DC Comics · Hellblazer #1 · January 1988 · $1.25 US / $1.75 CAN · 40 pages
Grade: VF/NM 9.0
Cover by Dave McKean.
“Hunger” — written by Jamie Delano, illustrated by John Ridgway. John Constantine is back in New York, still carrying Newcastle like a stone around his neck, and something is eating the city's homeless from the inside out. A demonic parasite is moving through the underclass — hunger made literal and supernatural — and Constantine tracks it toward a confrontation with Papa Midnite, the Haitian crime lord and occultist who becomes one of the series' defining antagonists. Delano's script hits hard from the first page: working-class grime, genuine dread, and a Constantine who is not a hero so much as a man with just enough knowledge to be dangerous to everyone around him. Ridgway's linework is tight and grounded — no pyrotechnics, which is exactly right for this book.
The issue carries DC's “Suggested for Mature Readers” label — not a gimmick here, but a genuine tonal declaration. This is the same Constantine who walked out of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, and Delano picks him up without softening a single edge.
Hellblazer ran 300 issues before DC cancelled and relaunched it — this is where the clock started. The title became the cornerstone of the Vertigo imprint when Karen Berger formalized that line in 1993, and Constantine has been in near-continuous publication ever since. First issues of landmark runs with this kind of longevity don't need overselling.
Condition VF/NM 9.0 — .
We use what the scientists are calling artificial intelligence to research and write our descriptions — it gives us more time to add books to our website and provide you with a wider array of inventory. We think Klaatu would approve. Details are verified but the robot does slip up. We're not infallible. Every book is graded by a human collector who has actually held it. If anything ever looks off, reach on out at robopictocomics@gmail.com.
DC Comics · Hellblazer #1 · January 1988 · $1.25 US / $1.75 CAN · 40 pages
Grade: VF/NM 9.0
Cover by Dave McKean.
“Hunger” — written by Jamie Delano, illustrated by John Ridgway. John Constantine is back in New York, still carrying Newcastle like a stone around his neck, and something is eating the city's homeless from the inside out. A demonic parasite is moving through the underclass — hunger made literal and supernatural — and Constantine tracks it toward a confrontation with Papa Midnite, the Haitian crime lord and occultist who becomes one of the series' defining antagonists. Delano's script hits hard from the first page: working-class grime, genuine dread, and a Constantine who is not a hero so much as a man with just enough knowledge to be dangerous to everyone around him. Ridgway's linework is tight and grounded — no pyrotechnics, which is exactly right for this book.
The issue carries DC's “Suggested for Mature Readers” label — not a gimmick here, but a genuine tonal declaration. This is the same Constantine who walked out of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, and Delano picks him up without softening a single edge.
Hellblazer ran 300 issues before DC cancelled and relaunched it — this is where the clock started. The title became the cornerstone of the Vertigo imprint when Karen Berger formalized that line in 1993, and Constantine has been in near-continuous publication ever since. First issues of landmark runs with this kind of longevity don't need overselling.
Condition VF/NM 9.0 — .
We use what the scientists are calling artificial intelligence to research and write our descriptions — it gives us more time to add books to our website and provide you with a wider array of inventory. We think Klaatu would approve. Details are verified but the robot does slip up. We're not infallible. Every book is graded by a human collector who has actually held it. If anything ever looks off, reach on out at robopictocomics@gmail.com.
