Jamie Delano didnt invent the character John Constantine, but the writer who launched the ongoing series Hellblazer took the Alan Moore created character and gave the trenchcoat wearing British magician his background and really defined the character in a way that every writer of the character in comics and film has since been building from.
Delano has gone on to write a number of other projects for Vertigo, miniseries (Ghostdancing, 2020 Visions), ongoing series (Outlaw Nation) and one shots (the brilliant Hell Eternal) in addition to recent work from publishers like Avatar Press (the science fiction thriller Narcopolis, and the pirate adventure Rawbone).
Delanos new project is a return to John Constantine with the graphic novel Hellblazer: Pandemonium. Illustrated by British artist Jock (The Losers) the book was originally written for the twentieth anniversary of Vertigo, but instead comes out this year, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Constantines first appearance as a supporting character in "The Saga of the Swamp Thing," created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben. Delano was kind enough to talk with us via e-mail about the new graphic novel and what it is that keeps him returning to write the character John Constantine.
ALEX DUEBEN: What was it that made you interested in working on Hellblazer in the first place so many years ago?
JAMIE DELANO: I guess I'd have to say that it was primarily the desire to stop driving taxis and become a professional writer. Lucky for me, DC Comics' coincidental desire to develop Moore's intriguing character, John Constantine, by featuring him in an ongoing series made this possible. I probably would have accepted an offer to write anything back then, but it is hard to imagine that I could have "connected" so satisfactorily with any other established character. Writing Hellblazer allowed me to engage with the contemporary social and political trends that absorbed me, wearing the trench coat of a smart-mouthed, hard-boiled British "occult detective" through the medium of genre fiction. I kind of enjoyed that voice.
AD: One thing I've always wondered, where did the title Hellblazer come from? It doesnt seem to mean or relate to anything.
JD: I've wondered that from time to time, too.It's a while ago, but as I recall my first suggestion was Hellraiser -- but Clive Barker beat us to it. Ultimately, the nascent series was DCs' baby to name, Hellblazer their editorial pick. What it means, I have no idea -- but I guess it fit.
AD: The series later became much more interested in Christianity, heaven and hell, but you were interested in a broad range of magic and mythologies, which you've also utilized in other works like Ghostdancing and Shadowman. Does the idea of the devil and hell just seem dull compared with the other possibilities or what is it that drives this?
JD: Gods, demons, angels, devils, power-beings-all are imaginary avatars for the dramatisation of human emotion in the world of J. Delano.But in the reality of John Constantine -- as I animate it -- these entities are real and potent.It is their simplistic supernatural contest -- Good versus Evil, Heaven versus Hell -- that Constantine struggles perpetually to finesse to the relief or advantage of us, the humans-in-the-street whose status as mere "collateral damage" in these "eternal wars" he refuses to accept.
AD: When you wrote the book it was more about horror and it was more political and internal in a way that made it unique among comics and even compared to other Hellblazer writers. Were there other books or writers that inspired this approach?
JD: I have always enjoyed the best of the tradition that uses the accessibility of genre fiction -- detective, horror, sci-fi, fantasy -- to explore the reality and potential of the human condition by visiting its imaginary extremes while resisting "literary pretension". My inspiration is thus manifold: William Burroughs and J.G. Ballard to Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson to pick an arbitrary range.
AD: Now that you're run has been collected into trades, have you gone back and looked at them? How do you think they hold up?
JD: I haven't re-read all the old stories comprehensively--just dipped in here and there.But when I have overcome my reluctance to revisit the past I'll admit I've been reassured that, although there are many awkward moments, immaturities of craft, etcetera, overall the work is generally less embarrassing than I might have feared--though I usually can't remember writing a word of it.
AD: So what is Hellblazer: Pandemonium?
JD: Hellblazer: Pandemonium is a graphic novel originally commissioned to commemorate the 20th anniversary of issue one of the continuing DC Vertigo series in which I initiated the development of John Constantine - Alan Moore's flippant working-class British magician introduced in The Saga of the Swamp Thing -- into the more psychologically complex and layered character animated and further revealed by many fine writers since. Exigencies of the publishing process have resulted in Hellblazer: Pandemonium marking the 25th anniversary of Moore's original creation, instead--but the story remains the same.
