The Trenchcoat Brigade

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The Trenchcoat Brigade is a four issue comic books limited series that was published in 1999 as a part of DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. The title references an offhand joke used by John Constantine in the earlier Books of Magic to label a loose affiliation of mystics including himself, Phantom Stranger, Doctor Occult, and Mister E who share a preference for trenchcoats as their outdoor wear. (Constantine was knowingly paraphrasing the title of Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous "The Charge of the Light Brigade," about a reckless military event).

They first appeared together in Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic series, in which they attempted to guide Tim Hunter through various realms of Magic in the DC Universe in order to teach him all of Magic's abilities and consequences.

The group would later re-unite in the five issue mini-series The Names Of Magic.

[edit] Members

The names listed are those used while the character was associated with the "Trenchcoat Brigade".

First Appearance is the place where the character first appeared as a member of the team. It is not necessarily the first appearance of the character in print, nor the story depicting how the character joined the team.

All information is listed in publication order first, then alphabetical.

Character	Real Name	First Appearance	Notes
John Constantine	John Constantine	The Books of Magic Book 1 (1990)
Doctor Occult	Richard Occult	The Books of Magic Book 1 (1990)
Mister E	Erik	The Books of Magic Book 1 (1990)
Phantom Stranger	N/A	The Books of Magic Book 1 (1990)
Rose Psychic	Rose Spiritus	The Books of Magic Book 3 (1990)