Hellblazer Volume 1<br> Original Sins

NBC has launched the first official TV trailer for their much hyped new TV show 'Constantine' and that has set the TV and comic book world ablaze in excitement at the prospect of greeting the 'Laughing Magician' on screen once again (eight years after his role was played by Keanu Reeves).
Throughout this first volume, we see Constantine taking on a variety of demons and villains as we are introduced to some very crucial characters in his life. It kicks off with Constantine investigating the infestation initiated by an African hunger spirit known as Mnemoth who jumps from body to body and causes people to be consumed by a bout of gluttony and their bodies are devoured by the demon itself (how very metal). Constantine teams up with a voodoo expert, an enemy in general and at times an unusual ally of his, Papa Midnite (who also happens to be a villain in the first season of the upcoming TV show). Later in the volume, Constantine takes on an underground cult of demons who control the British economy from the background preying on the working classes, and later on another story arc leads Constantine to the States, head to head against a religious organisation called Resurrection Squad. There are plenty more twists and turns best left unsaid to avoid ruining such a convoluted storyline.
This, even if not the best Constantine comic chapter, is still placed very high in terms of its scope and quality and it does very well as an introductory story. It has everything a Constantine fan would want in a Constantine novel. Gritty storytelling is done with a perverse, and unforgiving 'British' feel. The storyline serves a backhanded satirical, social and political commentary of the late 1980s and the plight of the working classes. One problem with the comic is that some bits of it feel out of place if you hadn't read the introductory Constantine issues on Swamp Thing, but once you move across Constantine Volumes, this won't bug you as much.
Original Sins marks Hellblazer John Constantine's journey as his own man rather than just an ally on the pages of Swamp Thing comic books. Constantine isn't your average superhero. Or much of a hero if truth be told. He is an exorcist, and expert on the occult, a sharp mouthed jester and a witty problem solver. He is also quite the d-bag, albeit a charming one. He is at times cowardly, whiny, somewhat delusional from paranoia and extremely insecure. That makes him one of the least pretentious and more relatable character from the DC/Vertigo Universe. The sort you love, hate, admire, resent and sympathise with at the same time.
What sets Constantine comics apart are the unique and very creepy, and at the same time very hypnotic, cover artwork which keeps you staring at it before and after you read the issues (afterwards you would probably want to go back just to decipher the occult symbology on the cover and tie it to what you read). The art panels of this volume may be a bit of a put off for most readers as 80s' artwork and colours were different from the sort you'd expect from a comic book today. They are rather raw and somewhat congested.
If you're okay with somewhat messy artwork and you want a solid story, intriguing characterisation, lots of magic, exorcism, voodoo, cults, conspiracies and British humour, want to get into reading Constantine and can't wait for the Constantine TV show, Hellblazer: Original Sins is worth picking up.