Rassmguy

Looks like I'm in the clear. But what of Ray Monde? In #7 Zed at first assumed that John and Ray had thing when he talked about when John came to London in the late '60s. That too was long since ignored.

IIRC, Ray told her nothing ever happened between them. I think the implication was that Ray wanted it to.

Because I'm a [over-used word].

Well, I've been called a dick, so we should get along fine.

[long pause]

Anywaaaaaay....but back to the question at hand:

I think Andy reasoned out the bisexuality thing well, though I do agree with the person who said that although John's experimenation may not make him openly bisexual, it sure means he's not entirely straight eithher. If he were, he probably wouldn't have had the urge to experiement with "the odd boyfriend." He may not be a practicing bisexual right now, but his history does have the precedent in it.

Same goes with SW Manor--although John is clearly screwing with the man...um, I mean playing with his head and...er, that is, jerking him around and....ah, hell, there's no easy way to say it without sounding like I'm referring to the handjob, not the mental manipulation....my point is that even if he was just conning Manor at the time, he still had sexual contact with him, and a completely straight guy probably wouldn't feel comfortable doing that, either.

So I'm torn on this issue. While I agree that Smith and Azzarello both are guilty of trying to shoehorn John into being something he hadn't previously been characterized as being...ultimately, those divergent characterizations are now part of his history. I'd actually be interested in seeing Andy (or someone else) try writing John into a gay relationship, just to see how it plays out.

Here's a question --

 

Why didn't the demon blood cure Constantine's cancer?

For the same reason The First of The Fallen is a shit character ;)

LOL!

Here's a question --

Why didn't the demon blood cure Constantine's cancer?

Hmmm....damn good question. Never quite thought of that, actually. It probably should have cured it (hell, it probably should have killed him the moment he was transfused, but that's another story). Still, I'm glad it didn't cure him--it would have turned Constantine into a superhero, impervious to anything that couldn't hurt a demon. I doubt the comic would have continued as long if John ever attained invulnerability. You know...that would make an interesting question to explore in the comics...<wink>

John, as revealed in the Mark Millar run on Swamp Thing, was part of a magic lodge that knew about the coming battle between the Word and the Parliaments, and that was planning to take sides. Thus, he knew for years that it was all coming.

Andy, given how well you've handled Hellblazer, I'd love to see you feature a visit from the Mossy one sometime. Given John's return to the look he had when we first met him, it'd be kind of cool to have him run into Alec Holland again, especially given how Dysart ended that run, with Alec and Abby reunited and living out in the swamp again, at peace with all that's happened to them. Alec has returned to how he was in the Moore years, and so has Constantine. It'd make for a fascinating reunion, I'd say.

Hi, Andy,

Since you're back, I just want to take this moment to admit wholeheartedly and enthusiastically that my reservations a few months back about you taking the Helblazer reigns were unfounded. Your two opening issues are the best the series has been in a LONG time, and I'm happy to say the series is in more than capable hands.

Thank you for rescuing John from the land of boredom that had gripped him for the past two years or so. I had gotten to a point where I was picking up Hellblazer not because I still loved it, but because I have all the issues and couldn't just stop. It had become less a "I look forward to this series" scenario, and more of a "This series is a habit of mine" situation.

The mid-Carey run was the last time I've been in the first mindset, so you can imagine my relief to be able to say I actively look forward once more to what comes next. Thanks for making me eat my words! I think I'll even go back and re-read your Swamp Thing and Lady Constantine issues, in fact -- clearly, I misjudged your writing, and I hope you stick around a long time.

Was it a cockapoo?

Pretty much the entire Azzarello run was.

Deluxe Nerd Cave contender, but didn't that already happen in that Vertigo Totems special?

Uggh. I try to pretend that disaster of a comic was never published. Pretty much every character in Totems was portrayed inaccurately, continuity was thrown to the wind regarding most of the character's backgrounds and the very premise of the story was inane.

Not that I feel strongly about it or anything.

