John Constantine Hellblazer Vol 16 The Wild Card

After spending a year and a half wandering through the darkest corners of America, John Constantine has returned home! His port of entry is Liverpool, where the decaying landscape and gentle undercurrent of despair match his frame of mind. Of course, no sooner does he set foot upon his native land than he stumbles into a small-time necromancy-and-murder ring centered on his own sister’s apartment building. More worrying than this sordid little power trip is the disappearance of his niece, Gemma, who’s turning out to be a bit too much like her uncle for anybody’s good. In her eagerness to learn the family trade, Gemma has gone to London and fallen in with a bad crowd, and pulling her out means that Constantine will have to join the search for a distinctly nasty magical artifact-one that shouldn’t fall into anyone’s hands, least of all those of the man determined to find it. Critically acclaimed author Mike Carey kicks off his acclaimed run on England’s legendary magus with JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER VOL. 16: THE WILD CARD, collecting issues #175-188 of the signature Vertigo series and featuring the fan-favorite artistic talents of Marcelo Frusin, Steve Dillon, Lee Bermejo, Doug Alexander Gregory and Jock.

Acclaimed author Mike Carey concludes his groundbreaking run on London’s working-class magus with JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER VOL. 18: THE GIFT. To restore his mind and save his life, John Constantine was forced to give a day of his life to a she-demon named Rosacarnis. It was a bad bargain, and one that he knew he’d regret—but he had no idea how quickly everything would go straight to hell in its aftermath. Over the course of that single day, England’s savviest street sorcerer lived several lifetimes—and sired three infernal offspring, whose incandescent hatred of him was carefully nurtured by their mother. Luckily for Constantine, the blood he shares with his sulfurous brood makes it impossible for them to kill him outright. Unluckily, his dwindling roster of friends and loved ones enjoy no such protection. And now that war has been declared on all that John holds dear, the lives and souls of his best friend, his ex-flame, his niece and his sister are all fair game for the non-existent mercies of Rosacarnis and her family. Can Constantine defeat his progeny, their mother and their all-powerful grandfather? Or will the so-called gift of fatherhood finally be the death of him? Collects issues #202-215 of the signature VERTIGO series and featuring the artistic talents of Leonardo Manco, Frazer Irving, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Lorenzo Ruggiero.

Acclaimed author Mike Carey continues his pivotal run on England’s iconic antihero with JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER VOL. 17: OUT OF SEASON. In his countless encounters with the forces of evil, John Constantine has had his share of double crosses, near misses and narrowly averted disasters. Yet England’s savviest street sorcerer has always managed to survive, with both his mind and the world at large left (mostly) intact. Now he’s about to make the biggest mistake of his magical life—and every soul on Earth will pay the price. Thanks to Constantine’s carelessness, the Beast of the Apocalypse has slouched into London to be born, and the minds of all humanity are at its mercy. From the Swamp Thing to Lucifer himself, the Hellblazer’s allies and enemies alike are powerless to stop the slaughter. In order to save the world, Constantine must sacrifice his own mind, and all of the memories that go with it. Can he survive without the secrets of his own dark history? And if so, will the resulting life actually be a fate much worse than death? This volume collects issues 189-201 of the signature VERTIGO series and features the all-star artistry of Marcelo Frusin, Leonardo Manco, Chris Brunner and Steve Dillon.

"John Constantine created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, John Totleben and Jamie Delano & John Ridgway."

Covering genres from adventure and fantasy to horror, science fiction, and superheroes, this guide maps the vast terrain of graphic novels, describing and organizing titles to help librarians balance their graphic novel collections and direct patrons to read-alikes. New subgenres, new authors, new artists, and new titles appear daily in the comic book and manga world, joining thousands of existing titles—some of which are very popular and well-known to the enthusiastic readers of books in this genre. How do you determine which graphic novels to purchase, and which to recommend to teen and adult readers? This updated guide is intended to help you start, update, or maintain a graphic novel collection and advise readers about the genre. Containing mostly new information as compared to the previous edition, the book covers iconic super-hero comics and other classic and contemporary crime fighter-based comics; action and adventure comics, including prehistoric, heroic, explorer, and Far East adventure as well as Western adventure; science fiction titles that encompass space opera/fantasy, aliens, post-apocalyptic themes, and comics with storylines revolving around computers, robots, and artificial intelligence. There are also chapters dedicated to fantasy titles; horror titles, such as comics about vampires, werewolves, monsters, ghosts, and the occult; crime and mystery titles regarding detectives, police officers, junior sleuths, and true crime; comics on contemporary life, covering romance, coming-of-age stories, sports, and social and political issues; humorous titles; and various nonfiction graphic novels.

It’s been a long, hard road that John Constantine has followed across the badlands of America. After walking out of a burning maximum-security prison, into the hollows of Appalachia and through the snows of the Great Plains, England’s greatest magician is approaching the final leg of his intracontinental trek—and closing in on the real reason for the suicide of Richard “Lucky” Fermin, the trigger that set everything in motion to frame Constantine for murder. To reach the end of this long and dangerous trail, however, he will have to pass through the bellies of two very different beasts: first, a nest of white supremacists in rural Montana, where Fermin’s widow has settled; and then, finally, Los Angeles—capital of an entire empire of decadence and home to the singularly American corruption that has hounded Constantine halfway around the globe. Legendary comics author Brian Azzarello concludes his acclaimed cross-country saga with JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER VOL. 15: HIGHWATER, collecting issues 162-174 of the signature Vertigo series and featuring stunning art from Marcelo Frusin, Guy Davis, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Cameron Stewart.

John Constantine knows the secrets of his native England like the back of his nicotine-stained hand. Unfortunately for him, he’s now a world away from that green and pleasant land. Constantine has returned to America, and this time he’s landed in the worst place imaginable: a cell in a maximum-security prison, with a 35-year sentence for murder. Adapting to his new environs will require a steep learning curve, but the world’s greatest magician is nothing if not flexible. In fact, the question that his fellow inmates should be asking is not how this strange-talking newcomer will endure being locked up with society’s worst offenders, but rather how they are going to survive the experience. That’s because Constantine has a few more stops to make on his stateside tour, and, unlike his cellmates, his journey begins in the joint rather than ending there. But when he arrives in the rural town of Doglick, West Virginia, to make personal amends for his crime, what he finds going on behind its closed doors shocks the famously world-weary sorcerer to his hardened, cynical core. Acclaimed writer Brian Azzarello is joined by legendary artists Richard Corben, Marcelo Frusin and Steve Dillon for a terrifying expedition into the darkest corners of the Land of the Free in JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER VOL. 14: GOOD INTENTIONS, collecting issues 146-161 of the signature VERTIGO series together with the nostalgic tale “The First Time” from VERTIGO SECRET FILES: HELLBLAZER.

These are the first nine stories in a continuing monthly comic-book series published under the title, Hellblazer. They detail the adventures of one John Constantine, an insouciant, somewhat amoral occult dabbler and psychic detective.