Hellblazer, Help required

[vzzbux]

The missus just got me Hellblazer: Freezes over, for 20p from our local library.

Can anyone out there give me a list of GN's from start so I can start my collection.
Any help would be much appreciated thanx.





V

[Jim_Campbell]

This Wikipedia page seems to list all the issues and their corresponding collected editions.

Dunno if that helps?

Cheers

Jim

[vzzbux]

Thanx for that Jim, I don't know why I didn't just go there in the first place.

Is it worth collecting the whole lot or is there any to avoid?





V

[Jim_Campbell]

Is it worth collecting the whole lot or is there any to avoid?

You could probably do worse than attack the series chronologically. I'm a big fan of Delano's run on the first forty issues but, I have to admit, subsequent writers have failed to maintain my interest so you'll have to see what our fellow boarders can recommend!

Cheers

Jim

[Emperor]

Personally, I skipped the Brian Azzarello and Denise Mina volumes as the reviews were... variable. I will probably go back and pick them up if I find them cheap just from curiosities sake.

The others are all good, although (like a lot of ongoing series), you often get the feeling that a writer was running out of steam towards the end of their runs but Delano, Ennis, Carey and Diggle all deliver the goods and hit the ground running. So you might as well start at the beginning and as long you read the early Delano and Ennis stories there is no big problem with continuity if you wanted to pick up more recent comics.

Also you'll want to pick up All His Engines, as Carey really delivered the goods there.

This Wikipedia page seems to list all the issues and their corresponding collected editions.

Worth noting that, while I try and keep the list updated, it doesn't include the Titan Books versions so shop around as they are often cheaper.

[mygrimmbrother]

I have fond memories of the Garth Ennis run, though it's been about 8 years or so since I read em. I really enjoyed the Brian Azarello stuff, and the Mike Carey run (the guy's a bonafide scouser after all). But Warren Ellis' stint I found uncomfortable. The man has issues.

[Colin YNWA]

Would certainly recommend the first trades up to and including Ennis run. I drifted from comics after that so not sure about the rest.

While we're talking Hellblazer I'm sad to report that I've dropped the current Milligan run, especially as the last panel of the last issue really seems like it might be getting interesting. but I'm actively cutting down by pull list as a baby is on the way so I've let it go. Not because it was bad but it didn't live up to my admittedly high hopes.

Just wondering what other people think of the run so far?

[Trout]

Yeah, Delano and Ellis. There are other good bits. I've enjoyed Andy Diggle's stuff, and the new issues by Pete Milligan are going quite well.

It narks me a bit that Vertigo don't just have Hellblazer GNs in order with nice, tidy numbers on the spines. It's hard work collecting them, so I haven't bothered with too many.

- Trout

[Emperor]

It narks me a bit that Vertigo don't just have Hellblazer GNs in order with nice, tidy numbers on the spines. It's hard work collecting them, so I haven't bothered with too many.

And they don't seem interested in collecting Paul Jenkins' run, or some of the other authors over the years. The way they have been releasing the trades makes it almost impossible to number but you can bet your ass that when they have filled in the gaps and caught up they'll bring in the numbering!!

[vzzbux]

Thanks for the input people, can always rely on the HIVE. I think I will go for the chronological order.








V

[radiator]

It narks me a bit that Vertigo don't just have Hellblazer GNs in order with nice, tidy numbers on the spines. It's hard work collecting them, so I haven't bothered with too many.

I've been collecting the hardback Saga of the Swamp Thing trades over the last few months (just got volume 3) and it's renewed my interest in John Constantine and Hellblazer, a series I've long wanted to dig deeper into.

Having looked at the confusing mess of incomplete, largely out of print trades on Amazon, I was feeling a bit disheartened, but then spotted this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Constantine-Hellblazer-Graphic-Novels/dp/1401230067/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280753591&sr=1-1


It seems that Vertigo are finally going to reprint the (presumably complete) series from the beginning, in chunky 300-page volumes starting with this one. Yay! The only problem being that its not being published until March 2011.

[Colin YNWA]

Well if these see the light of day that will indeed be something to celebrate. Stuff has a habit of appearing on Amazon and not getting published but fingerscrossed on this one.

At that price and at 300+ pages will they be black and white, a vertigo version of the Showcae and Essential lines I wonder?

[radiator]

At that price and at 300+ pages will they be black and white

I think they will be in colour. Original Sins, the first trade of the old line was already 250-odd pages, so it's not much bigger than that. I'm hoping they're going to include all the Jenkins/Phillips material, as that sounds right up my street.

Still, it's perhaps not a great sign for my interest in modern comics that the things I'm most excited about at the moment (outside of Dredd/2000ad, obviously) are reprints of old 80's/90's comics like Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and Preacher!

[Emperor]

Now that is good news, although I won't be swapping for them, it could tempt people in. I do hope they just sweep them all up chronologically, including individual issues missing from the current run, as well as Paul Jenkins' long run that has never been collected.

[radiator]

I never understood that old strategy DC had of not numbering trades (I remember having to read the small print on the inside cover to work out the reading order of books!). Presumably this was to make each trade stand alone, and not put off potential buyers who hadn't read any previous books, but all it did was irritate me.