Warning! Spoilers for John Constantine: Hellblazer: Dead in America #1 ahead!John Constantine has made plenty of bad decisions that can account for the terrible mess that his life has become, but his current predicament can actually be blamed on Timothy Hunter, DC’s very own boy wizard. Thanks to a dark future where Timothy Hunter destroys the world, Constantine is left picking up the pieces of his life.
The recently released John Constantine: Hellblazer – Dead in America #1 by Si Spurrier and Aaron Campbell finds John trapped in America, wanted for murder and trying to discover the reason his body is decaying. His journey to this current predicament began all the way back with 1991’s The Books of Magic #4 by Neil Gaiman and Paul Johnson. The issue sees the young mage Timothy Hunter witnessing a dark future where he goes mad, choosing the path of evil over the righteous. He then unleashes an army of demons that he’s summoned, which end up destroying the Earth.
Among the casualties of Hunter’s terrible deed is John Constantine, who is critically injured. John berates Tim for his actions and is then left to die. But what readers didn’t see at the time is that John makes a deal with an older version of himself and is transported from this world to the universe where he currently finds himself.
After 30 Years, DC Fixes Its Most Significant Magical Plot Hole
John Constantine, DC’s foremost magician has returned, and the first issue of Hellblazer: Dead in America has already cleared up a major plot hole.
Constantine’s Current Problems Can Be Traced Back To Tim Hunter
John Constantine has prevented the apocalypse numerous times, but it seems the one apocalypse he never saw coming was from the young Timothy Hunter. Tim is a young boy with vast magical potential. This makes him a target for things like the Cult of the Cold Flame, who want to corrupt him into becoming evil. In the universe glimpsed in The Books of Magic #4, it seems they succeed. With Tim’s near limitless magical potential, the entire Justice League is destroyed along with almost everyone else.
Readers wouldn’t see Constantine’s perspective on the events, as well as his fate, until 2019 with the release of The Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer by Si Spurrier, Marcio Takara, Cris Peter and Aditya Bidikar. The one-shot revisits the scene where Timothy is shown this dark future. As Constantine lies dying, injured after trying to stop Timothy, he sees the younger version of Tim Hunter and Mr. E. As this young Tim leaves with Mr. E, Constantine is left in Tim’s path of destruction. But instead of dying, the issue reveals that John is visited by an older version of himself and makes a deal to save his life.
Constantine Makes A Deal To Save His Own Life
Part of the deal John makes sends him to another universe, where Dead in America takes place. Instead of Constantine’s story ending in tragedy at the hands of Timothy Hunter, he arrives in a world with no friends and no family. With no other options, he manages to make some new friends and allies before everything goes wrong for him once again. As of Dead in America, he is slowly dying once again, and all of this is because of Tim.
If Tim hadn’t joined the forces of evil, the world wouldn’t have ended, and John wouldn’t find himself in the position he is now, with a few friends and a short time left in his life. While John’s life likely still would’ve been a mess, it would’ve been a mess of his own making. Now, John has had to deal with soulless versions of himself and ancient demons unleashed in America, all because Timothy Hunter ruined John Constantine’s life by one choice.
John Constantine: Hellblazer – Dead in America #1 is on sale now from DC Comics!
