John Constantine is a gem of a character, and while his relationship with the mainstream DC Universe has been rocky at best, there's no getting away from how enjoyable Vertigo's old Hellblazer book was when it was at its peak.
In the book's eleventh issue, the occult scouser finds himself back near the Tyne in the city of Newcastle. Fans of Constantine's short-lived TV show will already know of the location's significance, with the character having experienced a major trauma during his early days messing with the supernatural, but the comic still reigns supreme, releasing right in the middle of Jamie Delano's lauded run on the series.
Newcastle: A Taste of Things To Come is told in a non-linear fashion, following John first as he returns to the city, and then secondly as he recounts a story from his past through flashback. It's a formative event in the character's life, and one that leads him down a path - eventually - to atonement, as he attempts to make up for the tragic events that befell him and his crew years earlier.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
