossing the line.

I hope it's not watered down, main reason i prefer Vertigo titles over DC's. As long as it's not watered down and has the same atmosphere and themes, i'm in.

What the first of f~ck?
Looks like the fan speculation was right... :(

Hellblazer was the longest ongoing continuing monthly series without renumbering before this...I've generally been positive about the reboot but ef this.

DC, it would have been better if you hadn't done this when ol' John could brought more readers to Vertigo since he's appearing in the mainstream universe now. And pretty much every time John appeared in the DCU, it's been awful. I wish for hemorrhoids for the person who came up with this idea.
Anyway, I wonder what will happen to Chas, Piffy and the rest...death? :(

At least I know that Milligan will deliver with the last issue, him being in best Hellblazer writer of all time.
Farewell the best long running ongoing that comic world saw.
BB

@whitelantern64 said:

I wonder if and how fable town gets integrated into the new 52, that will be interesting to see.

Fables won't go anywhere cause it's a creator-owned series.

@doordoor123 said:

@InnerVenom123 said:

Oh, man.

I can't wait to see the f**king TIDAL WAVE of rage.

YOu mean of all the people who read Hellblazer? I'm afraid you won't be seeing that because it was such a poorly sold book.

That's a poor choice of words. The series didn't sell poorly. Less than a regular DC series? Yes. But it was a Vertigo series, and it sold well enough with singles and trades over there.
BB

@Impala: Actually, the new Superman hasn't been given a release date. Probably sometime in the summer

From the numbers I saw, Johnny was selling 10, 000 units and JLD was selling 33, 000. Which is a damn shame because frankly, Piffy et al were some of the best supporting characters I've read in a long time, Milligan was consistently killing it and frankly, it's a shame to see a prominent British character get canned. My fears as that he's going to lose what makes him a compelling character - If the Brightest Day Aftermath issues were any indication of how his personality and accent will be written then it could probably be considered a race crime.

@EvanTheMexiJew said:

This is more proof that DC is building up an event based on Alan Moore's "Twilight of the Superheroes". Google it.

A user called Trodorne wrote a blog on it and I really don't think that's the case. I mean it would be one reboot followed by another. That would be non sensical. I just don't see it happening. Not even DC executives are that crazy to do Twilight of the Superheroes.

WHAT????????????????? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Azrael66: How can you say that ? You really want the guy who's series been ongoing since 1988 to be replaced by some pg-13 version of him ? You really want an end to the series where most of the greatest brititsh writers (and even a couple of americans) wrote amazing tales to be over for a series that might never even get to issue #100 ? You honestly want that ?

I think it's interesting, but DC should use their own characters more. Not characters from Watchmen, or Vertigo.

What about Elongated Man? Obsidian? Wally West? Ted Kord? They have many characters and they're not using them.

By the way, they're changing Demon Knights' author? Is Demon Knights good? I haven't read it yet, so I don't know.

But yeah I am so pissed about this news. It's the first thing that's really gotten me riled up from the New 52 and it's pretty much the worst possible thing ever. Now I have a feeling that tomorrow Marvel will cancel X-Factor, Dark Horse will lose the rights to Buffy and Angel and John Layman and Rob Guillory will mysteriously die. That,s just what im predicting.

@Billy Batson said:

@whitelantern64 said:

I wonder if and how fable town gets integrated into the new 52, that will be interesting to see.

Fables won't go anywhere cause it's a creator-owned series.

@doordoor123 said:

@InnerVenom123 said:

Oh, man.

I can't wait to see the f**king TIDAL WAVE of rage.

YOu mean of all the people who read Hellblazer? I'm afraid you won't be seeing that because it was such a poorly sold book.

That's a poor choice of words. The series didn't sell poorly. Less than a regular DC series? Yes. But it was a Vertigo series, and it sold well enough with singles and trades over there.
BB

That's a poor choice of thought process. When I say "poorly sold" I don't mean numbers. I mean that not enough people picked it up for there to be a tidal wave of rage.

R.I.P

wtf. I am not amused

Screw DC I'm done, I thought Marvel had been pissing me off lately but this is just a full on rage quit, all books will be dropped and yous fools can suck it. Canning the longest running ongoing comic book so you money grubbing scumbags can try and make a quick buck? Yea, get hit by a bus.

@The Cyan Lantern said:

So it's offical,

Wave 3 Are...

• Threshold
• Vibe
• Katana
• Constantine

and JLA.

And that's Wave Four.

NO NO NO NO NO HELLBLAZER MUST BE LEFT UNTOUCHED!!!!!!!!! ARRRG IM PISSED PLEASE DONT TAKE OR FAVORITE CONSTANTINE!!!!!!!!!

@Impala said:

I guess some title will be axed cuz we got 5 canceled in February ( Frankenstein, G.I Combat, Legion Lost, Blue Beetle, Grifter) and

5 new ( Justice League of America, Untitled Superman, Threshold, Katana, Vibe) + 1 new in March (Constantine)

Untitled Superman was just announced for 2013, I think this means it's confirmed as not part of the 4th Wave.