|
Jamie Delano, Rick Veitch, and Doug Wheeler Era (1987-1991) |
 With the departure of
Alan Moore,
artist Rick Veitch was given the job of writer, with Moore's approval. At almost the same time,
a spin-off was launched starring John Constantine, whom Moore had created during his run. The
series was to be titled Hellraiser until the movie of the same title forced a change:
thus the title that would eventually outlive Swamp Thing's own was born Hellblazer.
Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing was, like much of his writing, characterized by
an insightful pop culture sensibility as filtered through an acid trip. His storyline revealed
that, during Swamp Thing's absence in the last leg of Alan Moore's run, the Parliament of Trees
had begun the creation of a new earth elemental, known as "the sprout." Because two earth
elementals could not exist at the same time (a spurious notion given how many minor earth
elementals, like the Floronic Man, were running around), the Parliament of Trees ordered Swamp
Thing to kill the sprout. Rejecting their orders, Swamp Thing elected to hide the sprout.
At the same time,
Jamie Delano
was beginning to take a fairly two-dimensional character and turn him into a protagonist in his
own right. The early issues of Hellblazer featured classic horror tales, depicting magic
in a distinctly realistic universe. The first two issues featured phony articles on John
Constantine in the back of the book; the fourth featured lyrics from Constantine's defunct band.
Delano's issues were political from the start, criticizing Margaret Thatcher's England. The
third issue showed frightening demons involved in a stock market conspiracy, a sort of satanic
version of Oliver Stone's Wall Street; the sixth would feature organized neo-Nazis; and
the fifth told a haunting tale of Vietnam.
Meanwhile, John Constantine was making frequent appearances in Swamp
Thing, where Vietch's stories were satirizing the American culture of advertising and
generally telling trippy tales. In one memorable story, #71's "Fear of Flying, the attempt to
find a body in which to incarnate the sprout coincided with a plane crash: Constantine, on the
flight, talked to one horrified passenger who was to hold the sprout's body after the impending
crash; Swamp Thing, in a brilliant twist, encountered a ghostly plane of souls flying around,
unaware that they were dead, and led them to the light -- thus inadvertently destroying
Constantine's plan.
During this time, the two titles frequently informally crossed over, making
reference to the events in the other book, based on the location and disposition of John
Constantine. Hellblazer #7 had John Constantine leap from a train to escape the ghosts of
friends whose death he had caused, and Swamp Thing #74 had Swamp Thing save Constantine's
unconscious body from molestation. This led, in Hellblazer #8, to John Constantine in the
hospital receiving a blood transfusion from the demon Nergal, forever altering Constantine.
Then, in Swamp Thing #75 and in a classic combination of trippy original thinking by Rick
Veitch, Swamp Thing grew for himself an enormous brain to think through the problem with the
sprout. This led, in turn, to Swamp Thing appearing in Constantine's flat in Hellblazer
#9 to enlist Constantine's aid in the plan his brain had hatched: for Swamp Thing to possess
Constantine's body and use it to impregnate Abby, Swamp Thing's girlfriend from Moore's stories,
creating a body for the sprout to inhabit.
The sprout storyline reached its climax -- so to speak -- in #76, as Swamp
Thing used Constantine's body to have sex with Abby, impregnating her and creating a new earth
elemental that would combine the human and plant worlds -- as well as, without Swamp Thing's
knowledge, the demon blood in Constantine's veins. In Hellblazer #10, Constantine,
ousted from his body, has an out-of-body experience before reclaiming his body -- while inside
Abby, who was less than altogether thrilled when Constantine tersely revealed that he was back.
This led to the resolution of plot threads in Hellblazer, as Delano recounted the
Newcastle incident that had left John insane in an asylum. Whereas Constantine slyly referred to
Newcastle during Moore's run as having recently happened, Moore left the details of this
traumatizing incident obscure. Delano revealed them in all their brutal and horrifying detail,
but set the incident ten years before -- whereas Constantine's comments during Moore's run
described the ambiguous incident as being recent. Following this historic issue that fleshed out
Constantine's past as Delano had already fleshed out Constantine's character, Hellblazer
#12 had Constantine confront Nergal, the demon behind Newcastle and whose blood insidiously now
flowed in Constantine's veins.
