Though many writers have wanted to use John Constantine in their series, DC denied them up until 2011 because of the "mature readers" status of Hellblazer and fears that including the character in the more supposedly family-friendly parts of the DC Universe might cause controversy. So, instead, various analogues and homages to John have appeared.
Outside of comics, Hellblazer boosted the popularity and image of the occult detective fiction genre and shaped it to its modern form. Many modern examples of the genre have been influenced by it and many imitators of both the series and its character flourished. Its elements and style have been used countless of times in other works and many analogues of the cynical John Constantine have appeared.
These are characters that were inspired from or influenced by John Constantine and his stories:
Comics[]
- Due to the above, Grant Morrison created Willoughby Kipling for Doom Patrol. He also based him on Withnail from Withnail & I. It was revealed in Hellblazer #51 that he and Constantine have met, and he had a brief voice-over cameo in Warren Ellis' JLA: Classified story "New Maps of Hell".
- Also due to the above, Phil Foglio's update of Stanley and His Monster featured author Ambrose Bierce drawn to look like Constantine and playing much the same role. People keep mistaking him for Constantine, who he calls a clown.
- Neil Gaiman also created John Constantine's ancestor for The Sandman: Johanna Constantine. Both Johanna Constantine and John Constantine has the same initials; JC.
- Bigby Wolf from Fables, who wears a trenchcoat and smokes thin cigars.
- Pete Wisdom from Excalibur was always like this. He's cleaned up a bit recently, though. Given up smoking and everything. Some fans have theorised that the original character was the '90s Anti-Hero version of the character, and this is just a natural progression.
- Constance Johanssen was Warren Ellis's homage/parody of Constantine in the Pryde and Wisdom mini-series: "Constance Johanssen. Excellent occult detective. Has a habit of getting her friends killed. Two hundred at last count."
- Jack Carter from Planetary, also by Warren Ellis.
- Gregori Eilovitch Rasputin from Firestorm. Rasputin was originally intended to be John Constantine, but writers were unable to use him so they created an original character instead.
- Cal McDonald from the Criminal Macabre.
- Hellboy from Dark Horse: not only is he an occult detective, he's a trenchcoat fan and a heavy smoker.
- Marcos Bizancio from Bizancio, is an Argentinian equivalent.
- Alex Bujarin from Bujarin.
Anime and manga[]
- Kiritsugu Emiya from Fate/Zero. He wears a grungy longcoat, smokes so much and has cold and calculating facade. Top of all that, he's also a Mage Killer specializing in killing rogue mages with his own brand of magic.
Literature[]
- The Dresden Files Harry Dresden, private investigator and wizard, is also one. Creator Jim Buthcer also stated once that he was a fan of comic books growing up.
- Felix 'Fix' Castor is the main character of a series of novels by sometime Hellblazer and Lucifer writer Mike Carey (perhaps better known as M.R. Carey, author of The Girl With All The Gifts). Castor is a clear analog of John Constantine including long coat and companion succubus.
TV series[]
- The character Castiel from the TV series Supernatural wears a similar outfit to John (suit, tie, and tan trenchcoat). In fact according to Misha Collins (the actor who plays Castiel) the outfit is based off of John.