10. John Constantine In Hellblazer
Vertigo ComicsOur first entry in the list is Liverpool's own Hellblazer. Starting life as a supporting character during Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing in 1985, he served as a 'supernatural advisor' to the titular character. Depicted as a man with rather questionable morals, John Constantine is a hard drinking, world weary individual and he was written as such way before it was the cool thing to do. It was surprising at the time then, that Constantine got his own series and throughout the book, we got to find out more about this shady character. A powerful sorcerer, Constantine is often in pursuit of something he calls 'the thrill of the occult', dabbling in things he really probably shouldn't. We found about about his past, including his first tragic foray into heroism in which he damned a child to Hell, his brief relationship with Zatanna Zatara and even his punk band who managed to release a single (listen below if you can withstand the aural barrage, it is pure '77 British punk.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV6Sl_u1s3M All in all, John's a pretty tortured soul and that's what makes him such a fascinating figure. He has been through things that would probably make Superman curl up into a ball and cry and a reluctant hero is always infinitely more interesting than a bland, self righteous one.