JOHN CONSTANTINE

The name’s Constantine, but the comic’s called Hellblazer. Created by Alan Moore as a supporting character during his run on Swamp Thing, the intent was to create a blue-collar warlock. If Dr. Strange grew up in Toxteth… that’s John Constantine, and his attitude’s every bit as acerbic as you might expect.

A complex character, Constantine is a loner who somehow accrues a large network of friends and loved ones, most of whom end up dead. He’s a good man at heart, but prone to the easy, lazy decision that ensures that good may not always prosper. And he’s the kind of guy who will not just look Death in the face and laugh, but tell him to shove it up his arse too.

Curiously, though Moore imbued Constantine with many of his defining characteristics, he rocketed to prominence under the care of writers like Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis, whose Deadly Habits arc, where Constantine contracts terminal lung cancer, is rightly one of the most celebrated in comic book history.