A series of stories that might be characterized as "down time" followed
the conclusion of these two intertwined storylines. Swamp Thing #77, a fill-in scripted
by Delano rather than Veitch, had Abby sharing a drink with Constantine following their
respective recent events. Swamp Thing #78 and Swamp Thing Annual #4 featured
scripts by Stephen R. Bissette, the famous artist during Moore's run.
Veitch returned with #79, doubtlessly one of the most brilliant
Superman
stories ever and one of the few fully revisionist or deconstructivist takes on the characer:
entitled "Waiting for God (Oh!), the story had Swamp Thing pursue Lex Luthor, responsible for
casting Swamp Thing's essence into space during Moore's run; Superman defends Luthor, and Swamp
Thing challenges Superman's establishmentary values -- a move not unlike
Frank Miller
having
Batman
question his letting the Joker live to kill again in The Dark Knight Returns. Moreover,
Luthor was depicted as a corrupt businessman, coercing sexual favors from his employees. Most
remarkable of all, however, was the examination of the response to Superman in this fictional
world, including accusations that children have leapt from buildings imitating him. A crowd of
people wait the whole issue for Superman's arrival, some planning to challenge him on such
matters, but upon the arrival of this visibly godlike-being, they simply absolutely melt. This
issue, by itself, deserves to be enshrined in the history of super-hero comics.
During this intermission from long storylines, the prestige format
Black Orchid mini-series began publication, subtly written by
Neil Gaiman
and beautifully illustrated by Dave McKean. A revisionist take on super-heroes, the old DC
character Black Orchid was killed off in the first issue -- as the killer explained that he would
not, as was typical, be long-winded and brag about his plans: he simply shot her through the
head. The remainder of the series featured a new Black Orchid who would, by the series's end,
meet Swamp Thing. The conclusion was so anti-climatic, utterly against the super-hero grain,
that it left many readers unsatisfied, with some expecting a fourth, more cataclysmic issue.
With Swamp Thing #80, Veitch began his second lengthy storyline,
planned to be his last. In that issue, which participated in DC's
Invasion!
mini-series and crossover event, the aliens invading Earth, in order to remove the threat of
Swamp Thing's power, catapulted him through time just as he had been through space in Moore's
last storyline. Thus as series of issues showing Swamp Thing's bouncing through time, meeting
DC characters who lived in the past just as he had in Moore's storyline met DC's outer space
characters. Like Moore's storyline, certain issues would be told of Abby and the others left
while Swamp Thing sought his home. #84 at last wrapped up a storyline from Moore's early issues,
in which Abby's husband, Matthew Cable, was hospitalized, leaving her to live with Swamp Thing in
the swamp. That issue, featuring John Constantine, not saw Matt Cable die but saw him
transformed into Matthew the Raven, a fairly major character in Neil Gaiman's
The Sandman;
indeed, Gaiman's titular character appeared in the issue, though it has gone largely ignored as
his The Sandman has seen mass praise and distribution.
Veitch's plan for the title called for Swamp Thing's journies through time
to take him, in #88, illustrated by
Michael Zulli,
to meet Jesus Christ, who would be depicted as a white magician. Following this, in consultation
with Neil Gaiman, a few issues would show Swamp Thing's return to Abby and the present,
culminating with the birth of Abby's child, accompanied by visitors who travelled to witness the
historic birth. This concluded, Neil Gaiman and Jamie Delano were slated to take over the title,
alternating as writer every three or so issues. Tentative plans were made to unite the various
plant and vegetable characters in the DC universe along the mythological grounds that Gaiman does
so well.
