John Constantine is an exorcist, demonologist, conman and petty dabbler of the dark arts.
Born into poverty to a working-class family in Liverpool in 1953, Constantine was raised (alongside his older sister Cheryl) by an abusive-alcoholic father Thomas who blamed him for the death of his mother Mary Anne in childbirth when in fact it was his father's insistence that his wife get an illegal abortion that had caused her death & that of John's stillborn twin (The Golden Boy).
Later learning that he was descended not only from the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, but also from the legendary Laughing Magicians (including the ancient Brittonic king Kon-Sten-Tyn; the 1st century Byzantine practitioner of the dark arts, Constantine of Constantinople; the 17th Century conman & mercenary, Harry Constantine; the mid-17th Century Ukrainian Cossack magician, Pyotr Konstantin; the early-18th century colonial New York publican and petty magician, Hugh Constantine; the 18th Century aristocrat & adventurer, Johanna Constantine; the early 19th Century black magic practitioner & pirate, Dark Conrad and the 19th Century conman & opium dealer James Constantine), 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. The Laughing Magicians would continue to the end of times with the last one being Jack the Fool.
Although not a family man (both his father & sister would be brutally murdered because of him) he would have a few long term relationships (e.g. Emma, Kit Ryan & Danita Wright) and he would eventually marry Epiphany Constantine; he is the biological father of (Swamp Thing & Abby's daughter) Tefé Holland, (via) Nergal's demoness daughter Rosacarnis he is also the father of the self-loathing Maria Constantine (her brothers Saul & Adam were destroyed by The First of the Fallen) & he is also, after a one-night stand with Liza Ikumelo, the father of Noah Ikumelo (who Constantine damned by getting him to take a life). He also has a niece Gemma, whose life would also fall apart due to her uncle John (she was raped by John's creation, his evil double, the Demon Constantine). Incidentally, another of John's enemies, the King of the Vampires, had been responsible for murdering his grandfather (William Constantine) in the aftermath of the Battle of the Somme during WWI.
The main driving force in John's early magical life was his inability (mainly due to his own arrogance) to save a young sexually-abused girl named Astra Logue from a demon (Nergal) he'd summoned to save her from a weaker one ('The Newcastle Incident'); this event devastated the whole of the Newcastle Crew including John, he was left locked up at the Ravenscar Psychiatric Hospital where he was not treated well (since he had been blamed for the death of an young girl). 'The Newcastle Incident' would also set a precedent for his later life as one-by-one his acquaintances, friends & even ex-lovers would be hurt and even die mainly due to him.
It was after his release from Ravenscar, that Constantine would try to rebuild his life and in 1985 he would eventually meet Swamp Thing (leading to his first appearance in Swamp Thing).
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John Constantine is a fictional anti-hero, appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and its imprints (the now defunct) Vertigo Comics & Black Label.
The character first appeared in The Saga of Swamp Thing #37 (June 1985) and was originally created by Alan Moore, Stephen R. 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 served as the lead character for the longest running (at 300 issues) Vertigo title: Hellblazer (1988–2013); this series was notable in that Constantine aged in realtime during the run. During this run he would occasionally appear in OGNs, Hellblazer spin-off mini-series or in other (mainly) Vertigo titles like Books of Magic or the magical team-up book 'The Trenchcoat Brigade'. Since Hellblazer #300 however this version of the character has only reappeared once in another series: John Constantine: Hellblazer (2019-2020).
DC then (along with the other DC IP's being then published by Vertigo, bought via it's Flashpoint event, Constantine back into the DCU, but de-aged to him to the same age as he was when he first appeared in Swamp Thing) & subsequently this version of the character has been the lead character in a few series': Constantine (2013–2015), Constantine: The Hellblazer (2015–2016), and The Hellblazer (2016–2018). He also has appeared as a member of Justice League Dark (and it's associated titles). This version of the character continues to be the one that currently appears in the mainstream DCU.
Also over the years, different versions of the character have appeared across the DCU (i.e. Hellblazer, an Earth-13 counterpart who is also a costumed hero, and John Constantine of Earth-2); there have also been versions of John Constantine that have appeared in alternative DCU's (i.e. Bad Blood, Batman: Damned, Books of Magick, Books of Magick (Hunter's world), Dark Knights of Steel, Dark Multiverse, DC Bombshells, DCeased, DC vs. Vampires, DC Kids, Futures End, Future State, Hellblazer: Rise & Fall, Injustice, Mite-World, Scribblenauts, Smallville, Swamp Thing: Green Hell & Wildstorm). There have also been other versions of John Constantine that have appeared on film, television and cartoons (& their associated comics).
There have also been other versions when permission was denied to use John Constantine, so similar characters were created (within the DCU) instead (e.g. Ambrose Bierce, Arabelle Crane, Gregori Eilovotich Rasputin & Willoughby Kipling); there was even a Marvel version (Constance Johanssen) created by Warren Ellis as a homage to the character years before he actually got to write character himself.