Does Constantine even make sense as a team leader?

[The Animal Man]

i know Lemire said he plans to make John Constantine Leader of justice league dark but the guy's not really a people person he constantly tells everyone to go to hell and threatens them everyday if they so much as look at him the wrong way

i only see him jerking around the team constantly just because he's the leader and they have to do as he says....it's gonna take awhile for them to accept a guy who wanted them to go die while he stayed within a protective circle

[Prisoner 6655321]

Yeah, it does to me. John's really pretty experienced and knowledgeable. Since we're talking about a slightly different John than pre and post vertigo it's hard to say exactly what he's done / knows but even in his first appearances in Swamp Thing he was leading people around. Heck, he showed up more or less out of no where kinda lightly threatened Abby Arcane / Cable lead Swamp Thing around a bit, teaching him lessons about magic and Swamp Thing's true nature. He's known Zatanna for ever and lead the circle where Zatara died. John really knows what he's doing and is probably the most experienced / knowledgeable occultist other than those who represent cosmic beings or are effectively immortal and for the most part he's probably up there with most of those type folks in that regard. That said, why folks might not want to follow him anywhere is that he has the bad habit of broken lives and dead friends. If it seems like John's a jerk, he kinda is but it's mostly because of all the terrible stuff he's been through and that people often go through just for associating with him.

[golgi]

If John is close to his Vertigo self, he would be the most dangerous man in the DCU and in comics in general. He's a master at prep and the only being I can see surpassing him is Lucifer Morningstar. Even Batgod or Dr. Doom can't surpass John, IMO. He would be a decent leader, but MVP in the team, because of his knowledge.

[The Animal Man]

it just is gonna seem really weird for him to be against working as a team and then bam! he's now ordering everyone to do different tasks and objectives....The first storyline in JLD Didn't do anything but make everyone else look stupid while Constantine was the only one who knew how to solve the problem which had a simple answer....i really have no idea what the hell was going on during that whole storyline....just seemed like a poor way for Constantine to become the hero

[golgi]

Constantine is smarter than everyone.

[Prisoner 6655321]

It’s all pretty much in character for Constantine. Two things are important to remember (or learn) about his character. Firstly, he’s smart; in some ways he’s like the occult version of Mr.Fantastic in that he can outthink cosmic beings and even Hell itself. Secondly, he’s a bit of a bad luck charm. Most anyone he’s gotten close to has met a terrible end and as such he’s not exceptionally outgoing and when he was asked to join a team his reasoning for not saying yes was probably because he‘d assume that those on said team would wind up dead and some how damned for all eternity fairly quickly at that for his being there.

[The Animal Man]

Constantine is smarter than everyone.

Or Maybe Everyone else is written like morons.....

[Prisoner 6655321]

Or Maybe Everyone else is written like morons.....

Maybe? I didn't think so but it's certainly your prerogative to think so. Regardless, in matters of occult John should generally be both the smartest guy in the room.

[The Animal Man]

Maybe? I didn't think so but it's certainly your prerogative to think so. Regardless, in matters of occult John should generally be both the smartest guy in the room.

I'm Sorry it's not that i don't think John's A Skilled And Experienced person when it comes to the occult but you can't deny that the first storyline in JLD made everyone else seem like total idiots

[Prisoner 6655321]

Maybe but I think that if it seemed that way it was largely because Milligan was trying to show character flaws. John knows what he’s doing but he’s kinda a jerk albeit a jerk with fairly good intentions. Xanadu is essentially immortal and thus more than a bit removed from humanity. Deadman isn’t an idiot but he’s more heroic than smart. Shade has a slippery grasp on his sanity. Zatanna is a competent enough lady but she’s far from the “greatest” at anything, her biggest strength is her Justice League connections.

[The Animal Man]

and that wasn't the right way to go about it....the title's justice league dark and you never got a sense of anything really happening

[FanboyStranger]

Constantine is smarter than everyone.

I wouldn't say that John is smarter than everyone, especially in terms of knowledge, but he knows people and how to manipulate them better than anyone else in the DCU. One of the hallmarks of being a great con artist is that ability to read people and situations in a split second, and no one does that better than John. That doesn't necessarily make John a good leader, but I think his tendency to see the big picture and make the choices that others lack the stomach to make suggest that he's the right guy to lead the JL:D.

[BeastieRunner]

John can only lead if they plan on killing off 90% of his team as fodder for his plans.

[El Sombrero]

i know Lemire said he plans to make John Constantine Leader of justice league dark but the guy's not really a people person he constantly tells everyone to go to hell and threatens them everyday if they so much as look at him the wrong way

i only see him jerking around the team constantly just because he's the leader and they have to do as he says....it's gonna take awhile for them to accept a guy who wanted them to go die while he stayed within a protective circle

I think that's certainly the point; Constantine is the leader because he's such a bad people-person and that creates conflict and makes things interesting.

I am looking forward to Lemire's start on JLD. Milligan wrote good characters but plot-wise it was going nowhere. I think Lemire will do a good enough job with the characters and have significantly better plots that will keep the title more relevant in the larger DCU.

[golgi]

I wouldn't say that John is smarter than everyone, especially in terms of knowledge, but he knows people and how to manipulate them better than anyone else in the DCU. One of the hallmarks of being a great con artist is that ability to read people and situations in a split second, and no one does that better than John. That doesn't necessarily make John a good leader, but I think his tendency to see the big picture and make the choices that others lack the stomach to make suggest that he's the right guy to lead the JL:D.

I meant mainly in terms of magic. He basically is.