Hello all. I promise this will be the last Graphic Novel for a while. It's just I have been bitten by the bug recently, so I thought why not share it with you guys. I personally blame all the cleaning. It's amazing what you find in the boxes under your bed.
For this post I wanted to look at another of my favourite characters. His name is John Constantine.
Entry for Graphic Novels from the Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature in Oxford Reference Online
Now like a lot of people I was introduced to Constantine through the Keanu Reeves film in 2005. In the film Constantine is a demon hunter trying to maintain the balance between heaven and hell on earth. He doesn't work for either side.
At the time I thought it was quite cool so decided to give the character a go.
The problem with seeing a film before reading the book is that the silver screen doesn't always prepare you for what you are about to experience.
When I started on The Hellblazer comics that were the home of
Constantine I was surprised not to be greeted by a dark haired, suited,
American demon hunter. The Constantine of the comics is a blond haired
man from Liverpool, and while he is suited, his defining fashion item is a
beige trench coat that may or may not have influenced my purchasing
habits.
Also he's definitely not a demon hunter. A general all round
magical practitioner, he is also man well versed in the art of the con.
In short the Constantine of the comics is already a long way from the
movie version.
Then we come across John heading to America after a particularly unpleasant encounter.
However where Constantine goes trouble soon follows. He finds himself
trying to deal with a hunger demon that his friend Gary Lester has
accidentally let loose on New York City. Good job this is all fiction.
Insurance rates in the city that never sleeps would be astronomical
otherwise.
Anyway I digress. Enlisting the help of Voodoo shaman Papa Midnight, the two conspire to use Lester as a new confinement for the demon. Constantine's guile combined with Papa's magic. From there we find out why John has gone to America, to investigate a force known as The Resurrection Crusade, and another called The Damnation Army.
Seeing connections between the two John takes action against both. He lays out a complex plan to take down each organisation.It truly is a fascinating read. The writer Jamie Delano fuels his text with a social commentary on the 80’s. It’s a narrative on the culture of greed, the politics of the time, and how the reality of the 80’s is not so far from the fictitious world Constantine inhabits.
In fact Constantine as a character is almost the perfect embodiment of the society at the time. While John may not always seem to do good things, he has clearly defined definitions of good and evil, and right and wrong. The act itself is never that important to him, just the long term repercussions and outcomes.
You could almost consider him amoral if it wasn’t the moments where his moral compass shows its direction.
Instead, what Delano has done is create something much more interesting. John’s moral compass is clearly not that far from our own. His methods however make him a much more grey character than most, who are simply defined characters that fit into the categories of good and evil with much greater ease than Constantine does.
Entry for Hero Cult from the Oxford Dictionary of The Classical World in Oxford Reference Online To paraphrase Jim Gordon he isn’t the hero we deserve, but he’s the one we need right now.
Constantine is at best a reluctant hero, and worst not really one at all.
He does the stuff others won’t because in his mind it’s a necessary evil that works towards an ultimately positive outcome.
It’s only appropriate when you look at Delano’s commentary on the society of the time that the best hero they have is ultimately a reflection of the society.
A reluctant, morally ambiguous, sly man. Someone who is reliant more on the art of the con than his magical abilities. A trench coat wearing, chain smoking cynical hero.
Fancy checking it out? You can find it here on our Library Catalogue
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