John Constantine is getting to be a bigger character in the New 52 universe. He's already leading the Justice League Dark and has made numerous appearances in other books. It's starting to look like John is making it his mission to have a hand on several different things.
With a new series coming in March, Ray Fawkes will be writing the series with Jeff Lemire. We recently talked to Ray last month but there's so much we want to know, we took the chance to ask some more questions.
Comic Vine: What will be the goal for John in this series? Will he be seeking out trouble or just coming across it?
Ray Fawkes: He's always looking for trouble. John has a very specific fight he's actually involved in in this series. The first issue will reveal what it is he's after. But he's the instigator in a lot of the stories that are going to happen. In this book, he's the one looking for the trouble. Sooner or later trouble starts to find him because of all the things he's doing. But I would say John is very actively seeking trouble.
CV: In the preview images, we see Sargon the Sorcerer is back but now he's a 'she.' Will this be explained right away?
RF: Oh yeah, absolutely. That's actually Sargon's daughter who has claimed his title and has taken his magic. She has a very specific bone to pick with John.
== TEASER ==
CV: Also from the preview, do you have plans for Mister E. to show up?
RF: Absolutely. You'll be seeing him in the first arc of the book actually.
CV: You've mentioned before about keeping this series and JLD going along each other but it's not necessary to read both. Do you plan on keeping those characters out of this book?
RF: You will see some of the people and the characters he deals with in JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK in CONSTANTINE but it won't be so much as a crossover. They are part of his life so you'll see them here and there. I don't think we'll be doing a lot of stories where you need to be reading both stories at the same time.
CV: Since this series won't have the same tone as HELLBLAZER, will we be seeing John partake in his certain habits like smoking and drinking?
RF: Absolutely. John is not your typical hero-type character. He has a lot of vices. You'll see him indulging in just about all of them. I mean sort of the only thing I can't do with him in this title is swearing directly. In the book, he drinks, he smokes, he does a lot of other dirty things.
CV: You've mentioned keeping him "under the radar" from other characters, have you thought about how his encounters with heroes like Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman might play out when the time comes?
RF: Yeah, I've actually given a lot of thought to that and that's because readers are going to see that sooner than later. If it was up to John, he would never meet these people. These are the people who are right in the spotlight on the world's stage. John, the way he operates, the things he's trying to do, the less anybody knows about him, the better off he is. Of course he can't get away with it for long. You're gonna see him dealing with individuals like Batman and Superman. You're going to see exactly how John looks in their eyes and how they look in his eyes. That's not always pretty.
CV: Is there anything you can tell us about his involvement with Trinity War?
RF: I can't say anything about that just yet. He is definitely deeply involved.
CV: What about crossovers with other books like PHANTOM STRANGER or SWAMP THING?
RF: It's possible. Anything is possible. It's not going to happen in the first three issues, I can tell you that for sure. Down the line, anything is possible. Also, some of those characters may appear in John's book without a direct crossover. Likewise I'm sure, John will show up in some of their books.
CV: We don't see a whole lot of magic in space in the DCU, do you have any thoughts on this?
RF: That will be dealt with a little bit. Over in JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK we're kind of showing that there are other worlds with magic. A little of the mechanics of magic are gone into in CONSTANTINE and there's always the possibility of seeing what magic looks like on other worlds
CV: What's the better song, "Magic" by the Cars or "Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band?
RF: I'm going to go with the Cars. I'm a post-punk guy. I was tweeting the other day, I was saying the song John has on vinyl for sure is "I Walk the Line" by Alien Sex Fiend.
CONSTANTINE #1 is set for a March 13th release.
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