Keanu Reeves as John Constantine (Photo Credit – Wikimedia)
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February 2025 is the 20th anniversary of Constantine, a supernatural action film starring Keanu Reeves and directed by Francis Lawrence. The story follows the professional exorcist John Constantine, who’s capable of discovering half-angels and half-demons that walk the Earth impersonating ordinary people. The film was originally released on February 18, 2005, and Keanu and Francis have openly reminisced about their experiences on the film, and their plans for a sequel.
The Constantine movie is an adaptation of the DC Comics character, also named John Constantine. Created by Alan Moore and Stephen R. Bisette, the chain-smoking exorcist first appeared as a supporting character in Alan and Stephen’s Swamp Thing, before starring in his own series known as Hellblazer. Read on to learn more.
John Constantine was originally a DC Comics character
John Constantine was conceived at a pivotal time for DC Comics. The publisher had been pivoting in a more experimental direction, with them hiring Alan Moore and Stephen R. Bisette to reboot their horror comic series, known as Swamp Thing, in 1984. The series, originally created by Len Wein and Bernie Wirghtson, was completely reimagined by Alan Moore and Stephen. Departing from the original concept of a man who was forced to become a monstrosity, Alan Moore rewrote the Swamp Thing as a sentient force of nature itself.
The Swamp Thing reboot ran for a few issues and story arcs until John Constantine was introduced in a prominent supporting role in Swamp Thing #37. Constantine’s story arc, named “American Gothic”, lasted from #37 to #50. The storyline showed Constantine manipulating the Swamp Thing into embracing its destiny as an agent of Gaia and the cosmic order.
Constantine’s presence in the Swamp Thing comics was well-received, prompting him to receive his own solo series, titled Hellblazer, in 1988. The original run of Hellblazer ran from 1988 to 2013, for 300 issues.
The original Hellblazer comic series was notable for averting many common comic book tropes, such as a sliding timescale and static characterization. John Constantine’s storylines were marked by a constant sense of progression and change. The series was also a proving ground for many British comic book writers throughout its run.
While Alan Moore and Stephan Bisette had originated the character in their Swamp Thing series, the Hellblazer comic book series premiered with Jamie Delano as the writer. His work on Hellblazer was collected in the graphic novels “Original Sin”, “The Devil You Know”, “Fear Machine”, and “Family Man”.
Following Delano’s run, Garth Ennis (who’d late author The Boys and Preacher) took over, starting with “Dangerous Habits”, which was his debut story arc, and the basis for the 2005 film adaptation.
Following Garth Ennis, other authors who wrote for Hellblazer include Paul Jenkins, Warren Ellis, Brian Azzarello, Mike Carey, Denise Mina, Andy Diggle and Peter Milligan.
With the planned sequel coming out long after the conclusion of the original Hellblazer series, the upcoming film will have a lot more material to work with. Keanu Reeves and Francis Lawrence remain vague on the plot details for the sequel, except to confirm that it will be set in the same continuity, and feature the same Constantine, as the 2005 film.
