City of Demons #1 E. December 2010) is the first issue of a five-part miniseries. In it, John finds himself seperated from his body and fighting for his life in a London hospital.
Plot summary[]
A quiet night of drinking is spoiled for Constantine when two street thugs try to mug him. He hypnotises them into pointing the blades into each-others' mouths and tells them to wait there for an hour before walking off. But he barely gets twenty feet before another disaster strikes: a 4x4 flattens a passer-by; John calls for an ambulance and gets in with the struck man to explain to the ambulance men that it was the driver's fault. Only when his thoughts start to come unstuck does he realise what's happened: he was the man who was knocked down and he's having an out-of-body experience!
While the surgeons operate, Constantine heads outside where he finds three other lost souls: a headless woman who committed suicide, a legless man whose body is still being operated on and a tiny girl who's crying for her mother. Constantine guesses that the girl is the demon behind his accident and follows her into the hospital, pretending to help her find her 'mother'.
John lends a helping hand
The little girl says that the accident was her fault, but when Constantine demands to know who she's working for, the girl begins to cry and begs him to help her find her mother. Realising that she really is a child, he helps her locate the mum - the same woman that knocked him down.
The mother is being interviewed by a police officer and explains that she wasn't able to concentrate on the road because she could feel that her daughter was still with her. Sadly, the girl explains to Constantine that she was told to stay with her mother no matter what. He tells the girl that she has to move on, and she does - but not before telling her mother where she's going.
Having done his good deed for the century, Constantine heads off to find out which of the other two souls are responsible for his condition. But a rummage through the morgue reveals that they are both entirely human. Perturbed, Constantine slumps into a corner, but not before noticing that a new body looks oddly familiar.
Elsewhere in the hospital, one of the boys that stopped John at the beginning of the issue is giving a written statement to the police. It turns out that he had his throat and face damaged by his friend's knife, while his friend wound up dead. He draws a picture of Constantine, claiming that he stabbed them both, and the police officer mentions that he saw John in the operating theatre earlier.
John's in trouble and out of his body...
Over in the theatre, the surgeons are just wrapping up the procedure when the boy's mother bursts through the door with a knife. She almost manages to stab John in the throat before the surgeons wrestle her to the ground. Soon, John finds himself back in his body with three months of healing ahead of him. Three months of nothing to do but watch the beautiful nurse Marie...
Meanwhile, in an office somewhere in the hospital, two doctors - Malachy Young and Jonathan Yorke - are discussing Constantine's blood samples. It turns out that they are occultists with big plans for the samples - plans that require an army...
Continued in City of Demons issue two.
Continuity[]
- Constantine accuses the little girl of acting for three adversaries: Nergal, 'The Morningstar' aka Lucifer and 'The Lord High Grand Muck-a-Muck of all Things Unholy' (presumably The First of the Fallen). While The First and Nergal are Hellblazer regulars, Constantine has never actually been seen interacting with Lucifer himself.
- The demon blood mentioned at the end of the first issue was transfused from the demon Nergal in Hellblazer issue eight. He subsequently drained it from his system in 'Critical Mass', a story that began in issue 92. He regained the taint in issue 104 by sleeping with a succubus.
Goofs[]
- The warning printed on the side of the cigarette packet is not the same as the one in John's narration.
Notes[]
- John's line about only buying cigarettes with a warning about pregnancies is extremely similar to a line by the comedian Bill Hicks.
- The cover date is 'E. December 2010' - presumably standing for 'early December'.