John Constantine—Hellblazer Special: Papa Midnite

(Vertigo, 2005)
™ and © DC Comics, Inc.

Timed to coincide with the 2005 release of the motion picture Constantine, starring Keanu Reeves in the title role and Djimon Honsou as Midnite, novelist Mat Johnson (Hunting in Harlem, Drop) and illustrator Tony Akins (Fables) relay this popular Hellblazer villain’s origin story in a five issue mini–series.

Shot through with lessons from African–American history, Papa Midnite veers back and forth between present–day Manhattan and colonial New York. The spectral entity Mr. Fortune shepherds Midnite on a vision quest designed to resolve unsettled matters from Midnite’s past.

Johnson places the anti–hero at the crucial center of historical events like the 1741 slave revolt that rocked Manhattan, and the 1991 discovery of a two–hundred–year–old African burial ground just blocks away from New York’s City Hall.

— Leland Burrill

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