Obviously, JC wading in with a dragonfire shotgun was just a tragic fucking embarrassment. Whoever insisted on putting that in the movie should have been stripped naked and thrown down a canvas tube lined with fish-hooks.

On the other hand, I loved some of the odd little details - like entering Hell by sitting with your feet in water while you stare into a cat’s eye. That’s a lot more original than the usual hackneyed pentagram-and-candles bullshit.

And I think they deserve credit for making JC such an unlikeable, cynical bastard. That's a brave choice for a big-budget Hollywood star vehicle.

So yeah, it could have been a great little movie, but it ended up being... not.

Overall, I don’t HATE it. I just don’t like it much.

Basically, you just nailed my opinion of the film. There were so many things they COULD have gotten wrong, that I'm amazed they got some right -- like, as you say, the water-and-cat gag, which brought a grin to my face. I also liked that he was an unlikeable bastard -- I thought sure they would make him nicer. Still, I'm just amazed they got so much wrong when there were so many things they could have gotten right. The film, for me, was a misshapen ball of confusion that couldn't decide if it was based on the comic or not. And the end result was a sloppy mess that had some nice moments but was, otherwise, a big let-down.

I think another cause of confusion was my deliberately mixing up the terms “soul” and “Holland-mind” - another tedious piece continuity nit-pickery which had been in play since the Rick Veitch days, and which I was trying (in vain!) to lay to rest once and for all.

 

Quite possibly, yes. But since that event would have taken place over a decade before BAD SEED, and had no bearing on the story, there would have been absolutely no point in referencing it.

 

Yes, I know - that’s why it’s right there in the very first panel of BAD SEED.

 

Yes, I know - he gave Alec's corpse a decent burial in the swamp. He even planted a root torn from his own body to mark the grave - and in BAD SEED, that root had grown into a tree.

 

Why? Same reason Swampy uses plants to grow himself new bodies - instant transport. She was just using the flesh to grow herself a new body on the other side of the world. Instantly transporting herself from South America to Germany, just like Swampy does.

 

There's also the claim that Alec had slain the champions of earth, air, fire and water in order to gain their powers, but that isn't true, either.

Yes, I know. Sargon was lying.

 

Anything else?

LOL -- nicely played! Okay, since this is a Hellblazer board, and since you had a good answer for everything (except Tefe, which I don't quite buy since she was able to grow bodies in the past without needing someone else's to do it) I won't take this further. Now that I see your answers, I see that several of my points were off. It's possible that I misinterpreted the artwork, as I didn't realize the barn blowing up was in the present. I interpreted it as a flashback; my bad. Having read your answers, I'm actually quite impressed at what is clearly more knowledge of the mythos than I was giving you credit for, so I happily take back my criticism and look forward to your run on Hellblazer. Mea culpa, and welcome aboard! Peace, bro.

"I have again been reunited with the spirit of Alec Holland."

"What, how?"

"It is a long story and for all of my power I have never been proficient with words"

Adrian and Andy, I bow my head in humility and freely acknowledge that I was wrong about that one. My apologies. (And now I need to update my site, so I appreciate being proven wrong.)

He wrote a Swamp Thing story that contradicted many points that had been established by previous writers (for example: the very premise of his story arc, that Alec Holland's soul was rejoined with his elemental side, completely ignored the end of the Mark Millar run, in which his soul was reincarnated in the body of a newborn, who would be close to 10 years old at this point -- what happened to the kid when Constantine brought his soul back...did he fall down dead and soulless?)

Brian K. Vaughan’s run had reunited Swampy with Alec Holland’s soul long before I got to it. If you didn’t like my story, that’s fine; but if you really want to nit-pick the minutiae of continuity, at least get it right.

See, this is exactly the kind of thing I was trying to iron out, for better or worse. The fucking C-word again...