It was all not to be. #88, the Jesus Christ issue, would become infamous
when DC refused to publish it, apparently concerned about bad press from religious groups. One
should recall that this was not an unreasonable reaction to expect, given the response to Martin
Scorsese's brilliant and moving Last Temptation of Christ, based on Kazanzakis's brilliant
Greek novel, both of which were respectful depictions of Christ intended as sincere expressions
of faith -- and known to inspire the same in others. #88, at least partially illustrated by
Zulli when it was effectively censored, was reportedly also respectful. Nonetheless, DC refused
to publish any such story. Veitch resigned in response, and both Gaiman and Delano
sympathetically refused to take on the title, causing a hiatus in publication.
During these two months without an issue appearing, the Neil
Gaiman-scripted fifth annual was published, featuring the return of Brother Power, the Geek -- a
forgotten character from DC's past -- and featuring a short story ("Shaggy God Stories") that
began to lay the basis for Gaiman's loosely planned vegetable mythology, which would never see
fruition. The annual would eventually be collected, along with Neil Gaiman's original Swamp
Thing script sent to Alan Moore before Gaiman had published any comics, in Neil Gaiman's
Midnight Days.
Doug Wheeler was brought on as writer amidst the controversy. Some
considerable resentment has been leveled at him for taking on the title, while Veitch, Gaiman,
and Delano have been celebrated for their ethical stance in their resignations. According to
Wheeler, however, Veitch had approved him as successor and Wheeler remained ignorant of the
reasons #88 had been cancelled -- so much so that his own #88 originally called for Swamp Thing
to meet Christ, fulfilling Veitch's plan in a new form under the assumption that the story had
been axed due to its depiction of Christ rather than the appearance of Christ at all. #88-91,
as printed, told in altered form the return of Swamp Thing and the birth of Abby's child --
dubbed Tefe -- that Veitch had intended, complete with the visit of three wise men that Gaiman
referrenced in interviews. Rather than being a usurper or scab, as Wheeler has been remembered
by history, his early work honored the intent of his precessor.
Wheeler's issues have been universally derrogated, but it is worth
remembering that he was not only working in the shadow of both Moore and Vietch, as well as that
of an abortive Gaiman-Delano era which would be forever remembered as an idyllic
"might-have-been," but that he was working under the same restrictive editorial policy that had
not only censored Veitch's #88 but had reportedly scarred Gaiman into securing additional rights
on Sandman and had contributed to Alan Moore's departure from DC. Wheeler's work also
suffered from Pat Broderick's artwork, good in other genres (including super-heroes) but too
bright and clean for horror.
Wheeler sought to resolve the issue of Tefe's demonic inheritance
from Constantine in a trilogy running in #96-98, which saw Swamp Thing on a mission to retrieve
Tefe's soul from Hell as he had retrieved Abby's in Moore's legendary Saga of the Swamp Thing
Annual #2. The storyline was full of great ideas: Swamp Thing encountered various dead DC
characters, such as Abin Sur (Hal Jordan's precessor as
Green Lantern)
and, in a brilliant move, the many invading aliens killed in
Invasion!,
trapped in Earth's afterlife because they died there. The storyline also featured various
supernatural DC characters, not the least of which were the various in-fighting denizens of Hell,
including Jack Kirby's
The Demon
and Nergal in reduced status following his defeat by John Constantine in Hellblazer. The
story also featured Pog, Alan Moore's homage from the well-remembered Saga of the Swamp
Thing #32. On the other hand, the story's bright art contrasted horribly with its tone, and
it concluded disappointingly with a convenient explosion.
Wheeler's era would conclude with the six-part "Quest for the Immortals"
storyline, which saw a civil war between two divisions of earth elementals, the green and their
perverted offshoots, the grey. While the story disappointed, its expansion of politics among the
elementals would in many ways lay the groundwork for Mark Millar's creation of parliaments for
each of the four elements during his lauded run on the title.
During all of this time, Jamie Delano continued on Hellblazer.
