Ivan Plascencia

Hellblazer #6 is truly the essence of a John Constantine story. There is wit, twisted monsters courtesy of artist Riley Rossmo, and huge helping of self-loathing and loneliness projected on the people around him with a wink, wisecrack, and flip of a lighter. Writers James Tynion and Ming Doyle also portray Constantine as boldly bisexual (He talks about “shagging” a guy.) without making the whole comic about his sexuality. He is a toxic person, who happens to be attracted to both men and women, and both genders end up ruined by his dabbling in forces too powerful and wild for him.

History is filled with monsters. Grab any history book, close your eyes, and open a page. Chances are that the page is riddled with corpses of people long since passed. Backtrack a bit, and it’s safe to assume that those bodies can be linked to one person, give or take. People often forget that the most terrifying stories are real and have taken place all over the globe. People like Elizabeth Bathory, Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia and Adolf Hitler have lined our pages with a body count that would make Freddy Krueger blush. But a leaving high body count isn’t the only way to become labelled a monster.