With all due respect, Andy -- and I DO respect you -- Brian never reunited Alec Holland with his elemental side. All he did was have the elemental side cut its connection to the Green out of disgust at what the Green had tried during the Millar run. Now, granted, that didn't make much sense, but that's what he said. He never said that the elemental had Alec's soul back. Alec's soul went to Heaven years ago and was reunited with Linda Holland, I believe during the Veitch run. A small piece of him -- his essence -- remained behind with Abby for many years, and that essence was reincarnated as the soul of a baby at the end of the Millar run. The elemental version of Alec Holland remained just that -- the elemental version -- throughout the Vaughan run, until Constantine reunited the soul and elemental in "Bad Seed." Which leaves a morbid question -- did the kid drop dead when that happened?

There are other continuity problems as well, though -- the Hollands' barn did not blow, as Alec visited it twice in the years after his transformation. Second, Alec's corpse should not be in the swamp, as he dug up his remains during the Moore run and gave himself a decent burial. Then there's the question of why Tefe needed to borrow the body of a dead teenager if she already had a body of her own. And the Parliament of Trees somehow still stood as a bunch of burnt husks even though it was already shown that the entire forest was reduced to ash and no longer existed. There's also the claim that Alec had slain the champions of earth, air, fire and water in order to gain their powers, but that isn't true, either. He killed Nelson Strong to reunite the Parliaments of Trees and Stone, yes, but all the others were slain by the Word, at God's command. Alec gained most of his powers by passing tests, not killing the other elementals -- they WANTED him to be their champion, after all. He never had to fight any of them.

Please understand, Andy -- I am not saying I didn't enjoy your work. The first issue of "Bad Seed," continuity problems aside, has a lot of promise. You have a gift for the creepy, and that is very important to both Swamp Thing and Hellblazer. But there were a lot of jarring continuity errors, and for someone like me, who values consistency, it's hard to overlook the errors and enjoy the story. Now, I recognize that you're hardly alone in having continuity issues with prior authors. Michelinie, Conway, Pasko, Moore, Veitch, Wheeler, Collins, Millar, Vaughan, you, Dysart, and all fill-in writers along the way....every single writer since Len Wein stepped down three decadea ago has put their own spin on the character and the mythos, and I'm glad about that. Continuity errors are bound to creep in. So I hope you don't take my comments too harshly. They're not meant as insults, just an expression of my concern that the continuity of Hellblazer not be handled so loosely, that's all. I will definitely read what you write, and I will be very happy if I end up enjoying your work. Many have said, and they're right, that your Constantine was spot-on in "Bad Seed." I also enjoyed your portrayal of Jack-in-the-Green in "Lady Constantine," by the way.

Bottom line, -- when it comes to any doubts I have about Swamp Thing, Hellblazer or any other universe that interests me, I'm always happy to be proven wrong, and always glad to admit it. Oh, and to show that I do "get it right," feel free to check out my online timeline of Swamp Thing and Hellblazer, which is IMMENSE. I've taken a half-year hiatus to work on payintg writing projects, but I'm getting back to it shortly. (The URL is below.)

Rich Handley

Roots of the Swamp Thing

http://rhandley.0catch.com/swampthing

-Mike's only real cock was up Straffe's mom.

 

 

... heavily continuity-based stories. It killed much of my interest in the final year or so of Mike Carey's run, ...

...Stories based on events which happened more than 10 years ago, whether the writer gets the details of those events right or wrong, are not something I'm interested in.

What he said. Once a franchise starts to cannibalise its own history, it's fucked.

Yes, but there's a big difference between cannibalizing history and getting it wrong. I agree that Carey's run was weakened by all the history it involved, but at the same time, for me the worst run was Azz's, who made Constantine a visitor in his own book and jettisoned all the history. My concern about Diggle is that he's going to do what he did on Swamp Thing, which is to write a story that completely messes up what's already been established. The Bad Seed storyline threw out the entire ending of the second series, which was one of the most important developments in the Swamp Thing mythos -- and, what's worse, it wasn't even that good a story, especially the ending. It would be like setting Hellblazer story in America, with an American Constantine who wears mysterious tatoos and carries a holy crossbow to force demons back into Hell so he can get into Heaven.

Oh, wait...

