Morpheus, the Sandman, and John Constantine would cross paths several times, but their most twisted crossover had a brilliant twist. In March 1990’s Sandman #14, Rose Walker stumbles across a serial killer convention, and one of the guests of honor was being pursued a continent away by John Constantine in April 1990’s Hellblazer #28. And while the two shared a mutual interest in this convention, they never met at any point during the story.
Thanks to the success of Alan Moore’s seminal Swamp Thing, DC Comics began aggressively recruiting talent from Great Britain, including Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Jamie Delano, Peter Milligan and others. Delano would help launch Hellblazer in 1987 and Gaiman would begin his legendary Sandman series a year later. These titles, while ostensibly set in the DC Universe, rarely crossed over with the likes of Superman and Batman, freeing them to tell more gritty and realistic stories. Over time, DC would launch Animal Man and Shade the Changing Man, written by Morrison and Milligan, respectively; these books would form the foundation of DC’s now-defunct Vertigo imprint. While these titles eschewed traditional comic book tropes such as big crossover events, there was still a sense of continuity among them, and that was on display in Sandman #14 (written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Mike Dringenberg) and Hellblazer #28 (written by Jamie Delano and illustrated by Rob Tiner), published just a month apart.
In Sandman #14, Rose Walker and her friend Gilbert check into a non-descript roadside motel. There, the two discover the horrifying truth: the motel is hosting a serial killer convention; in attendance are some of the most vile, terrifying beings to ever walk the Earth—including the demented Corinthian. While the emcee checks the guest list, he asks if anyone “has seen the Family Man?” He gets no reply, and he moves on with business.
In Hellblazer #28, John Constantine is on the trail of the Family Man, a serial killer who only targets families, brutally slaying them. The Family Man was finding victims through a friend of Constantine’s and when John inadvertently helped him, he took it upon himself to rid the world of the Family Man. A cat and mouse game between the two ensued, and during the pursuit, John discovered the Family Man’s invitation to the serial killer convention seen in Sandman #14—where he was one of the Guests of Honor!
Titles such as The Sandman and Hellblazer showed a darker, grittier side of the DC Universe, populated by unsavory characters both human and supernatural; they were among some of the first mainstream comics to carry the “For Mature Readers” label, common today but rare at the time. Sandman and Hellblazer opted for a more human take on their subject matter; this muted approach to common comic book tropes carried over into the crossovers between the titles. Rather than cross the two characters over in some Earth-shaking, universe-defining event, the two titles merely acknowledge events occurring in the other; Constantine does not help Morpheus with the serial killer convention nor does Morpheus intervene in Constantine’s dogged pursuit of the Family Man. Interestingly enough, Morpheus encountered Constantine in Sandman #3; John Constantine would help Morpheus retrieve his pouch, lost when he was imprisoned. The Sandman and Hellblazer would form the foundation for the Vertigo imprint a few years later, but the two would never cross over again.
The Sandman and John Constantine are some of DC’s premiere supernatural characters, and one of their “crossovers” had a brilliant twist—they never met at any point during it, passing each other like ships in the night.
