Constantine, the hero of the Hellblazer comic series played by Keanu Reeves in last year’s film adaptation, will battle demonic forces at the City Chambers in a series of comics penned by one of Scotland’s best known crime writers.
Denise Mina has been chosen by DC Comics, the New York-based publisher of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, to write 13 issues of the cult comic, which was created by the British writer Alan Moore.
The Hellblazer series follows the adventures of John Constantine, an English detective who is trying to bargain his way into heaven by ridding the earth of demons. Mina, author of the award-winning novels Garnethill and Sanctum, will transport him to the streets of Glasgow, where an evil magician is stealing souls from the dying.
His nemesis is a powerful magician working as a council planner who is seeking permission to build on Park Circus.
“Constantine is the ultimate noir hero: a heavy-smoking, broken-hearted idealist,” said Mina. “He comes to Glasgow with an amnesiac friend but when they get into the friend’s house they find a lot of scary stuff there.”
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Mina said she jumped at the chance when she was asked to write the series by Jon Vankin, the editor of DC Comics. “I’ve loved Hellblazer ever since my boyfriend made me read it on the grounds that it was everything I was into: detective stories, swearing, a lot of Silk Cut and Canon Law.”
Mina added that she had been forced to adapt her style for the comic book format: “It’s so different from writing prose.”