Casting around for a theme that might juxtapose a little of Constantine's "then" and "now", it occurred to me that one of his early, and enduring, antagonists was a "demon" named Nergal, whose original inspiration I had pillaged from the ancient Assyrian pantheon. Assyria... Mesopotamia... Iraq: the link from past to present was unavoidable. Like it or not (and he doesn't), it became inevitable that Constantine was going have to go to Iraq, wrestle -- in his own insouciant, cynical fashion -- with some of the moral ambiguities and their brutal, bloody consequences that characterise the "war on terror".
In traditional slippery fashion, Constantine (just about) avoids being engulfed by the quagmire of horror while indulging a dubious passion for an Iraqi double-agent and enjoying a recklessly crazed game of "poker" with some denizens of the Assyrian Underworld-before making it home by the skin of his teeth with his integrity only slightly tainted.
Despite its context, I hope that -- viewed through Constantine's uniquely skewed perspective -- the story treats with a reality of devastating human tragedy with some sincerity and compassion, while keeping an essential (albeit pretty black) sense of humour about it. Others may judge the success, or otherwise, of that endeavour.
AD: How did you end up working with Jock and what did you enjoy abut the collaboration?
JD: Our marriage was editorially arranged. Although I had met Jock, coincidentally, a few months earlier, I was (shamefully) unfamiliar with his work when Pandemonium was suggested-but as soon as the first pages began to appear it was apparent the match was well-made.Jock obviously "got" both Constantine and the story we were involving him in. His deft and economical, subtly but evocatively coloured -- almost expressionistic -- style was not necessarily the imagery that was running in my head as I wrote the script, but when I saw it, I was more than confident that the book would not just be words and pictures but a synergy, greater than the sum of its parts-which is what a good comic collaboration should be.
AD: As you mentioned the book has been in the works for a few years. Do you think the timing will affect how people read the book?
JD: I don't see that it should. The media/political focus may have moved to other theatres of despair--but the "issues" with which the story engages remain pretty raw and current.
AD: You've revisited Constantine before, such as The Horrorist miniseries that you did with David Lloyd. What brought you back this time and what do you find so fascinating about the character?
JD: As many who have shrugged on that old trench coat to take a squint at the world through the "laughing magician's" jaundiced eye would probably attest, John Constantine is a dangerous addiction.While a permanent alliance with Constantine's bleak struggles might prove terminally corrosive to an aging writer, the occasional desire for the weird passions of youth may be sporadically indulged with only minor risk to body or soul-and it's good to stay in touch with old friends...
AD: In your work there's really a sense of just how thin the veneer of civilization is and how tenuous it is. How much of that is your own worldview and how much is simply exploiting an idea for the purposes of a good story?
JD: On a bad day I might suggest that Humanity perpetually skates the thin ice of "civilisation", while cold things with teeth writhe in the dark deep below. The ice constantly cracks and re-freezes: we're lucky when we're not amongst those who go down -- but it's only a matter of time. On a good day I might suggest something else -- but good days are in short supply.
AD: Fair enough. I wanted to talk about another series you did, Outlaw Nation, which in some ways felt in like a sequel to a Vertigo miniseries you did in the 1990s, Ghostdancing in that it's set in the Southwest, builds on myths and stories and it's as much about the mythology and the idea of the United States as it is about the characters. Was any of that what you were actually thinking at the time?
JD: Yeah, kinda, I guess. We all have our pre-occupations, and the US was one of mine for a while-but Outlaw Nation cured me of that folly.
AD: One of the central themes in Outlaw Nation is about the Johnson family, this group of honorable thieves and criminals, and the William Burroughs line about how everybody is either a Johnson or a shit. I get the sense from your work that youre sympathetic to that idea but it makes you nervous because you think that's too simplistic.
