In 2006 crime writer Denise Mina took the reins of Hellblazer for a twelve-issue run that included this grim tale from the streets of Glasgow. Upon arriving in the Scottish city, Constantine finds himself entangled with a monastic order from the 11th Century. The orders goal is to create a supernatural Empathy Engine which basically turns the citizens of Glasgow into Deanna Troi. Overwhelmed by each others emotions, the city becomes a pit of misery (well, more so than usual) with the murder and suicide rates spiking so high that martial law is declared. Empathy is the Enemy is a big story and was seen as an inroad for new readers with an accessible premise that could easily be translated to a US location. So why wouldnt we see this on the show, you might ask? Because the story is set during the England vs. Portugal match in the 2006 World Cup, and it turns out if anything can save us from despair it's a football match. But there's a twist - when England loses the Empathy Engine is counter-balanced by the collective schadenfreude of several hundred Scottish soldiers. As you might have guessed, like with Royal Blood, this is just far too linked to the culture of its location as well as the topical relevancy of a football match from eight years ago.
