John Constantine is an exorcist, demonologist and petty dabbler of the dark arts. Born in Liverpool, Constantine is raised by an abusive father who blamed him for the death of his mother Mary Anne in childbirth. Later learning that he is descended from the legendary Laughing Magicians, which explained his ability to perceive the true nature of supernatural beings at an early age, John grew up highly cynical and cunning with an interest in the dark arts. In his teenage years he was introduced into the occult and became a respected legend among the dabblers of magic. But John's inability to save a young girl named Astra from a demon he summoned to save her from a weaker one had damned his soul. While he intended to retire at Ravenscar Psychiatric Hospital, Constantine finds himself dealing with the converging supernatural threats that constantly break through to his world, hoping of redeeming his soul from eternal torment by stopping the apocalypse from occurring.
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History
John Constantine is a fictional antihero, appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and its alternative imprint Vertigo.
The character first appeared in The Saga of Swamp Thing #37 (June 1985), and was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette & John Totleben (since Bissette/Totleben wanted to draw the singer Sting into the comic, hence it was later retconned to say the Sting-lookalike that appeared in Swamp Thing #25 was actually Constantine too). When his own title was launched by Jamie Delano and John Ridgway, they fleshed out the character and his background/family and hence DC officially listed them as co-creators too.
He serves as the lead character of the comic books Hellblazer (1988–2013), Constantine (2013–2015), Constantine: The Hellblazer (2015–2016), and The Hellblazer (2016–2018). He also has appeared as a member of Justice League Dark.