JD: Johnson or Shit is a seductive idea--but when it boils down it's a kind of pragmatic, lazy "cop" philosophy that, disregarding the mitigating possibilities of individual redemption, resorts to arbitrary judgment. As such it leaves me uneasy. Most of us are mostly Johnsons most of the time--but we're all Shits, now and then.
AD: What were your plans for Outlaw Nation if you had a chance to write it for a years rather than rush to wrap it up in a few issues?
JD: Oh...it was going to ramble self-indulgently around visiting various outlaw archetypes -- fictional or real -- while its protagonist haplessly attempted to reconcile the myth and reality of America and catch up with its furiously evolving 21st century culture... with an evaluation of the potential for good or ill of interfering scribblers of pulp fiction-or something. A preposterous ambition, clearly doomed-but still a lot of fun to attempt.
AD: Any plans to do more with it or collaborate again with artist Goran Sudzuka?
JD: There are themes still in there that interest me, but I doubt any return to Outlaw Nation is viable. I'd certainly work with Goran again though, if the opportunity arose.
AD: Do you prefer short works like say Hell Eternal or longer runs on books where you're juggling a lot over a long period of time?
JD: Both have their attractions, but overall I'd say I prefer the discipline of the shorter, self-contained work. I'm inevitably frustrated by the necessity to conform to a rigid page-count when often it feels as if three or four more would ease the story beneficially, but the focus on story-telling thus demanded is definitely advantageous. With an ongoing series it can be easy to succumb to laziness, extend scenes unnecessarily, put off resolving an awkward plot-thread for another month, etcetera...
AD: What's in store for the future. I know youre working a few different comics companies, besides Vertigo theres Desperado and Avatar. And I don't think I've ever actually asked a comics writer this before, but will we ever see a prose novel from you?
JD: It is my enduring ambition to write a prose "novel" and I will-as soon as I can define for myself what form such a thing might take. I continue to fool around with the odd film-oriented project, waste time if not money playing low-stakes poker online, generally subsiding into late middle-age, dragged down by the relentless multiplication of grandchildren. On the comics front, there are signs my largely fallow period is ending, with a new idea recently germinating-but it's way too frail a creature to give a name to yet.
Delano has gone on to write a number of other projects for Vertigo, miniseries (Ghostdancing, 2020 Visions), ongoing series (Outlaw Nation) and one shots (the brilliant Hell Eternal) in addition to recent work from publishers like Avatar Press (the science fiction thriller Narcopolis, and the pirate adventure Rawbone).
Delanos new project is a return to John Constantine with the graphic novel Hellblazer: Pandemonium. Illustrated by British artist Jock (The Losers) the book was originally written for the twentieth anniversary of Vertigo, but instead comes out this year, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Constantines first appearance as a supporting character in "The Saga of the Swamp Thing," created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben. Delano was kind enough to talk with us via e-mail about the new graphic novel and what it is that keeps him returning to write the character John Constantine.
ALEX DUEBEN: What was it that made you interested in working on Hellblazer in the first place so many years ago?
JAMIE DELANO: I guess I'd have to say that it was primarily the desire to stop driving taxis and become a professional writer. Lucky for me, DC Comics' coincidental desire to develop Moore's intriguing character, John Constantine, by featuring him in an ongoing series made this possible. I probably would have accepted an offer to write anything back then, but it is hard to imagine that I could have "connected" so satisfactorily with any other established character. Writing Hellblazer allowed me to engage with the contemporary social and political trends that absorbed me, wearing the trench coat of a smart-mouthed, hard-boiled British "occult detective" through the medium of genre fiction. I kind of enjoyed that voice.
AD: One thing I've always wondered, where did the title Hellblazer come from? It doesnt seem to mean or relate to anything.
JD: I've wondered that from time to time, too.It's a while ago, but as I recall my first suggestion was Hellraiser -- but Clive Barker beat us to it. Ultimately, the nascent series was DCs' baby to name, Hellblazer their editorial pick. What it means, I have no idea -- but I guess it fit.