I wrote:

Personally, I thought "Bad Seed" was a very weak story. It had continuity problems galore with the end of the Mark Millar run, and it ended on a cheesey note. With all due respect to Mr. Diggle, I much, much preferred Josh Dysart's take on the series.

I forgot to add that this is my biggest concern with Diggle taking over the series. He wrote a Swamp Thing story that contradicted many points that had been established by previous writers (for example: the very premise of his story arc, that Alec Holland's soul was rejoined with his elemental side, completely ignored the end of the Mark Millar run, in which his soul was reincarnated in the body of a newborn, who would be close to 10 years old at this point -- what happened to the kid when Constantine brought his soul back...did he fall down dead and soulless?) I'm worried that the same thing will happen here. Mike Carey, Denise Mina and John Shirley, though all clearly well-meaning and all clearly fans themselves, have both added some doozies to continuity. To make the next writer someone already known to mess up continuity on another series makes me worried for the future of Hellblazer.

I don't know what Andy Diggle will reply, but probably the fact that everything Diggle brought to the book was reversed within a few months would make me regret even bothering.

 

I wish "Bad Seed" would've stayed a mini-series. It would've been a nice way to wrap up the story of Swamp Thing.....until DC decided to relaunch the character in a few years again, anyway.

Personally, I thought "Bad Seed" was a very weak story. It had continuity problems galore with the end of the Mark Millar run, and it ended on a cheesey note. With all due respect to Mr. Diggle, I much, much preferred Josh Dysart's take on the series.

No, only stealing from them coming up with a very similar idea shortly afterwards.

LOL!!

In truth, I'm on book 5 of Harry Potter and it's VERY different than Books of Magic, which I've also read. But yeah, despite Gaiman's good-natured attitude about it, I've always been suspicious. Luckily, both are well worth reading, and that's all I really care about.

Hi, all,

Has anyone ever managed to get their hands on a copy of Peter Hogan's Marquee Moon miniseries? I have wanted to read that ever since it was first announced. Any idea if it'll ever see the light of day?

Rich

Everyone should declare here what percentage of Hellblazer issues they have read.

 

My name is Ade and I have read 101% of Hellblazer.

Hey, that's pretty good -- you've read 1% more Hellblazer than actually exists. I'm impressed! My name is Rich and I'm 1% behind you.

Brian Azzarello should really do a Papa Midnite series though.

Good God, no -- Azzarello should never be let into the same ROOM as a Hellblazer comic again.

is hellblazer 65 a stand-alone issue?

i know that it was the first issue w/vertigo, because i recently picked a copy of it up 10 days ago.

if a comic is in a bag not a bag/board combo, what kind of condition is it in?

it was the issue that dealt w/ conjob turning 40.

Since you're the one with access to the issue, I'd say you're the only one able to tell what kind of condition it's in.

Damn fine cover -- easily the best since Mina took over. Brilliant!

...and Mike admitted getting the name wrong at the Bristol comic con just after the issue was published. As you well know, young Adrian.

 

It's not a big thing, but I thought I might as well mention it for completeness.

 

Oh - and Jamie's version of Newcastle contradicts Moore's brief description of it in Swamp Thing (49 or 50, I think, when John is talking to the Phantom Stranger on the Monitor's satellite), although you can put that down to being pre-Crisis continuity.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And Azzarello's run contradicts John Constantine's entire personality.

right. ok. stupid americans. no offense to americans (except the stupid part) but y'now...if it's in a book where jc corrects a guy about his name (he's gotta be american too) then it makes sense to use tyne (fucking stupid FUCKING americans! mind you we are pretty close to becoming the 51st stae a america............. fucking idiots!)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lighten up, dude. "American" has nothing to do with it. It's all due to Hollywood. American fans have always known how to pronounce his name. We're not all slobbering idiots unable to pronounce anything -- only our useless excuse of a president dick-tater...and most studio heads...and Keanu Reeves.

why the hell r there 2 ways to say constantine? it's bugged ever since i was introduced to him.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's not. There's only one way -- rhymes with "wine."

The movie never happened.