I'll go ahead and preface this topic by saying that the only exposure to this character is some of the issues from New 52's Trinity War. I've always been a bit curious about John Constantine but I've never actually read any of his books. Do you guys have any recommendations for a newbie such as myself? Would Justice League Dark be a good starting point or should I look for some of his older Hellblazer stuff?

Shameless self-bump

Hellblazer, man.

Original Sins and onwards.

Most of Hellblazer is worth the read.

BB

Yep, ignore the New 52 and read Hellblazer.

@jonny_anonymous: @billy_batson: What's one good Hellblazer story if someone wants to only get one? Doesn't have to be the first one, just one good story that works by itself.

@dagmar_merrill:

Wanting just one? What is this madness? Most of it if not all of it is worth reading. Most arcs work by themselves but a few years ago there was a mini called City of Demons that was pretty good and self contained.

BB

Pretty much all of Hellblazer is worth reading, though the older issues are a bit harder to stomach, as they're much denser and have slightly smaller/messier lettering, being from the pre-computer comics era. The final run in the comic was pretty damn good, in my opinion, but because Hellblazer is a comic that actually progressed in real-time and kept continuity all the way through, a lot is lost on the reader if you don't start pretty early on.

Definitely start from the beginning with the Hellblazer series. I am reading it myself right now and it is great. Thankfully they have been re-printing the TPB's for the series for the last few years which makes the series pretty easy to pick up.

From a hellblazer fan...start at "original sins" and work your way up. The old vertigo stuff trumps new 52 so hard its not even funny.

Garth Ennis run is my favorite personally...side note if you like his constantine run; read the comic preacher.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preacher_(comics)

Preacher is based off an idea Garth Ennis had written about in hellblazer.

Im getting off track but yeah, I tracked this down for you.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblazer

This is the order of constantine tpbs. Theres more than thats got listed because I seem to remember reading one called "scab."But that should be enough to get you started.

Also,

Stay away from the movie as you continue to read you will learn to hate Keanu Reeves with a violent passion for destroying one of the greatest characters of all times chance at fame.

IIRC the lettering is good in the digital comics and the new trade editions.

BB

I actually just read that.

@jonny_anonymous:

From Comixology?
What did you think?
BB

Yea, I liked it. I'm a fan of Si and Murphy anyway. But I think Pandemonium is better for a nicue little compacted story.

@jonny_anonymous:

Alas I haven't read that one yet.

BB

It's pretty great, can't go wrong with a Delano and Jock team up.

Btw have you read Dark Entries? I really want to check it out since I'm a fan of Ian Rankin.

True, true. Have you read Bad Blood? And since you like Murphy (like everyone should), have you read the arc he did with Aaron?

Yeah, I have. It's pretty cool. I actually didn't know it was a Constantine story before reading it, heh.

BB

I have not, I'v only worked my way up to the 30s in Hellblazer.

@jonny_anonymous:

Just in the 30's? I remember that you had read Milligan's run? How much have you read overall?

BB

I was burning it at both ends so I've read of bunch of Milligans run but not all of it

@jonny_anonymous:

But how much overall? <_<

BB

The first four issues of Hellblazer are good, try tracking those down.

@billy_batson: Um issue 1-36 and 287 to 300 as well as Pandemonium, City of Demons, Secret Files, Tainted Love and Dangerous Habits