AD: The series later became much more interested in Christianity, heaven and hell, but you were interested in a broad range of magic and mythologies, which you've also utilized in other works like Ghostdancing and Shadowman. Does the idea of the devil and hell just seem dull compared with the other possibilities or what is it that drives this?
JD: Gods, demons, angels, devils, power-beings-all are imaginary avatars for the dramatisation of human emotion in the world of J. Delano.But in the reality of John Constantine -- as I animate it -- these entities are real and potent.It is their simplistic supernatural contest -- Good versus Evil, Heaven versus Hell -- that Constantine struggles perpetually to finesse to the relief or advantage of us, the humans-in-the-street whose status as mere "collateral damage" in these "eternal wars" he refuses to accept.
AD: When you wrote the book it was more about horror and it was more political and internal in a way that made it unique among comics and even compared to other Hellblazer writers. Were there other books or writers that inspired this approach?
JD: I have always enjoyed the best of the tradition that uses the accessibility of genre fiction -- detective, horror, sci-fi, fantasy -- to explore the reality and potential of the human condition by visiting its imaginary extremes while resisting "literary pretension". My inspiration is thus manifold: William Burroughs and J.G. Ballard to Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson to pick an arbitrary range.
AD: Now that you're run has been collected into trades, have you gone back and looked at them? How do you think they hold up?
JD: I haven't re-read all the old stories comprehensively--just dipped in here and there.But when I have overcome my reluctance to revisit the past I'll admit I've been reassured that, although there are many awkward moments, immaturities of craft, etcetera, overall the work is generally less embarrassing than I might have feared--though I usually can't remember writing a word of it.
AD: So what is Hellblazer: Pandemonium?
JD: Hellblazer: Pandemonium is a graphic novel originally commissioned to commemorate the 20th anniversary of issue one of the continuing DC Vertigo series in which I initiated the development of John Constantine - Alan Moore's flippant working-class British magician introduced in The Saga of the Swamp Thing -- into the more psychologically complex and layered character animated and further revealed by many fine writers since. Exigencies of the publishing process have resulted in Hellblazer: Pandemonium marking the 25th anniversary of Moore's original creation, instead--but the story remains the same.
Casting around for a theme that might juxtapose a little of Constantine's "then" and "now", it occurred to me that one of his early, and enduring, antagonists was a "demon" named Nergal, whose original inspiration I had pillaged from the ancient Assyrian pantheon. Assyria... Mesopotamia... Iraq: the link from past to present was unavoidable. Like it or not (and he doesn't), it became inevitable that Constantine was going have to go to Iraq, wrestle -- in his own insouciant, cynical fashion -- with some of the moral ambiguities and their brutal, bloody consequences that characterise the "war on terror".
In traditional slippery fashion, Constantine (just about) avoids being engulfed by the quagmire of horror while indulging a dubious passion for an Iraqi double-agent and enjoying a recklessly crazed game of "poker" with some denizens of the Assyrian Underworld-before making it home by the skin of his teeth with his integrity only slightly tainted.
Despite its context, I hope that -- viewed through Constantine's uniquely skewed perspective -- the story treats with a reality of devastating human tragedy with some sincerity and compassion, while keeping an essential (albeit pretty black) sense of humour about it. Others may judge the success, or otherwise, of that endeavour.
AD: How did you end up working with Jock and what did you enjoy abut the collaboration?
JD: Our marriage was editorially arranged. Although I had met Jock, coincidentally, a few months earlier, I was (shamefully) unfamiliar with his work when Pandemonium was suggested-but as soon as the first pages began to appear it was apparent the match was well-made.Jock obviously "got" both Constantine and the story we were involving him in. His deft and economical, subtly but evocatively coloured -- almost expressionistic -- style was not necessarily the imagery that was running in my head as I wrote the script, but when I saw it, I was more than confident that the book would not just be words and pictures but a synergy, greater than the sum of its parts-which is what a good comic collaboration should be.
AD: As you mentioned the book has been in the works for a few years. Do you think the timing will affect how people read the book?
