Andy Diggle

What is your favorite word?

I don’t really have one, but “amble” springs to mind.

What is your least favorite word?

I don’t have one, although it does piss me off when over-zealous editors insist on changing “alright” to “all right” - especially when they’re perfectly happy with similarly ungrammatical contractions like “dunno”, “wotcha”, “ennit” etc.

What makes you randy [creatively, spiritually or emotionally]?

Monica Bellucci.

What scares you flacid [creatively, spiritually or emotionally]?

The thought of something nasty happening to my daughter.

What is your favorite curse word?

Fuck.

What sound or noise do you love?

My daughter’s laughter.

What sound or noise do you hate?

Essex accents.

What profession would you like to attempt?

Screenwriter.

What profession would you not like to do, besides your own?

Baghdad taxi-driver.

If Hell Exists, what do you expect to hear the Devil say when you arrive at the Jaws of Kerberos?

“Atheist? Good. Line on the left, one cross each...”

What do you plan to say to Constantine should you encounter him in a London sandwich shop?

“Cosplay? Any [over-used word] could do it.”

What are your favorite Constantine stories?

The whole American Gothic arc from SMAMP THING; from Delano’s run, the first two issues of HELLBLAZER and the Vietnam story; the Grant Morrison/David Lloyd two-parter; the Gaiman/McKean issue; Garth’s cancer arc.

Will we see a return of the first person narrative?

Yep, although I’m only using it sparingly. I find it works nicely to ease you into the start of a story, but after that I tend to prefer to let the dialogue and visuals drive it. I wouldn’t want to spend the entirety of every issue showing you the inside of John’s head unless there’s a very good reason to do so.

Comics is a visual medium, and I think an over-emphasis on captions can drain some of the immediacy out of it. So don’t expect to see lots of “Despair hurls its nebulous weight at walls of incomprehension” type captions.

Best first-person Constantine captions ever? “Oh great. Dead of the Living Night. Night of the Living Dead. ...Whatever.”

What happens after we die?

Soon after death (15–120 minutes depending on various factors), the body begins to cool (algor mortis), becomes pallid (pallor mortis), and internal sphincter muscles relax, leading to the release of urine, faeces, and stomach contents if the body is moved. The blood moves to pool in the lowest parts of the body, livor mortis (dependent lividity), within 30 minutes and then begins to coagulate. The body experiences muscle stiffening (rigor mortis) which peaks at around 12 hours after death and is gone in another 24 (depending on temperature) as enzymes begin to break down the tissues. Within a day, the body starts to show signs of decomposition (decay), both autolytic changes and from 'attacking' organisms—bacteria, fungi, insects, mammalian scavengers, etc. Internally, the body structures begin to collapse, the skin loses integration with the underlying tissues, and bacterial action creates gases which cause bloating and swelling. The rate of decay is enormously variable and depends on numerous factors. Thus, a body may be reduced to skeletal remains in days, though it is possible under certain conditions for remains to stay largely intact for many years.

... Man, I love Wikipedia!

Where does love come from, and where does it go?

Love is a survival trait which has evolved to increase the probability of parents' DNA being successfully passed on to the next generation. It ceases to exist upon death.

do you have any plans to use any of the major characters from the past in additon to the minor characters?

I don’t have any specific plans to at the moment, but it’s always possible.

Will the First of the Fallen ever pop up?

Again, no plans, but never say never.

Will you ever have John address his age?

He seems to have stopped aging since his 40th and I wonder if maybe he's slowing down in recent years (Carey seemed to indirectly hint at this at the end of his run).

Quite possibly. He’s starting to feel his age, although he certainly doesn’t look the 50-odd he should be, although that could be explained by the restorative power of the demon blood.

... And before we get into some nit-picky continuity argument about whether Constantine still has any demon blood in him, or whether shagging Ellie would be any kind of substitute, let me just nip that one in the bud. As Constantine tore out the Demon Constantine’s throat in Hell, we can happily assume some of that tainted blood got back into his system when he swallowed it. Case closed. Move along, nothing to see here.

Any love interests planned? And are they all female? (Just kidding.)

Hell is other people. John’s going it alone for awhile.

How will you handle John's speech? "Americanized"? English?

Certainly not Americanized. He’ll speak like a Londoner with a slightly Scouse twang (hence “ennit” rather than “innit” etc). But he won’t be quite as gorblimey as some have written him - I’ve lived in London for 35 years and I’ve never once heard a native use the word “strewth”.

I’m using a fair bit of British slang, and I’m not going to worry about how well it translates across the pond unless the editor asks me to change it. I don’t think anyone wants Keanu-speak.

Will John be sticking close to home or will he be globe trotting?

London and the UK for starters, with a bit of globe-trotting later on.

Incidentally, I think some fans have been bang out of order in criticising certain writers for taking John off his “home turf”. It was always one of Constantine’s key defining traits that he was international. Alan Moore had Constantine popping up all over America and later Brazil, and the first issue of HELLBLAZER takes him from New York to London to Sudan. He gets around.

Andy, are you planning to go with a subtle-nearly nonexistent supernatural presence (Brian Azzarello), classical mythology based supernatural beings (Garth Ennis) or free for all magic/beasties/monsters/thingies (Mike Carey) during your run? Or a combination?

