Hellblazer help

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XIII
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Hellblazer help

Post by XIII »

The whole 300 issues of Hellblazer is at $0.99 an issue on Comixology. That's the kind of offer that makes me go digital.
But the thing is I don't know what is good Hellblazer and what isn't.
So any Hellblazer specialists out there who could tell me which run to get? Delano's? Ennis'? Ellis'? Azz's?

Help!

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jedispyder
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Post by jedispyder »

I don't remember much of Delano's run. A few good ones are #11 (the infamous Newcaster and demon Nergal story) and #35.

Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean did #27 which I always thought was a good issue.

Ennis wrote 41-83 with the first arc being the best with 41-46 (his most infamous, as well). #52-55 is a Jack the Ripper type murder mystery involving the Royal Family, a good read. #63 is his 40th birthday issue which was hilarious. Most of the rest is telling a part of the larger story so everything comes together in the end (which a lot of writers do).

Ellis did 134-143 which was great, but the real gem of Ellis' arc was the mostly unpublished 141 story that was finally printed in a recent Vertigo one shot. DC refusing to print the issue originally is why Ellis left the title. The substituted 141 issue Ellis wrote is one of the creepiest issues of Constantine I've read. So both copies of 141 are great, but the best is the unpublished Shoot.

Azzarello did 146-174. This is when I first began reading the series so I'm more partial to this. Most, if not all, of his series was one huge arc detailing Constantine in America and were best read one after another. 146-150 was a good arc about Constantine in prison, 151-156 was him in a backroads town involving a pornographic ring (very fucking demented). The rest of Azzarello's arc was ok and got super weird, especially the "who killed Constantine?" arc that caps out the finale which has John seduce some big billionaire guy at an S&M club (if I remember correctly, it has been 10 years since I read the issues).

I haven't read much of the last 100 issues. 276-300 were not great so I mainly ignored those.

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wolf_2099
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Post by wolf_2099 »

I also downloaded the entire thing for free, if you're into that sort of thing.
"French is like anal, exotic but oh so unnecessary."

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XIII
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Post by XIII »

I must admit that I'm now more into Comixology than torrents mostly because I read digital comics on my phone and the guided is much better for that than the .cbr format.

Thanks a lot Chris for the info, I'll look into it more closely but it looks like I'm going to splurge...

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MGM
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Post by MGM »

I never really liked Axzarello's run. Not sure what is the best. Can't remember the name of the first writer, but that run is good. As is Ellis', Ennis' and Carey's.

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XIII
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Post by XIII »

That's what I've read so that's what I'll get. Thanks!

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Stocky Boy
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Post by Stocky Boy »

Milligan's run, which I believe was the last and longest run is said to be good.

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XIII
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Post by XIII »

I settled on Ennis, Ellis, the first arc of Azz and Diggle. Also got the Neil Gaiman one.

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MGM
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Post by MGM »

While good, the Gaiman one is hardly remarkable. But it is good.

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