Following the aftermath of his trist with Abby, Constantine had discovered himself to be at odds
with the law, thus launching the extended storyline entitled "The Fear Machine." The political
storyline seemed to collapse under its own weight, was reduced from its ambitious plan of a dozen
issues to nine, and suffered from artistic changes, but had a number of memorable moments. #23,
the first issue after the storyline's conclusion, featured a very memorable story of a writer
haunted and tortured by fictional characters.
#24 began a new and haunting storyline in which
John encountered the serial killer called The Family Man, known for slaughtering families.
Following the first issue, however, Delano took some time off from the title, leading to a
two-part fill-in written by
Grant Morrison
and dealing with the spectre of atomic warfare and a fondly remembered single-issue story
entitled "Hold Me" and written by Neil Gaiman with interior art by Dave McKean (it too would be
collected in Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days. Delano returned to resolve the Family Man
storyline with issue #28, which featured the Family Man's invitation to the serial killer
convention Neil Gaiman would brilliantly depict in the now-famous
The Sandman #14.
Delano's storyline brilliantly concluded in #30, in which John Constantine was forced to kill the
Family Man, thus becoming like him and giving him the final victory -- a narrative move that
would later be so successfully in the film Seven.
#31 featured art by later Hellblazer regular, Sean Phillips. #32
was another fill-in, this time with a script by Dick Foreman. #34-36 featured a thematic
trilogy, telling tales of John's present, past, and future, respectively. (Delano would later
return to depict John's future in the enjoyable
Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood
mini-series.) #39-40 would tell the story of John Constantine's ultimate guilt: his twin
brother who died in the womb, symbolically killed by John, his first of many friendly casualties.
#40 would be Delano's last issue as regular writer, and would be a beautiful oversized issue
featuring interior art by the fantastic Dave McKean.
It would be published just three months before Wheeler's last issue on
Swamp Thing, leading to a changing of the guard on both titles at the same time.
|
| IMAGE | TITLE | DESCRIPTION | STATUS |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #65-76, 79-87; Swamp Thing Annual #3: Rick Veitch script |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #65-69, 71-76, 79-82: Rick Veitch pencils |
| Hellblazer #8-9; Swamp Thing (second series) #65-85, 90-93, 95-99, 101: Alfredo Alcala inks |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #65 | "(We Could Be) Diving for Pearls"; Swamp Thing visits the Parliament and sees the Sprout, created in his absence; cover-dated October 1987 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing Annual #3 | "Distant Cousins" (about 40 pages long); features Gorilla Grodd, the Brotherhood of Evil, and B'wana Beast; Lois Lane's "Tears for Titano" story, shown on page 5, is shown in Superman Annual #1 (also from 1987), which begins with a full-page sympathetic shot of Titano as this annual begins with such a shot of Grodd; Rick Veitch, McManus, Fern, and Woch pencils; Tom Yeates inks; Brian Bolland cover; published between #65 and #66 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #66 | "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest"; has John Constantine break into Arkham Asylum and visit the Floronic Man; has brilliant Batman appearance, showing him as very human | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #67 | "The Wisdom of Solomon"; features Solomon Grundy and John Constantine, who leaves at the end to "see if the roaches have completely taken over my flat [seen at the beginning of Hellblazer #1]"; includes preview of Hellblazer | 1 |
| Hellblazer #1-24, 28-31, 33-40, 84; Hellblazer Annual #1; The Horrorist #1-2; Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood #1-4; Swamp Thing (second series) #77:
Jamie Delano
script |
| Hellblazer #1-6: John Ridgway art |
Larger Version Available
| Hellblazer #1 | "Hunger"; 40 pages, plus a one-page "Faces on the Street", a column by Satchmo Hawkins studying John Constantine; cover-dated January 1988 | Needed |
