|
iron_puppy Posts: 197
5/6/2021
|
Ok, you can check this out yourself, but I remember reading an interview with Alan Moore and he said (as we know) the first Constantine was based on Sting. Essentially he said the artists drew a Sting-like character and wanted a character like him so they could draw him again. He came up with Constantine AFTER that. So yes, there is a Sting-like character but the concept of Constantine wasn't even in his mind yet. I'm not sure if that would make earlier images a "prototype"....
I'll see if I can track the interview down. It was years ago.
Does anyone else remember it?
Just thought I'd do a quick search and found this...
It's a bit of the idea anyway.
John? No, it's Sting.
| From the beginning, John Constantine has had a remarkable resemblance to the pop star Sting. In an interview with Wizard magazine, Alan Moore clears up some of the misconceptions surrounding the creation of John Constantine, and his relationship with the rock superstar. And he tells an interesting little story.
Try as I might, I simply couldn't find a Rolling Stone interview in which Sting expressed any opinion on any comic, let alone Hellblazer. However, I did find an interview in Musician magazine in which Sting briefly discusses his relationship to his comic book counterpart, which may be what Alan Moore is referring to.
The Unexplored Medium
ALAN MOORE speaks on what makes working as a comic writer so appealing.
The following excerpt comes from an article which appeared in the November 1993 issue
of Wizard magazine. The authors were William A. Christensen and Mark Seifert
Where did the character John Constantine come from?
Basically, when I take over something as a writer, I always try to work as closely as I can with the artists on the book, so I immediately did my best to strike up a friendship with Steve Bissette and John Totleben. I asked them what they would like to do in Swamp Thing . They both sent me reams of material. Things that they had always wanted to do in Swamp Thing, but never thought they would get away with. I incorporated this into my scheme of things, and tried to pin it all together.
One of those early notes was they both wanted to do a character that looked like Sting. I think DC is terrified that Sting will sue them, although Sting has seen the character and commented in Rolling Stone that he thought it was great. He was very flattered to have a comic character who looked like him, but DC gets nervous about these things. They started to eradicate all traces of references in the introduction of the early Swamp Thing books to John Constantine's resemblance to Sting . But I can state categorically that the character only existed because Steve and John wanted to do a character that looked like Sting. Having been given that challenge, how could I fit Sting into Swamp Thing ? I have an idea that most of the mystics in comics are generally older people, very austere, very proper, very middle class in a lot of ways. They are not at all functional on the street. It struck me that it might be interesting for once to do an almost blue-collar warlock. Somebody who was streetwise, working class, and from a different background than the standard run of comic book mystics. Constantine started to grow out of that.
One interesting anecdote that I should point out is that one day, I was in Westminster in London -- this was after we had introduced the character -- and I was sitting in a sandwich bar. All of a sudden, up the stairs came John Constantine. He was wearing the trenchcoat, a short cut -- he looked -- no, he didn't even look exactly like Sting. He looked exactly like John Constantine. He looked at me, stared me straight in the eyes, smiled, nodded almost conspiratorially, and then just walked off around the corner to the other part of the snack bar. I sat there and thought, should I go around that corner and see if he is really there, or should I just eat my sandwich and leave? I opted for the latter; I thought it was the safest. I'm not making any claims to anything. I'm just saying that it happened. Strange little story.
|
edited by iron_puppy on 5/6/2021
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Ronbatman Administrator Posts: 2530
5/7/2021
|
Issue 25 has two separate cameos based on my research. The first is Constantine in a trench coat with a cigarette. The second is someone in the background who looks like Sting with a striped shirt.
To me, the biggest piece of evidence beyond the appearance is the artist. Alan Moore said that the artists Bissette and Totleben influenced him to create Constantine. They both worked on issue 25 while Rick Veitch worked on issue 37. This is certainly up for debate but that is our stance.
Fun topic,
Ron
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Gilgandra Posts: 1246
5/9/2021
|
This may will satisfy our members.
I added (Based on Sting's Appearance) too Swamp Thing #25.
https://comicspriceguide.com/titles/saga-of-the-swamp-thing/ylt
Hope That helps.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Ronbatman Administrator Posts: 2530
5/9/2021
|
Gilgandra,
The artists Bissette and Totleben modeled Constantine after Sting but the appearances are independent. There is one panel with Constantine and another panel with Sting in the background wearing stripes. They look similar but you can tell they are different people. To be accurate I would think it should be 1st Cameo Appearance of Constantine - 1st Cameo Appearance of Sting (Harbinger 1 being his 1st full appearance)
This site has pictures of each one.
https://medium.com/meanwhile/the-debate-surrounding-john-constantines-first-appearance-d4bc6649c094
What do you think Gilgandra?
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Gilgandra Posts: 1246
5/10/2021
|
I changed it to a more appropriate definition Ron.
That should satisfy the conjecture with this book, I hope.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Ronbatman Administrator Posts: 2530
5/10/2021
|
Nice. That made me laugh.
R
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
rgtichy Posts: 124
5/10/2021
|
I don't see the character in the striped shirt as Sting or Constantine, in SotSW 25.
I do think there is a possibility that the face in the DC Sampler is intended to be Constantine, but it doesn't look all that much like Sting, to be truthful about it.
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
collectibleshop Posts: 3088
5/10/2021
|
Gilgandra wrote:
I changed it to a more appropriate definition Ron. That should satisfy the conjecture with this book, I hope.
grammar police strike force: should be "AN unnamed character", not 'a'. 
|
|
|
0
link
|
|
Gilgandra Posts: 1246
5/10/2021
|
Yeah, I was at work and didn't have much time during my break.
Will change it Lol.
|
|
|
0
link
|
