Hellblazer trades: Worth it?

[Drink]

I've been delving more and more into Vertigo comics lately as opposed to DC proper, and I am generally enjoying this stuff better than what the main company puts out.

Anyway, I decided to get into Hellblazer. I got the novel 'Subterranean' by John Shirley and thought it was a great story, so I took the next logical step. I had a crapload of giftcards from Christmas, so I ordered the first trade 'Original Sins' online. It'll come here...eventually. And if I don't like it, it's not really my money, so no skin off my back.

But I was reading into the trades, and they're supposed to be collected incompletely. The first trade in particular is supposed to have a cliffhanger that is not resolved in collected form. And the list on Wikipedia shows some notable gaps here and there.

So just wondering, is it still good to get? As in, will the lack of those issues make any difference in how the story is told? Because I can only imagine that those uncollected books are at best hard to find in most backissue bins in the LCS.

I imagine it still is, and that the responses I get here will be more than likely positive, but humour me. :D

[stealthwise]

They're all great, but my favourites are Garth Ennis's books.

Azzarello's run starts great, but then devolves into ridiculous shite. I'm also not big on Carey's work.

The new trade by Denise Mina was interesting as hell, although it was strange in some parts.

[BeastieRunner]

I suggest:


All the Ennis trades (Original Sins, Dangerous Habits, Fear And Loathing, Rare Cuts, Tainted Love, Damnation's Flame, Son of Man, & Rake at the Gates of Hell)
Hard Time
Empathy is the Enemy
All His EnginesBut I think the best ones to get, in order, would be:


Original Sins
Rare Cuts
Dangerous Habits
Fear and Loathing
Tainted Love:)

[BeastieRunner]

But I was reading into the trades, and they're supposed to be collected incompletely. The first trade in particular is supposed to have a cliffhanger that is not resolved in collected form.

Swamp Thing I think has the rest of the story by the way. I can't remember the volume number though. :confused:

[Drink]

Swamp Thing I think has the rest of the story by the way. I can't remember the volume number though. :confused:

Cool, I was thinking of getting into that at a later date also.

[FanboyStranger]

Swamp Thing I think has the rest of the story by the way. I can't remember the volume number though. :confused:

It would be the recently released Swamp Thing, vol 9: Infernal Triangles by Rick Veitch and Jamie Delano, although the set-up to that story occurs throughout ST, vol. 7-8: Regenesis and Spontaneous Generation respectively, which, for that matter, contain some great Constantine stories. The resolution to the Resurrection Crusade/Damnation Army/Nergal storyline in HB, however, does not occur until issue #12, although it's the events in Swamp Thing 76 that make it all possible.

Personally-- I know I'm in the minority here-- I find the Delano run on Hellblazer to be the book at its finest. Yes, the major storylines ran too long and the "Fear Machine" arc sort of flew off the rails towards the end, but this was the most celebral run on the book. Ennis took a lot of the brains out of the book, but his stories were so well plotted and emotionally resonate that it's easy to forgive.