| Hellblazer #2 | "Feast of Friends"; includes a one-page "Faces on the Street", a column by Satchmo Hawkins studying John Constantine; continued from #1 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #68 | "Reflections in a Golden Eye"; Swamp Thing narrates "a mere moment ago... I gazed at the ravaged landscape... of Slaughter Swamp... pondering my fate [at the end of #67]"; cover-dated January 1988 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #3 | "Going for It"; features demons playing the stock market and ends with Margaret Thatcher's re-election | Needed |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #69 | "Wild Thing"; while Swamp Thing confers with the Parliament, a new Swamp Thing runs wild in a parody of American advertising and culture | 1 |
| Hellblazer #4 | "Waiting for the Man"; introduces Gemma Masters and Zed; includes a 1-page copy of the lyrics to "Venus of the Hardsell" with a note to Satchmo [Hawkins] | Needed |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #70 | "The Secret Life of Plants"; features two narrative tracks, one in which Swamp Thing and Abby have sex, the other in which John Constantine's inquiries into the Parliament (and his teaching of a child about the events of Millennium, DC's crossover at the time), ending with his talking with Swamp Thing and Abby at their home; Brett Ewing and Rick Veitch pencils | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #71 | "Fear of Flying", featuring John Constantine in America attempting to help Swamp Thing in an abortive attempt to create the new plant elemental | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #72 | "Gargles in the Rat Race Choir"; John Constantine appears; Swamp Thing opens Sunderland's body, in cryogenic storage | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #73 | "The Fire Next Door"; John Constantine (at last) leaves Swamp Thing and those concerns | 1 |
| Hellblazer #5 | "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (a story about Vietnam); has John Constantine in the U.S. (his narration, on page 6, states: "I'm only s'posed to be in the states for a quick visit -- to check up on the Swamp Thing") | 1 |
| Hellblazer #6 | "Extreme Prejudice"; John confronts the Damnation Army and has sex | 1 |
| Hellblazer #7 | "Ghosts in the Machine"; has John, to escape from ghosts, leap from a moving train; features one page of John Constantine's psychological files, with Dr. Roger Huntoon listed as supervisor; art by John Ridgway (21 pages) and by Brett Ewins & Jim McCarthy (3 pages) | Needed |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #74 | "Center of the Cyclone"; has Swamp Thing rescue John's unconscious body, beside the train tracks from which he jumped in Hellblazer #7, from neo-Nazis | 1 |
| Hellblazer #8-9: John Ridgway pencils |
| Hellblazer #8 | "Intensive Care"; has John in the hospital, where he receives a blood transfusion from Nergal | Needed |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #75 | "The Thinker"; Swamp Thing grows his brain to contemplate the situation with the Sprout; ends with the note "continued in Hellblazer #9" | 1 |
| Hellblazer #9 | "Shot to Hell"; occurs on John's 35th birthday (10 May); concludes with Swamp Thing manifesting in his flat | Needed |
Larger Version Available
| Hellblazer: Original Sins | collects Hellblazer #1-9; Jamie Delano introduction; different or altered cover
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| Needed |
Larger Version Available
| Hellblazer: Original Sins [original edition] | Dave McKean cover, featuring a central image over a textured blue on white background; published in 1992
| B |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #76 | "L'Adoration de la Terre"; continues from Hellblazer #9; Abby visits Matt Cable in the hospital, then gets fucked and impregnated by John Constantine, who is possessed by Swamp Thing; the Phantom Stranger and Etrigan, the Demon appear | 1 |
| Hellblazer #10-12, 14-16: Richard Piers Rayner pencils, Mark Buckingham inks |
| Hellblazer #10 | "Sex and Death"; continues from Swamp Thing (second series) #76; features a disembodied John Constantine, who repossesses his body while Swamp Thing's using it to fuck Abby; concludes with John realizing he's up against Nergal, who was present at Newcastle | 1 |
| Hellblazer #11 | "Newcastle: A Taste of Things to Come"; has a flashback to Newcastle | 1 |
| Hellblazer #12 | "The Devil You Know..."; John defeats Nergal; Agony & Ecstasy appear; John gets bumps all over his face due to Nergal's blood | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #78, Swamp Thing Annual #4: Stephen R. Bissette script |
