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Brian Azzarello Says Goodbye "Never apologize, never explain." These sort of farewells used to be handled on the letters page, but those good old days are long gone, so I’m bending a personal rule and posting on-line. Not that I don’t read posts, I just don’t respond. I’ve found that as a creator, what I have to say (or is it how I say it?) either makes me enemies or adoring fans, and I’m not looking for either. It’s also my feeling that injecting myself in your discussions would somehow taint them; that your opinions would be colored. And it’s your honest opinions I wanted to read. I’m not going to respond to any of those opinions in particular, but it’s heartening that for the most part, they fell into two camps; those that absolutely loved what was happening each month, and those that vehemently hated it. Very few of you sat on the fence about John’s three year trip, which is great. I’d think I was doing something wrong if everybody universally praised my work-- or condemned it. But based on the strong stances I’ve read here and on other non-official boards and news groups I know I did my job as a writer-- which is to emotionally involve the reader in the story. To those of you that dug what was happening in Hellblazer each month; thank you. Either you understand what I was doing, enjoy ambiguous endings that challenge you to put the final piece of the puzzle into place, or get off on extreme human behavior. And that’s where horror lives for me; in the extremities where you lose control. What makes John such a vital character is that he very rarely loses control in extreme situations, and he brings the extreme to the ordinary. Emotionally, nothing is more extreme than love and hate, because they tend to lead to guilt and regret. That’s what this book has been about while I was writing it. As for you on the other side of the fence, some of your opinions have been brutally honest-- which I’m perfectly comfortable with. Hell, you buy the book, and for $2.50 you have every right to post your two cents-- about the work. If I could criticize some of your criticisms it would be to say that name calling is just that. It says more about the intelligence and character of the caller than the call-ee. These posts I dismissed as uniformed-- though entertaining-- rants. One thing though I would like to address is the opinion that I had John sometimes acting out of character. That to me is impossible. As a con man, John has no concrete character; he adapts himself to the people around him to make them believe what they want so he gets what he wants. Con man 101. Thanks to first and foremost to Marcelo Frusin, my collaborator for most of the run. He is an artist whose instincts and skills are beyond compare, and a man I trust. This was only the first project you’ll see from us. Second and soremost to Tim Bradstreet, whose covers each month set not only Hellblazer apart from the rest of pack, but the bar that much higher for other cover artists. Thanks also to Richard Corben, Steve Dillon, Guy Davis, Guiseppe Camuncoli and Cameron Stewart-- it’s been an honor to work with all of them. James Sinclair and Lee Loughridge, two who understand that menace is not only in the black shadows but in the colors that surround them. And Clem Robbins, for taking my words and making them speech. Editorially, I’ve got to thank Axel Alonso, for making the mistake in thinking an American could write Hellblazer. He and I went through some wars together, and though scarred, we survived. I’m at the point in my life where I’m too old for new friends, but I made one with Axel. I hope he feels he made one with me. Jenny Lee, who took over the book briefly in a difficult time and made it easier. Tony Bedard, who got blamed wrongly by me for making it difficult again. And Will Dennis, who makes everything easy. What I said about friendship goes for him too. I’d better not forget Karen Berger-- ever. She and I had some back and forth over the Highwater story arc, and the result was an Eisner nomination. At least somebody knows what they’re doing. To the longtime fans of John Constantine who enjoyed my run, I hope you’ll still enjoy it years from now. I tried something different with it; I thought after 150 issues is was time to get out of his head, and make the con work on the readers as well as the characters in the story. Put the B.A. in bastard, so to speak. To my fans who picked up the book due to me writing it; please don’t leave. Mike Carey is a tremendous writer, and you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you abandoned John Constantine now. I know what Mike has planned for the book, and I know I’ll be reading it. That’s the highest endorsement I can personally give. To fans of the book-- but not my run-- here’s your character back, no worse for the wear, and actually a lot more healthy in terms of sales and attention than he was previously. (You can thank me later.) Feel free to copy and post this message in it’s entirety on any web site or message board where it may be of interest, or where the ravenous will have a bloody feeding frenzy ripping it to shreds. So that’s it; I’m done. I’m off to the tavern now to say a proper good-bye to John Constantine, a man I’ve been dangerously intimate with for three years or so. For my enemies and friends, drinks all around. Azz Originally posted on the official Hellblazer Message Board by Brian Azzarello <<< Back to 2002 News Index |
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