John Constantine, Hellblazer by Jamie Delano Omnibus Vol. 1-2

John Constantine, Hellblazer by Jamie Delano, collected as a pack of 2 oversized omnibus volumes and cheaper than buying them one by one. John Constantine first appeared in Swamp Thing #37 in 1985 and got his own title two years later, becoming the character DC has adapted into film, television and animation more than any other Vertigo creation. The early run establishes the format everything since has used: Constantine's magic is mostly lying, his friends die because they know him, and the horror is usually political. Jamie Delano wrote Thatcher's Britain as a haunting, which gives these issues a specificity that later runs traded for mythology. John Constantine, Hellblazer by Jamie Delano Omnibus Vol. 2 collects the second half of the run that invented Hellblazer as a genre of its own: political horror set in Thatcher's Britain, where the monsters are usually institutions and John's real weapon is being willing to sacrifice his friends. Delano's Constantine is nastier, funnier and sadder than any version that followed.