DC Comics

Hellblazer by Garth Ennis Omnibus is the run that turns John Constantine into a bruised, funny and spiritually exhausted survivor. Ennis and Steve Dillon balance pub realism, religious horror, old guilt and vicious comedy, making Constantine feel less like a superhero occult lead and more like a man who keeps winning by losing pieces of himself. Its shelf value is character voice: cynical, wounded, profane and still strangely human.