Hellblazer ran for three hundred issues without a reboot, which makes it the longest continuous story DC ever published and, on paper, the most intimidating shelf in this catalogue. In practice it is one of the easiest, because the book was designed so that each writer's run stands alone.
You do not need to start at the beginning. You need to pick which Constantine you want.
The short answer
If you want the version everyone means when they talk about the character, start with Hellblazer by Garth Ennis Omnibus at 1,000 pages. It contains the story that defined him and it needs nothing from you.
The Ennis run: the definitive Constantine
This is the run where John Constantine becomes the character people quote: a working-class con man from Liverpool who wins by cheating, and whose friends die because they know him.
Its centrepiece is a story in which he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and has to talk his way out of it, and the solution is the single best thing anyone has written for the character. Around it sits a run about pubs, guilt, friendship and the specific texture of Britain at the end of the eighties.
The wider shelf of that writer is covered in the Garth Ennis guide, with the warnings that shelf deserves.
The Delano run: where it starts
John Constantine, Hellblazer by Jamie Delano Omnibus Vol. 1 at 1,000 pages is the original, and it is a stranger book than what came after.
Delano writes political horror: Thatcher's Britain as a haunted country, with demons standing in for unemployment, class and consumerism. It is angrier and more abstract than the Ennis material, and the horror is genuinely unpleasant rather than fun.
Start here if you want the book as it was conceived, and if the idea of horror as social commentary appeals. Do not start here expecting the charming rogue: that version arrives later.
The Jenkins and Phillips run: the quiet one
John Constantine, Hellblazer by Paul Jenkins and Sean Phillips Omnibus at 720 pages is the most overlooked of the three and the most humane.
It follows Ennis and deliberately lowers the volume: fewer demons, more consequences, and a run interested in what a life like this does to someone over time. Sean Phillips draws it in the restrained crime style he later became known for.
This is the one to buy third, and the one people are most surprised by.
Do you need to read them in order?
No. Each omnibus is a self-contained run by one writer, and the book was built that way: characters recur, but every run re-establishes what matters. Reading Ennis first and Delano afterwards works perfectly well, and many readers prefer it because the Ennis material is the easier entry.
Availability moves constantly on a single-copy catalogue, so the John Constantine page is the reliable place to check. Everything else we carry from DC is on the DC omnibus page.
Who should skip this shelf
Hellblazer is horror for adults and it does not soften. There is on-page cruelty, addiction, and a protagonist who gets people killed and keeps going. It is also very British in a way that some readers find impenetrable: the humour, the class detail and the politics assume a context that is not explained.
If you came from the television or film versions expecting an occult detective solving cases, this is a considerably bleaker book.
Questions buyers actually ask
Is this connected to Swamp Thing?
The character first appeared there, and the early Delano material acknowledges it, but no Swamp Thing reading is required. The omnibus explains what it needs.
Which one has the cancer story?
The Garth Ennis omnibus. It is the reason that volume is the most recommended of the three.
Are these the same as the Vertigo paperbacks?
They collect the same material in oversized hardcover, which for a book this heavily illustrated is a genuine upgrade over the older trade format.
Is there a complete Hellblazer in omnibus?
Not at present. Three hundred issues have not been collected in full at this size, so the shelf is assembled by writer rather than as a continuous set.
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