John Constantine is taking on the rich and the powerful in Hellblazer: Rise and Fall

John Constantine: He’s a sinner, a liar and on occasion, a hero. DC’s resident wizard has been weaving his way throughout storylines of his own recently, but they’ve been somewhat restricted by a more young adult approach within the main continuity of those comics. What if you could give Constantine a chance to get wrapped up in some truly dark magic and horrific plots, without having to worry about a censor tapping your creative team on the shoulder?

That’s where DC’s Black Label imprint comes in, as the infamous mage will be casting a few spells and using some classic misdirection in Hellblazer: Rise and Fall. This book is being helmed by the dream team of writer Tom Taylor and artist Darick Robertson, two heavyweight creatives who are no strangers to unleashing a tsunami of terror within their respective projects.

Here’s the DC synopsis for the series and a look at Robertson’s amazing art so far:

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In Hellblazer: Rise and Fall, a new three-issue mini-series by Tom Taylor and Darick Robertson launching this September, a billionaire mysteriously falls out of the sky and is gruesomely skewered on a church spire. Even stranger, they have angel wings attached to their back. More bodies soon follow, raining death and causing widespread panic. Detective Aisha Bukhari is stumped by the phenomenon, until she’s visited by her childhood friend, occult investigator John Constantine.

DC’s Hellblazer soon discovers a link between the falling elite and a shocking moment in his and Aisha’s misspent youth. How do these killings tie to the first act of magic ever committed by John Constantine? How does this involve Heaven and Hell? Thirty years later, Constantine’s no stranger to supernatural threats and hard-pressed to consider stopping any monster who haunts a nation by killing the most corrupt among its citizens.

Even if this mess is kind of John’s fault, will Constantine be happy to let a few more rich bastards fall from the sky, like a vindictive Robin Hood? Does John have any interest in stopping the 1% from…trickling down?

“This is a very twisted book,” Taylor said in a press release.

But, I actually want to give people exactly the John they’ve seen before. I want to write the bloke who steps out of the shadows with the smirk, the lit cigarette and all the answers. I want a story of shocks and sadness and triumph in the face of utter horror. I love writing characters who speak truth to power.

John doesn’t just speak truth to power, he tears power a new one any chance he gets. He’s also not your standard perfect hero. He makes a lot of mistakes and people in his orbit get hurt. But there’s a beautiful heart beating in the bastard…there’s something very cathartic about class warfare where the upper class doesn’t win every damn battle.

In an age where the rich and the powerful can simply buy their way out of trouble, seeing the 1% get what they deserve from forces who can’t be bribed is most likely going to make for some gleeful reading. Hellblazer: Rise and Fall will be a three-issue series, with each book being a chunky 48-page chapter when it starts releasing from September.

Last Updated: June 11, 2020