More overtly supernatural than Brian, less overtly supernatural than Mike. Anything goes in the cosmology of HELLBLAZER, so it’ll be less specifically Judeo-Christian in its cosmology than, say, Garth’s run. It’s more about magic than religion.

it might be a bit early to say now, but do you plan to follow the "long arcs separated by smaller or one-issue stores" format used by Mina, Azzarello and the latter part of Carey's run, or will there be runs of shorter, single-issue stories like we had with Ellis, Jenkins and Delano?

Personally I think HELLBLAZER lends itself very well to short, one or two-issue stories, and I think they work best as the mortar between the bricks of longer arcs. A long run of short stories can start to feel slightly uninvolving and disposable.

What would you guys prefer to see? Longer arcs, short stories, what kind of mix? Just curious...

I'd be interested in knowing if you're at the point where you know what structure at least the opening part of your run will take ?

The opening story is just two issues, just to whet yer whistle. Then a longer story of 4 or 5 issues, also set in London. I’m still hammering out the issue breakdowns, but the first issue’s already written.

Oh, and if you could maybe let slip who'll be doing the issue between Denise's last and your first, that'd be aces!

I believe it’ll be a stand-alone short story by Mike Carey and John Paul Leon, but don’t quote me.

Evenin' all...

So John and Ade have known for a while now that I'm taking over HELLBLAZER, and they've done an admirable job of keeping it to themselves. Now the cat's out of the can of worms, or whatever the phrase is, Ade's sent me a few questions to answer. I thought I might as well turn it into a full blown Q&A thread, so feel free to fire away. I can't guarantee I'll check in every day or that I'll answer every question, but I'll do me best and I'll answer honestly or not at all. Fair enough?

Over to Ade:

Several world authorities on Hellblazer (okay, I'll say "people" instead) have observed that most of your successes have been in action adventure books, how does that sit with your intentions for Hellblazer ?

I think that’s a perfectly reasonable concern for HELLBLAZER fans. But the fact is, I’m not a one-trick pony, and after having written pretty much nothing but action/adventure books for the past few years, I’m looking forward to a change of pace and style. HELLBLAZER has always been driven by character, dialogue and mood - so don’t panic, I won’t be trying to shoehorn car chases and exploding helicopters in there.

Case in point: in my first issue...

... Constantine spends the entire issue handcuffed to a wooden post in the River Thames, trying to talk his way out of drowning before the tide rises.

No action, just character, mood and dialogue.

Of course, that’s only ‘cause they made me re-write my original version where he’s hanging from the undercarriage of a helicopter whilst being chased by a pack of ravening gun-wielding mutant werewolves...

(Kidding!)

You said that you have two parts in mind for your run on the book, does that mean you have a finite number of issues planned ?

I’ve agreed to see the book through its 20th anniversary and at least on to issue 250, for which I have big plans. After that I’ll make a decision based on how it’s all going.

What is your take on the continuity of Hellblazer? Wealth of characters to play with (living, dead or demon) or albatross ?

I don’t see it as “continuity” so much as “history”. It’s just this guy’s life story - it’s not like he’s fucking Hawkman, y’know? So yeah, I definitely fall into the “wealth of characters” camp. At the same time, I think Constantine has always worked best as a bit of a loner. I don’t see him as someone who needs an entourage. He picks people up as and when he needs them in a given situation. If you wanted to be harsh about it, you could say he’ll bring in whoever he needs to use.

But I’m not huge fan of soap opera, so don’t expect to see a lot of the current “supporting cast” milling around in the background, or Constantine spending every issue down the pub with his mates. I’m also not a fan of bringing characters back from the dead, or just casually popping down to Hell for a quick chat. That’s already a comic-book cliché anyway, and HB’s supernatural milieu makes it way too easy.

I like the idea of using very minor characters who might just have been glimpsed or barely mentioned in the past, like John “Pearly” Grey or Eddie Morgan. Characters so obscure they aren’t even listed in Vertigo’s “Hellblazer Bible” - so I might occasionally ask around here to fact-check my “where are they now” continuity.

(Speaking of which, check out HB # 226 for a nice continuity-catch from Denise Mina on the Triumvirate).

Are there any specific Hellblazer loose ends that you want to tackle ?

No. I already made that mistake on Swamp Thing.

You said in the Newsarama interview that you'd have a twisted view on Blair's Britain. Given that the Thatcher issue sits as a perfect historical work, whereas some of the other current affairs in Hellblazer has dated, how will you approach the Blairite culture ?

Personally I’m not convinced the Demon Yuppies issue has dated all that well, to be honest. Alright, it’s mostly played for laughs, but I thought the way Constantine casually wandered down to the Financial District of Hell for a cosy chat with the Lord of Flatulence would be way too glib for today’s HELLBLAZER. But, y’know, horses for courses. I thought Mike Carey did a good job of making the prospect of "going to Hell" a lot more... well, hellish.

My point is, you write stories about the world you see around you. Delano happened to be writing during the Thatcher era, I happen to be writing it during Blair’s. I just grab that ball and run with it. If there’s one thing I learned from Alan Moore’s SWAMP THING, it’s that you can write supernatural horror stories with a point.

Right. Who's next... ?