he question most people are going to be asking is simply "How does this work?" With Constantine, there are horror elements, language elements and sexual elements that have been in his stories that I'm sure you don't want dropping into the middle of, say, "Teen Titans." Was there an idea of the pieces of the Vertigo cast you knew would carry over, or is each story done in its own way?
You have to take each story in its own way, but there are two very distinct approaches to how we're bringing Constantine to DCU and Vertigo simultaneously. First, there's not a thing that will change about John Constantine's "Hellblazer" book at Vertigo. That book has a particular voice and a particular style, and it's nothing we want to upset the apple cart on. It's a very successful series for us, and we don't want to do anything that would be detrimental to it. So it will continue with the same flavor, style and tone it's always had. Nothing changes at all. And then when you look at how Constantine fits in the DCU, well...we have a template for that, and it's the Constantine that was in the DCU when he first appeared. He had a voice, a style and a tone, and we're going to use that particular style and voice for the character in the stories we plan to tell with him. We have a template for both versions, and there's quite honestly no reason to merge them. Constantine in the Vertigo universe is in his 60s, and what you have in the DC Universe is a character who is markedly younger. It's something where if you looked at him when he first appeared, he hasn't aged a day. Go figure! [Laughs] You can come up with some story reason for that if you want, but we like to think he's just been waiting for us to bring him back in the DCU.
That brings up a question we'd been talking about over here when Swamp Thing came back: namely, what parts of the characters history will impact them as they appear in the DC Universe moving forward? Aside from "Hellblazer" affecting Constantine's status, Swamp Thing has had a number of Vertigo series over the years. Can we assume that these versions will take their history primarily from what happened up to the DC/Vertigo split?
I would say absolutely. That's not to say that there may not be places within those stories that become inspiration for a story idea now, but like I said before, there's a particular tonality and theme that is unique to Vertigo. That's why we have a separate imprint. It's not because they can curse or there's some sexuality that's not shown in the DC Universe. There's a maturity in the storytelling and a deeper focus and examination of the characters. That works extraordinarily well for that kind of universe. Meanwhile, in the DC Universe we have things that are much more rooted in the action adventure realm, so therefore there's a different style of story that will be taking place with these characters as they'll be used in the DCU that'll be separate from the way they're portrayed in Vertigo. So if a story subject works for the DC Universe, we can use that for story material, but if it doesn't, it can stay – and it's important that it stays – with Vertigo.
The last element that a lot of folks will be wondering is with Constantine now back on the DCU beat, is there any chance we'll see more DC characters appearing in "Hellblazer"?
It's hard to say whether or not there will be DCU characters because it stands so well without them. It doesn't need those types of characters in there. But that's not to say that down the road you might not see Swamp Thing appear back in there. One of the reasons that Constantine is appearing in a book involving Swamp Thing now is that he's created a very integral part of that character's history and storytelling, and I have to think that's reciprocal to how things appear in Vertigo.
), Flycatcher, and Cinderella are my faves. I always think of Sarah Michelle Gellar when I read stories with Cindy.
fantastic news i cannot wait to read it
this book.