| Swamp Thing Annual #4 | contains two stories, the 40-page "Threads" (featuring Batman, pencilled by Pat Broderick, and inked by Ron Randall & Eduardo Barreto) and the 8-page "Traiteur" (with Mike Hoffman art); published between #76 and Hellblazer #10 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #13 | "On the Beach"; John narrates (on page 4) that his "complexion" has yet to "clear up" (from last issue); art by Mike Hoffman (15 pages) and Richard Piers Rayner & Mark Buckingham (9 pages); lacks a cover date | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #77-78, 83-85: Tom Mandrake pencils |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #77 | "Infernal Triangles"; Abby drinks with John Constantine, who has obviously concluded the Nergal / Newcastle business and whose complexion is clear (thus placing this story after Hellblazer #13) | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #78 | "To Sow One's Seed in the Wind" | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #79 | "Waiting for God (Oh!)" (really a classic revisionist super-hero story actually featuring Superman); Swamp Thing pursues Luthor and battles Superman; Luthor is depicted as a businessman gaining sexual favors from his employees, while the cultural response to Superman is vividly dissected (as are Superman's establishmentary values); cover-dated December 1988 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #80 | "The Longest Day"; the aliens from Invasion!, the contemporary DC crossover event, attack Swamp Thing in preparation for their attack, apparently destroying him but actually sending him back in time; cover-dated Winter 1989 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #81 | "Widowsweed"; Abby and Chester meet an alien; Guy Gardner (a Green Lantern) appears and commits murder; marked as an Invasion! crossover issue; cover-dated Holiday 1989 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #82 | "Brothers in Arms Part Two", featuring a time-traveling Swamp Thing and a contemporary Anton Arcane in World War II; Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man, visits Abby in the swamp on the last page; cover-dated January 1989 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #83 | "Brothers in Arms Part One", featuring Anais Arcane in World War I; the Phantom Stranger briefly appears to Abby and Chester in the present | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #84 | "Final Payment"; Matt Cable finally dies and becomes Matthew the Raven (who promptly becomes a character in
The Sandman);
Dream (from
The Sandman)
appears, the only such appearance outside of
The Sandman at this time; John Constantine appears to Abby (who refuses John's help) and communicates with Richie (from Hellblazer); Adam Strange appears to Abby; John reveals that he's "been layin' low lately" (because, in Hellblazer, he thinks he's wanted); cover-dated March 1989 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #85 | "My Name is Nobody"; has Swamp Thing in the Wild West, then has Chester find a photo taken of Swamp Thing and other Western characters (including Jonah Hex) from that time | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #86-89: Tom Yeates art |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #86 | "Heroes of the Revolution"; has Swamp Thing in American revolutionary times; Rip Hunter appears | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #87 | "Fall of the House of Pendragon", featuring Merlin, Morgaine le Fay, Arthur, Lancelot, Swamp Thing growing gigantic legs to carry Camelot, the destruction of Camelot, and the bonding of Etrigan, the Demon, with Jason Blood; the Shining Knight appears to Abby; cover-dated June 1989 | 1 |
| Black Orchid (first series) #1-3, Swamp Thing Annual #5, Hellblazer #27: Neil Gaiman script |
| Swamp Thing Annual #5 | includes the 42-page "Brothers" (with pencils by Richard Piers Rayner and Mike Hoffman, all inked by Kim DeMulder), featuring the return of Brother Power the Geek and appearances by Batman and Firestorm; includes the 10-page "Shaggy God Stories" (featuring the Floronic Man and Mike Mignola art); also includes a two-page file on Swamp Thing with Pat Broderick art | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #88-100, 102-109: Doug Wheeler script |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #88 | John Constantine appears to Abby with the intention of helping to return Swamp Thing home; the letters page has a letter by Karen Berger that addresses (and avoids) the issue with Veitch; cover-dated September 1989 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #89 | brief John Constantine appearance; cover-dated November 1989 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #90-93, 95-97, 99: Pat Broderick pencils |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #90 | Swamp Thing returns home as Tefe is born; John Constantine is there to celebrate | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #91 | tells a story of 3 wise men after Tefe's birth; Foronic Man appears; cover-dated January 1990 | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #92 | Tefe has a full head of hair | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #93 | Ichabod Snip investigates Swamp Thing and Abby; great Totleben cover | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #94 | features an ax murderer at Mardi Gras; Kelley Jones art | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #95 | deals with the Sunderland corporation and with pollutants | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #96-98: the disappointing Hell trilogy, which sought to resolve the fact that Tefe had demon's blood in her (from John Constantine); Nergal (from Hellblazer), Beelzebub, Agony and Ecstacy, dead aliens from DC's Invasion! crossover, and Pog (from Moore's Saga of the Swamp Thing #32) appear |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #96 | Tefe dies and is taken to Hell; Anton Arcane becomes a demon | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #97 | Abin Sur (the Green Lantern whose death let Hal Jordan become Green Lantern) and Kel Gand (Valor's father) appear in the afterlife; Jack Kirby's The Demon appears | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #98 | Tefe's soul is retrieved; Abin Sur, Kel Gand, and Jack Kirby's The Demon appear; Tom Sutton pencils | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #99 | continues directly from the previous issue; Swamp Thing tells John Constantine of Nergal's survival; John gives the classic quote "The politics of hell shift day to day" | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #100 | in a 38-page story, Swamp Thing learns that his and Tefe's coexistence wasn't a threat to nature (as he had thought during the Sprout Saga); Yggdrasil appears; art by two teams, Kelley Jones (by himself) and Pat Broderick & Alfredo Alcala; last regular John Totleben cover; cover-dated October 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #48, Swamp Thing (second series) #101-103: Mike Hoffman pencils |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #101 | Andrew Helfer script; Tefe runs wild and possesses a child's toy; last issue Karen Berger edited | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #102 | the Grey attack Swamp Thing's home; Peter Gross inks; Simon Bisley cover | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #103 | Doug Hazlewood & Mickey Ritter inks; Matt Wagner cover | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #104-109: "Quest for the Immortals" storyline |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #104 | art by Mike Hoffman (16 pages) and Bill Jaska (8 pages) | 1 |
| Hellblazer #17, Swamp Thing (second series) #105-109: Mike Hoffman art |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #105 | | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #106 | | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #107 | | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #108 | | 1 |
| Swamp Thing (second series) #109 | cover-dated July 1991 | 1 |
 |
Hellblazer
| |
|
| Hellblazer #14-22: "The Fear Machine" storyline |
| Hellblazer #14 | "Touching the Earth"; Constantine discovers that he is wanted by the police; lacks a cover date | 1 |
| Hellblazer #15 | "Shepherd's Warning"; concludes with the police about the raid the hippies with whom John is staying; cover-dated January 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #16 | "Rough Justice"; begins with the police raiding; John vows to get Mercury back; cover-dated February 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #17 | "Fellow Travellers"; features John in a train disaster; cover-dated April 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #18-22: Mark Buckingham and Alfredo Alcala art |
| Hellblazer #18 | "Hate Mail & Love Letters"; John learns he's not really wanted; continues into the next issue; cover-dated May 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #19 | "The Broken Man"; continues from the previous issue; cover-dated June 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #20 | "Betrayal"; occurs on the same day as the previous issue; cover-dated July 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #21 | "The God of All Gods"; features a flashback to what happened after Hellblazer #20; John is reunited with Mercury; cover-dated August 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #22 | "Balance"; cover-dated September 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #23 | "Larger than Life" (a story about fictional characters being alive); Dean Motter is credited for "breakdowns" and Ron Tiner for "art"; occurs 3 weeks after Hellblazer #22; cover-dated October 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #24, 28-30: very good storyline featuring the Family Man |
