John Constantine Hellblazer: Original Sins

  I never read comic books as a kid.  It wasn't a conscious decision not to read them, more that they were just not on my radar.  Curiously many comic adjacent things were on my radar, like cartoons.  I still love cartoons, but comic books and graphic novels came much later for me.  The first graphic novel I remember reading is Maus and then later, Watchmen.  Even after realizing comics and more particularly graphic novels were an actual thing, I still shied away from them primarily because I had no idea where to begin.  I like to start things at the beginning.  With comics, particularly superhero stories, it can be difficult to figure out where the start is.  Don't even get me started on all the different tangents or how different characters and universes relate to one another.  Seriously, a chart or graph would be extremely helpful here.

What finally brought me into the world comics was DC's New 52 reboot. With DC's New 52 there was finally a place to start.  Since then I've been reading all sorts of comics, not just the ones about superheroes.  Recent favorites include Saga and Sex Criminals.  I just picked up copies of Lumberjanes and Boxers & Saints and am looking forward to diving into those.

All of this is a long way of saying that with John Constantine Hellblazer I was hoping for an origin story.  This wasn't it.  It was an intriguing, very political which I wasn't expecting but enjoyed.  Still, if not for the television show Constantine I would have been completely lost reading this collection.  As it is, I'm still unclear as to how Constantine came to become a demon hunter, what exactly his powers/gifts are, or generally what his deal is.  He's a great character, not a super good guy but not a bad one either.  I liked this enough to want to read more.  Now it's back at square one trying to figure out where to begin.