JD: I don't see that it should. The media/political focus may have moved to other theatres of despair--but the "issues" with which the story engages remain pretty raw and current.
AD: You've revisited Constantine before, such as The Horrorist miniseries that you did with David Lloyd. What brought you back this time and what do you find so fascinating about the character?
JD: As many who have shrugged on that old trench coat to take a squint at the world through the "laughing magician's" jaundiced eye would probably attest, John Constantine is a dangerous addiction.While a permanent alliance with Constantine's bleak struggles might prove terminally corrosive to an aging writer, the occasional desire for the weird passions of youth may be sporadically indulged with only minor risk to body or soul-and it's good to stay in touch with old friends...
AD: In your work there's really a sense of just how thin the veneer of civilization is and how tenuous it is. How much of that is your own worldview and how much is simply exploiting an idea for the purposes of a good story?
JD: On a bad day I might suggest that Humanity perpetually skates the thin ice of "civilisation", while cold things with teeth writhe in the dark deep below. The ice constantly cracks and re-freezes: we're lucky when we're not amongst those who go down -- but it's only a matter of time. On a good day I might suggest something else -- but good days are in short supply.
AD: Fair enough. I wanted to talk about another series you did, Outlaw Nation, which in some ways felt in like a sequel to a Vertigo miniseries you did in the 1990s, Ghostdancing in that it's set in the Southwest, builds on myths and stories and it's as much about the mythology and the idea of the United States as it is about the characters. Was any of that what you were actually thinking at the time?
JD: Yeah, kinda, I guess. We all have our pre-occupations, and the US was one of mine for a while-but Outlaw Nation cured me of that folly.
AD: One of the central themes in Outlaw Nation is about the Johnson family, this group of honorable thieves and criminals, and the William Burroughs line about how everybody is either a Johnson or a shit. I get the sense from your work that youre sympathetic to that idea but it makes you nervous because you think that's too simplistic.
JD: Johnson or Shit is a seductive idea--but when it boils down it's a kind of pragmatic, lazy "cop" philosophy that, disregarding the mitigating possibilities of individual redemption, resorts to arbitrary judgment. As such it leaves me uneasy. Most of us are mostly Johnsons most of the time--but we're all Shits, now and then.
AD: What were your plans for Outlaw Nation if you had a chance to write it for a years rather than rush to wrap it up in a few issues?
JD: Oh...it was going to ramble self-indulgently around visiting various outlaw archetypes -- fictional or real -- while its protagonist haplessly attempted to reconcile the myth and reality of America and catch up with its furiously evolving 21st century culture... with an evaluation of the potential for good or ill of interfering scribblers of pulp fiction-or something. A preposterous ambition, clearly doomed-but still a lot of fun to attempt.
AD: Any plans to do more with it or collaborate again with artist Goran Sudzuka?
JD: There are themes still in there that interest me, but I doubt any return to Outlaw Nation is viable. I'd certainly work with Goran again though, if the opportunity arose.
AD: Do you prefer short works like say Hell Eternal or longer runs on books where you're juggling a lot over a long period of time?
JD: Both have their attractions, but overall I'd say I prefer the discipline of the shorter, self-contained work. I'm inevitably frustrated by the necessity to conform to a rigid page-count when often it feels as if three or four more would ease the story beneficially, but the focus on story-telling thus demanded is definitely advantageous. With an ongoing series it can be easy to succumb to laziness, extend scenes unnecessarily, put off resolving an awkward plot-thread for another month, etcetera...
AD: What's in store for the future. I know youre working a few different comics companies, besides Vertigo theres Desperado and Avatar. And I don't think I've ever actually asked a comics writer this before, but will we ever see a prose novel from you?
JD: It is my enduring ambition to write a prose "novel" and I will-as soon as I can define for myself what form such a thing might take. I continue to fool around with the odd film-oriented project, waste time if not money playing low-stakes poker online, generally subsiding into late middle-age, dragged down by the relentless multiplication of grandchildren. On the comics front, there are signs my largely fallow period is ending, with a new idea recently germinating-but it's way too frail a creature to give a name to yet.