Brian Azzarello (and Brian K. Vaughan) Era (2000-2002) The problem of the missing Hellblazer writer was a rather intense one. Whereas Jenkins's scripts had received lackluster reviews, Garth Ennis, in his recent but brief return to the title, had reminded readers of Hellblazer's more popular days without fulfilling that promise by staying on the title. Warren Ellis seemed to fulfill that promise, garnering praise from both critics and fans, only to abruptly leave in a cloud of censorship that appropriately made DC look a poor manager of the title. Put simply, Hellblazer's future was in jeopardy. DC's solution was to bring in Brian Azzarello, then hardly known except for his recently launched 100 Bullets, which DC was promoting as a new lead title for Vertigo, given that Preacher was slated to end as Sandman had before it. Giving Azzarello Hellblazer would increase his profile, but it left most fans uncertain. To sweeten the deal for readers, Vertigo placed Richard Corben as artist for the first story arc, bringing the cult-favorite artist into the public eye after a long absence. Those who tried the title for Corben's art, or merely out of curiosity, were rewarded with tight scripts that maintained reader interest through placing Constantine in jail without explanation while delighting readers with Constantine's cocky triumphs despite his ambiguous motivation. Readers simply didn't care for certainty compared to the fun of Constantine's victories. The title received a further boost when DC released the Corben storyline in a trade paperback to coincide with the release of the Corben-illustrated hardcover graphic novel The House on the Borderland. After the conclusion of Azzarello's second storyline, Steve Dillon, hot off the completion of Preacher returned for a single issue. The story took place, like many of Garth Ennis's best scenes, in a bar and featured the title, in the style of Ennis and Dillon, at the issue's end. After a fairly satisfactory four-issue storyline ("Freezes Over") with Marcelo Frusin art, Guy Davis stepped in for a two-issue story. Another four-issue storyline ("Highwater") with Marcelo Frusin art followed, then another two-issue story with another artist. Azzarello then concluded his run with a five-issue storyline entitled "Ashes and Dust in the City of Angels," again illustrated by Marcelo Frusin. Despite DC's publication of Azzarello's second storyline in trade paperback, Azzarello's reign faced increased criticism. The optimism with which it had been greeted faded, emphasizing those difficult attributes of his run. His writing was notoriously opaque, as primarily demonstrated by his beginning his run with Constantine in prison without explanation, an explanation that only slowly trickled out over his entire run. His Constantine was less a magician than a rogue with a heart of gold, and Constantine's propensity for extreme sadomasochism, and even homosexuality, in Azzarello's final storyline alienated longterm fans who, while unlikely to provoke hostility in the title's more sophisticated audience, was fairly utterly inconsistent with the character. By the end of Azzarello's run, many were admitting that little had been satisfactorily explained, Azzarello's ambiguity having failed to successfully pay off. Swamp Thing received a relaunch at virtually the same time that Azarello's Hellblazer run premiered with a new logo. Written by Brian K. Vaughan, this third Swamp Thing series featured Swamp Thing's daughter, Tefe, now suddenly grown to teenage status, as its protagonist. Such a young female protagonist fit into the popularity of young female music stars and sitcoms (from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer to Britney Spears), typically trite beyond belief. Had Grant Morrison written such a cultural fit, the scripts could have used this conceit by tapping more generally into the cultural moment. But the scripts were confusing and lackluster. The stories even repeated the failure of Totems to seriously address the Holland Swamp Thing's elevated status; it was as if Alan Moore had left the title after demonstrating that Swamp Thing was an elemental and all his successors could do to respond to this was to write the character as if he merely had greater powers. The shift of focus to Tefe was itself promising, if not required, and her use of her powers for questionable means was itself stimulating. This whole dynamic would have made for a good first storyline in a larger, Sandman-esque structure. Instead, readers got a potted plant as a main character and members of the Green that seemed more parody of the good past writing of Swamp Thing than inventive reinterpretation. The series was cancelled quickly, running some twenty fairly lackluster issues. Stellar by comparison was Jamie Delano's brief return to Hellblazer, both in a short illustrated prose story in Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer #1 and in the Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood mini-series, which uniquely took John Constantine into the future. The Bad Blood mini-series, subtitled "A Restoration Comedy", featured a quality common to most of the best Hellblazer tales: it fit John into an English context, offering a commentary on, or at least a response to, England at the time of writing. It featured an old John Constantine and his mate Chas, with a narrative driven by a gun-toting plan of succession to the throne, a plan involving a young female friend of Constantine's and clever manipulation of the media.