| Hellblazer #24 | "The Family Man"; Ron Tiner art; begins with John having not spoken to anyone since the prevous issue, which was "more than a week ago"; cover-dated November 1989 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #25-26:
Grant Morrison
script |
| Hellblazer #25-26, 56, The Horrorist #1-2: David Lloyd art |
| Hellblazer #25 | "Early Warning"; begins with John hitching a ride; cover-dated January 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #26 | "How I Learned to Love the Bomb"; cover-dated February 1990 | 1 |
| Black Orchid (first series) #1-3, Hellblazer #27, 40: beautiful Dave McKean art |
Larger Version Available
| Hellblazer #27 | "Hold Me"; cover-dated March 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #28-29: Ron Tiner and Kevin Walker art |
| Hellblazer #28 | "Thicker Than Water"; three months after Hellblazer #24, John intercepts the Family Man's invitation to
The Sandman #14's
serial killers convention; cover-dated April 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #29 | "Sick at Heart"; the Family Man assualts Chas; John gets gun and visits whore; cover-dated May 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #30 | "Fatality"; John kills the Family Man; Ron Tiner and Mark Buckingham art; cover-dated June 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #31, 34-36, 51, 84-93, 95-100, 102-107, 109-114, 116-120: Sean Phillips art |
| Hellblazer #31 | "Mourning of the Magician"; Cheryl appears; has a flashback to 1967 showing a teenage John Constantine putting a spell on his dad; in the present, John releases his dad (later referrence in Hellblazer #100); cover-dated July 1990 | 1 |
| Black Orchid (second series) #1-22; Black Orchid Annual #1; Hellblazer #32; Swamp Thing (second series) #116, 126, 139: Dick Foreman script |
| Hellblazer #32, 37-39: Steve Pugh art |
| Hellblazer #32 | "New Tricks"; tells the story of a possessed dog; cover-dated August 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #33 | "Sundays are Different"; Dean Motter and Mark Pennington art; cover-dated September 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #34 | "The Bogeyman"; Mercury returns; John gives the classic quote "I keep trying to kill it -- but it just won't die ... and each ghastliness it led me to would claim a sacrifice in place of me"; cover-dated October 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #35 | "Dead-Boy's Heart" (a good story of John's youth); cover-dated November 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #36 | "The Undiscovered Country..." (a vision of John's future); cover-dated December 1990 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #37 | "Man's Work"; cover-dated January 1991 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #38 | "Boy's Games"; continues from the previous issue; cover-dated February 1991 | 1 |
| Hellblazer #39 | "The Hanged Man"; features doubled cover like a playing card, with the upside-down half complete with logo; cover-dated March 1991 | 1 |
Larger Version Available
| Hellblazer #40 | the 33-page, beatifully-illustrated "The Magus"; John abandons his friends; cover-dated April 1991 | 1 |
|
More Hellblazer
| |
|
Larger Version Available
| Hellblazer Annual #1 | takes place in 1982; features the 48-page "The Bloody Saint" with Bryan Talbot art, telling of John Constantine's release from Ravenscar as well as telling of an ancient ancestor; the first story leads in to a 6-page video of "Venus of the Hardsell", illustrated by Dean Motter; cover-dated November 1989; published the same week as Swamp Thing (second series) #89 | 1 |
|
Black Orchid
| |
|
| Black Orchid (first series) #1-3: prestige format, 48-page issues |
Larger Version Available
| Black Orchid (first series) #1 | contains the first appearance of the new Black Orchid; Lex Luthor appears; published in November 1988 | Needed |
Larger Version Available
| Black Orchid (first series) #2 | | Needed |
Larger Version Available
| Black Orchid (first series) #3 | Swamp Thing appears | Needed |
Larger Version Available
| Black Orchid | collects Black Orchid (first series) #1-3; published in 1991
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| B |
