John Constantine - Appearances and Mentions

Appearances and Mentions

John Constantine appears in an early issue of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. There in 1989, he helps Dream recover a pouch of sand which had served as one of Dream's totems of power. John had purchased the pouch during Dream's imprisonment and it had then been stolen from him by an ex-girlfriend. John and Dream find the woman using the sand as a drug and driven mad by it, and Dream recovers the pouch, granting the woman a peaceful death at John's request and promising to end the nightmares John had been having "ever since Newcastle". John's ancestor Lady Johanna Constantine also plays a significant role in storylines of The Sandman and an Elizabethan-era "Jack Constantine" is mentioned.

In another of Gaiman's comics, The Books of Magic, John is at hand to show the hero Timothy Hunter around the then-present day DC Comics Universe, along with Mister E, Doctor Occult and the Phantom Stranger. He later appears several times in both the monthly "Books of Magic" series and several mini and maxiseries featuring Timothy Hunter.

During a crossover, Constantine met Shade, The Changing Man during the Hotel Shade era, by Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo. Constantine also makes a small cameo in Vertigo's Lucifer. In issue #5 he is seen drinking at Lucifer Morningstar's bar Lux, among guests that seek an audience with Lucifer about the gateway to the void outside of creation. According to himself he's not there to propose a trade with Lucifer, only to take "a quick look at the field". Lucifer Morningstar makes a return cameo in Hellblazer #192. Lucifer writer Mike Carey wrote Hellblazer between issues 175-215.

Constantine is one of the few people aware of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and one of the few to have foreseen it. Although longtime allies Zatanna, the Phantom Stranger, and Swamp Thing are still either active or frequently referred to in the DCU's world of superheroics, the world of Hellblazer has become more realistic and no mention is made of John's interactions with superheroes, which include attending the funeral of Hal Jordan uninvited, drinking with Doom Patrol member Mento, meeting Batman, attending the opening of Guy Gardner's Green Lantern theme bar, helping an incarnation of the Challengers of the Unknown save London from one of the Millennium Giants and, in his own comic, playing host to a stoned Zatanna at his fortieth birthday party. He does complain about superheroes not getting in trouble for collateral damage as he does at the beginning of The Fear Machine story arc. Constantine was slated to be a main character of the aborted company-wide crossover Twilight of the Superheroes, however the project was ultimately shelved.

John Constantine can be seen in a panel in Neil Gaiman's Batman: Secret Origins story "When is a Door". In it, a film crew is asking people on the street what they think of Gotham's super-villain problem, John is shown smoking a cigarette, responding "Sorry squire, I'm not from 'round here' make that "no comment."" Though it is not stated that this is Constantine, he has the same appearance, speaks in a decidedly British fashion, and this would not be the first cameo Gaiman has given him in a comic. The story was later reprinted as an extra in Gaiman's "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader". He briefly met Oliver Queen in a London pub, telling him to mention his name to the dark forces in Sherwood Forest, although Queen ignored the request.

While not seen in theJustice League Unlimited comic books he was mentioned. He also rates a mention along with Swamp Thing as unavailable in The Spectre (vol. 2) #11 (a crossover with Millennium, to which he alluded in Swamp Thing, trying to get the latter to assist). Constantine appeared in the pages of Justice League of America: Wedding Special, during the bachelor party of Green Arrow. He was walking behind Metamorpho during a conversation between Hal Jordan and John Stewart.

In the final issue of the Brightest Day series, Constantine appears on the last page, remarking "Bollocks" at news that a new Swamp Thing has appeared. Constantine starred in Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search For Swamp Thing, a three-issue mini-series that saw John interact with various DC superheroes during his pursuit of the new Swamp Thing. DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio stated that the John Constantine in the DC Universe will be closer to his original incarnation while Constantine in Vertigo's Hellblazer will continue unaffected.

After Swamp Thing's resurrection by the White Lantern, Constantine is shown looking over the bodies of the polluting executives Swamp Thing has just killed.