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Mike Carey talks Hellblazer at SDCC Taken from ComicBookResources On his upcoming Hellblazer OGN (All His Engines) with Leonardo Manco, Mike had the following to say - 
"I think it's fair to say that we're free and easy about continuity here," Carey told CBR News earlier this week. "Readers should be able to pick the book up without needing any former acquaintance with John Constantine, or any knowledge of what's happened in the last fifteen years of the monthly title. This is very much John as I write him in the monthly Hellblazer book, but I don't use any of the supporting cast apart from Chas - and the John/Chas relationship is pretty much self-explanatory."What's it about? It's about a guy who plays poker with the devil on a regular basis - and that's a game that makes the odd chess match with Death seem like a relaxed and civilised pastime. It's about the magic of the old world and the magic of the new, and what happens when you get caught in between them. And it's about the different ways in which Hell can erupt into people's lives. "To give more of a teaser, John promises to help Chas out when his granddaughter falls prey to a mysterious illness - but then that careless promise gets him mired deep in a whole lot of very nasty shit. There's a demon who's setting up micro-hells on Earth, and when John runs up against this demon he has to recruit some even more unpleasant characters in order to defeat him. And every step he takes seems to get him in even deeper, until there's only one option open to him. But I'd rather not say what that is, beyond saying that it's very much a John Constantine sort of play. When you're all out of legal moves, change the rules of the game..." Mike then offered a brief insight into how he sees John Constantine and his ever suffering best mate, Chas - "Well the main character is John Constantine - a guy who's made up of about twenty five per cent black magician and seventy five per cent con artist, and whose self-imposed quest to screw over the lords of Hell has blighted his life and the lives of everyone who's ever gotten close to him. John is a sort of Jonah figure, a harbinger of doom. Every ship he sails in goes down, and even when he wins it feels like losing. But having said that, he's smart and cool and sardonic and he'd talk back to God himself. He's an irresistible anti-hero. "And then there's Chas Chandler, who's his best mate. Which means that he gets used, taken for granted, lied to, false-footed and generally exploited, and somehow always comes back for more. The key to that relationship is that Chas owes John a big, big favour, and John is the one who gets to say when that favour is repaid. He's kept Chas dangling for fifteen years on the strength of that, and Chas was still hanging in there when last seen. "When I write John, I tend to think in terms of oil and water. He's very ruthless and in many ways very self-centered, and he often makes the most appalling mistakes by not thinking about the consequences of his actions. But on the other hand, he's ultimately a person who tries to do good - a person who can't walk away from trouble or cross the street when there's some bad shit going down. That's the paradox - he's a mean bastard, but he means well. You have to try to show both sides of that complex, messed up personality." More in link. <<< Back to 2004 News Index |
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