Where should I start with Hellblazer?

[Bazooka Tooth]

Should i begin with the very first?

Or get those only with well written issues?

[stealthwise]

I'd start with either the collection of "Original Sins" by Delano, which is very good, and similar in theme and tone to Moore's early Swamp Thing horror stories, or just jump right into Ennis's "Dangerous Habits," which rules completely and starts a great run.

[Jack Zodiac]

Yep! I'd say that every newbie to Constantine should start with Ennis and Dillon's run, beginning with "Dangerous Habits." That's the archetypical John and they completely run him through the wringer, so it sets you up for the common theme of Hellblazer, John doing something completely dangerous and fucking up left and right until the last minute where he pulls it all together at the expense of something or someone else.

Delano's run was good, though, and you should definitely pick that and the Rare Cuts trade up.

[Bazooka Tooth]

sweeeeeeet. i'll go get em. thanks you guys!

does he just go to hell and battle demons? what can i expect from John?

[gorthon616]

It depends. Carey's run (which is the one I've collected) is more horror/fantasy than most other runs. Ennis's run (which I've read, but don't own) is more Ennis's style (when he's writing more seriously) with just a slight flavor of the occult.
Dangerous Habit's is probably the best standalone. Though the current series is pretty solid as well (though the last issue was disappointing).

[Jack Zodiac]

sweeeeeeet. i'll go get em. thanks you guys!

does he just go to hell and battle demons? what can i expect from John?

He goes to Hell. He fights demons. None of that's exclusively what he does, though. He never goes looking for trouble, it just finds him constantly. If he could get away with not putting himself in danger every other week, he'd probably be more content to just drink and smoke, but something always happens to him.

Check out Ennis' run. He fights everything from demons and angels and to racists and religious extremists.

[Bazooka Tooth]

i'm gonna go grab Ennis's run first. I've faith in him that the story will deliver!

[stealthwise]

i'm gonna go grab Ennis's run first. I've faith in him that the story will deliver!

Oh, it does. His trades are great... up until Son of Man, which isn't bad per se, but not quite as good as some of the other stuff you could get (ie. Delano's trade, or Ellis's work on the character).

[herozero]

DC's website has the first issue of Delano's Original Sins for download if you want to take a peek and see what you think. The link is...

http://www.dccomics.com/media/excerpts/1618_1.pdf

They have sneek peaks and possibly full issue downloads of other collections as well, I just recently started getting into it myself, and I started with the collections of Ennis' run and was not disappointed. Great stuff. But I stayed away from Original Sins at first because I didn't know what to expect from it. Thought this might help you out.

[Bazooka Tooth]

good lookin out man. Thanks a mill.

[herozero]

good lookin out man. Thanks a mill.

No problem. Glad to help.

[Agent Helix]

I'd actually recommend Carey's recent OGN, "All His Engines", as well. It's a good story, complete, has great art, and it's really easy to follow for people that may have never read an issue of the series before.

[Erisu Kimu]

I'm kind of new to John Constantine myself, although I know about him and have seen him appear in many other comic books (ex. The Sandman, Swamp Thing).

I'm going to check out that first issue of "Original Sins."

[Bazooka Tooth]

awesome help you guys. time to save some money up for these.

[charmtrap]

Are there any plans that anyone knows of to fix the deplorable state of the Hellblazer trade program? They should let the current editions sell out and then re-do all the trades in order, with all the issues collected. The collector-scum in me is sorely aggrieved by the haphazard way they've traded Hellblazer.