IMAGE	TITLE	DESCRIPTION	STATUS
Hellblazer #146-174: Brian Azzarello script; Tim Bradstreet cover
Hellblazer #146-150: "Hard Time" storyline; Richard Corben art
	Hellblazer #146	first issue with the new logo; cover-dated March 2000	1
	Hellblazer #147		1
	Hellblazer #148		1
	Hellblazer #149		1
	Hellblazer #150	cover-dated July 2000	1
Larger Version Available	Hellblazer: Hard Time	collects Hellblazer #146-150; cover-dated January 2001 [REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]	Needed
Hellblazer #151-156, 158-161, 164-167, 170-174: Marcelo Frusin art
Hellblazer #151-156: "Good Intentions" storyline (which has a nicer ending, overall, than "Hard Time", but the story mostly goes nowhere and fails by ambiguity that seems to amount to little when answers are revealed)
	Hellblazer #151	cover-dated August 2000; published on 28 June 2000	1
	Hellblazer #152	published on Wednesday, 26 July 2000	1
	Hellblazer #153	published on Wednesday, 23 August 2000	1
without indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #154		1
	Hellblazer #155	published on Wednesday, 11 November 2000	1
	Hellblazer #156	cover-dated January 2001; published on Wednesday, 29 November 2000	1
without titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer: Good Intentions	collects Hellblazer #151-156 [REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]	Needed
without indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #157	"... And Buried"; Steve Dillon art; cover-dated February 2001; probably published on Thursday, 29 December 2000	1
Hellblazer #158-161: "Freezes Over" storyline
without indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #158	cover-dated March 2001; published on 31 January 2001	1
without indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #159	published on 28 February 2001	1
without indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #160	published on Wednesday, 28 March 2001	1
without indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #161	cover-dated June 2001; published on Wednesday, 25 April 2001	1
Hellblazer #162-163: "Lapdogs and Englishmen" storyline; fairly poor Guy Davis art
without indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #162	cover-dated July 2001; published on Thursday, 31 May 2001	1
	Hellblazer #163	cover-dated August 2001; published on Wednesday, 27 June 2001	1
Hellblazer #164-167: "Highwater" storyline
	Hellblazer #164	cover-dated September 2001	1
	Hellblazer #165	published on Wednesday, 29 August 2001	1
	Hellblazer #166	published on Wednesday, 3 October 2001	1
without indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #167	cover-dated December 2001; published on Wednesday, 7 November 2001	1
without titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #168	"A Fresh Coat of Red Paint"; has John fuck a whore with bingo money; Giuseppe Camuncoli art	Needed
Hellblazer #169, Swamp Thing (third series) #12-20: Giuseppe Camuncoli pencils
without titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #169	"Chasing Demons"; Giuseppe Camuncoli & Cameron Stewart inks; published on Friday, 28 December 2001	1
Hellblazer #170-174: "Ashes and Dust in the City of Angels" storyline
without titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #170	John Constantine's corpse apparently found in an S&M club; published on Wednesday, 31 January 2002	1
without titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #171	published on Wednesday, 27 February 2002	1
without titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #172	with this issue, Hellblazer officially outlived the famous second series of Swamp Thing (a fact that ignores the first and third series of that title, as well as the different number of annuals, specials, and mini-series given to both); published on Wednesday, 27 March 2002	1
without titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #173	published on Wednesday, 15 May 2002	1
without titles or indicia Larger Version Available	Hellblazer #174		1
Other Hellblazer
	Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer #1	contains a short illustrated text story (written by Jamie Delano and illustrated by Tim Bradstreet); contains a short story (with Brian Azzarello and Dave Taylor art) that takes place during John's childhood; also contains original art and descriptions of characters, as well as a timeline and other various bits; cover-dated August 2000; published between #150 and #151	1
Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood #1-2: Philip Bond art
	Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood #1	cover-dated September 2000; published on Wednesay, 12 July 2000	1
	Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood #2	published on Wednesday, 9 August 2000	1
Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood #3-4: Warren Pleece layouts, Philip Bond finishes
	Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood #3	published in September 2000	1
	Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood #4	cover-dated December 2000; published on Wednesday, 11 October 2000	1
Swamp Thing
The Swamp Thing short story in Vertigo: Winter's Edge III, published in December 1999 (prior to the first issue of the new series) and featuring Brian K. Vaughan writing, Roger Petersen pencils, and Jose Rubinstein inks, occurs here
	Swamp Thing / Lucifer Preview	a flip book, with the first six pages of Swamp Thing (second series) #1 on one side and the first six pages of Lucifer #1 on the other	1
Swamp Thing (third series) #1-20: Brian K. Vaughan script
Swamp Thing (third series) #1-8, 10-11: Roger Petersen pencils
Swamp Thing (third series) #1-4: Joe Rubinstein inks
Swamp Thing (third series) #1-3, Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer #1, Vertigo Secret Files: Swamp Thing #1: Phil Hale cover
	Swamp Thing (third series) #1	cover-dated May 2000	1
	Swamp Thing (third series) #2		1
	Swamp Thing (third series) #3		1
Swamp Thing (third series) #4-6: "Killing Time" storyline, Rick Berry cover
	Swamp Thing (third series) #4		1
	Swamp Thing (third series) #5	Mark Lipka inks	1
Swamp Thing (third series) #6-8, 10-13: Rick Magyar inks
	Swamp Thing (third series) #6		Needed
	Vertigo Secret Files: Swamp Thing #1	contains a short story written by Brian K. Vaughan (with Cliff Chiang pencils and Rodney Ramos inks); contains a short story of the Alec Holland Swamp Thing (with Jon Lewis script and Michael Zulli art); contains a Lady Arcane short story (with Alisa Kwitney script and Steve Leialoha art); also contains original art and descriptions of characters, as well as a timeline and other various bits; cover-dated November 2000; published on Wednesday, 6 September 2000	1
Swamp Thing (third series) #7-9: Simon Bisley cover
without titles and indicia Larger Version Available	Swamp Thing (third series) #7	published on Wednesday, 13 September 2000	1
	Swamp Thing (third series) #8		Needed
	Swamp Thing (third series) #9	art by Roger Petersen, Steve Lieber, Guy Davis, Paul Pope, and Rick Magyar	Needed
Swamp Thing (third series) #10-12: Glenn Fabry cover
without titles and indicia Larger Version Available	Swamp Thing (third series) #10	John Constantine talks with Tefe all issue, trying to get her to go back to the swamp (where the elder Swamp Thing and Abby shouldn't be anyway, especially not together); has Tefe and Constantine unable to use their abilities on each other, as if genetic relation provided immunity; cover-dated February 2001 (the same month as the single-issue story in Hellblazer #157)	1
Swamp Thing (third series) #11-17: "Red Harvest" storyline
without titles and indicia Larger Version Available	Swamp Thing (third series) #11		Needed
without titles and indicia Larger Version Available	Swamp Thing (third series) #12		Needed
Swamp Thing (third series) #13-15: David Mack cover
without titles and indicia Larger Version Available	Swamp Thing (third series) #13		Needed
Swamp Thing (third series) #14-18: Marc Hempel inks
without titles and indicia Larger Version Available	Swamp Thing (third series) #14	published on Wednesday, 11 April 2001	Needed
without titles and indicia Larger Version Available	Swamp Thing (third series) #15		Needed
Swamp Thing (third series) #16-17, 19-20: Greg Staples cover
	Swamp Thing (third series) #16		Needed
without titles and indicia Larger Version Available	Swamp Thing (third series) #17	cover-dated September 2001	Needed
	Swamp Thing (third series) #18	Tefe talks to Alec, who claims he's no longer ascendant; John Totleben cover; published on Wednesday, 15 August 2001	1
Swamp Thing (third series) #19-20: Cameron Stewart inks
	Swamp Thing (third series) #19	occurs in Africa; begins six months after #18; published on Wednesday, 12 September 2001 (the day after 4 hijacked planes were slammed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon)	1
without titles and indicia Larger Version Available	Swamp Thing (third series) #20	Tefe eats from the Tree of Knowledge, sees two visions of her future, and does nothing as the series conclusion; final issue (carrying the same number that Alan Moore's first issue did); cover-dated December 2001; published on Wednesday, 31 October 2001	1

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