Jamie Delano

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Jamie Delano
Jamie Delano

Jamie Delano (born 1954, Northampton) is a British comics writer. He was part of the first post-Alan Moore "British Invasion" of writers. Best known as the first writer of the comic book series Hellblazer, starring John Constantine.

[edit] Overview

Jamie Delano was hand-picked by Alan Moore to continue writing John Constantine, originally a secondary character introduced during Moore's revolutionary Swamp Thing run. Delano established the character in his own right, fleshing out what had been, in Moore's hands, a more shadowy, wisecracking sort of figure. It was also Delano who set the character firmly in London, Moore (and later Veitch) preferring to present him travelling virtually anywhere at will. Delano's Constantine is very much flesh and blood, never using magic when a con will do, frequently drunk, down & out, and haunted by his accidental condemning of a little girl named Astra to Hell.

Delano's approach owes much to the quiet, cold but vicious work of British "new wave" writers like Ramsey Campbell and J.G. Ballard and it is this tone that subsequent writers have either had to adopt or go violently against. This also makes Delano the first Vertigo writer, as Hellblazer is often thought of as the company's flagship title. He established the character's history – and his family's – going all the way back to the time of King Arthur in one of the more emblematic Constantine stories, "The Bloody Saint" (1989), drawn by Bryan Talbot. Much of his version of Constantine was the basis of the 2005 Constantine movie.

Most of his work since leaving the book to Garth Ennis and many others since (though he has gone back to the character a number of times) has also been for DC/Vertigo, both radical treatments of established characters and more pointed, political works, a list of which (from his site) can be found below.

Much of Delano's often bitingly witty work shares concerns with that of other British comics writers like Pat Mills, and can be characterized as science fiction, or horror, but often is a blend thereof and used very allegorically. In its concern with transformation of bodies and cultures, through psychedelia, conspiracy, or science, his work shares much with the likes of David Cronenberg and some, like Ghostdancing or Animal Man, have taken a great deal of influence from Carlos Castaneda and Jim Morrison.

Frequent subjects in his work include the War of the sexes (World Without End), imperialism and genocide (Ghostdancing), and environmental & cultural collapse (2020 Visions, Animal Man). One of Vertigo's most prolific, most crucial but, in the opinion of many, too often overlooked creators. Some would even argue that only Alan Moore's own influence was greater.

[edit] Bibliography

  • One-Off:
    • Blood Sport (with David Pugh, in 2000 AD #484, 1986)
    • The Ark (with Dave Wyatt, in 2000 AD #504, 1987)
Cover of Hellblazer #1
Enlarge
Cover of Hellblazer #1
  • World Without End (with John Higgins, DC, 6 issue mini-series, 1990)
  • Tainted (with Al Davison, Vertigo, one shot, 1995)
  • Cruel & Unusual (cowritten with Tom Peyer, art: John McCrea & Andrew Chiu, Vertigo, 4 issue mini-series, 1999)

[edit] External links


Preceded by:
None		 Hellblazer writer
1988-1990		 Succeeded by:
Grant Morrison
Preceded by:
Neil Gaiman		 Hellblazer writer
1990		 Succeeded by:
Dick Foreman
Preceded by:
Dick Foreman		 Hellblazer writer
1990-1991		 Succeeded by:
Garth Ennis
Preceded by:
Garth Ennis		 Hellblazer writer
1994		 Succeeded by:
Eddie Campbell
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