Constantine Vol 1 9

"Forever Evil: Blight"

Part of the "Forever Evil", and "Forever Evil: Blight" events

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Forever Evil: Blight

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We nearly had it. I just keep thinking that. It's funny how your mind works. Just when all of your plans start circling the drain...

— John Constantine

Constantine #9 is an issue of the series Constantine (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 2014. It was published on December 11, 2013.

Synopsis for "Forever Evil: Blight"

When John Constantine first learned of the coming of super-heroes five years ago, he had wished they would simply go away. Then, his girlfriend Zatanna became one of them, and now that wish has come true. Somewhere in the universe, Zatanna has gone missing, and he hopes that she is merely somewhere he cannot find her, and that she is not dead. Not just her, but the majority of the Justice League Dark has gone missing, too. What's stranger is that even the Cult of the Cold Flame seems to have gone missing, leaving John with only a poorly cobbled-together team including Pandora, The Phantom Stranger, the Nightmare Nurse, and Swamp Thing.

All of them have just been ripped out of the House of Mystery, and dropped into New York City, and in the confusion, Pandora begins to sense a great mass of evil coming their way. Somehow, the Blight has found its way from the collective unconsciousness into reality, and it is consuming the evil within the city's residents. The creature prepares to destroy John and company, but in fighting back, they discover that the Blight is using an innocent boy as its host. Rather than endanger his life, Nightmare Nurse pulls them all away, hoping to escape the evil.

While in mid-teleport, the group is surprised to overhear a conversation not meant for them. Somewhere, an agent of the Crime Syndicate has coerced a captive magician into performing tests experiments on other magic users - particularly Sargon the Sorceress, whose experience in the project is a form of torture. Unfortunately, John and his friends discover that the destination for their teleport turns out to be back in Central Park, with the Seven Sins coming after them.

Phantom Stranger reveals that the boy he saw within Blight was Chris Esperanza, whom he had saved and retrieved from Heaven itself. His personal interest makes his contributions to the battle moot, requiring Swamp Thing to contain Blight within his vines while John uses magic to knock the creature to the ground, and Nightmare Nurse finishes him off. While they and Pandora fight off the remaining sins, Phantom Stranger looks to the boy who resides inside Blight. From within, Chris calls for help, and the Stranger insists that they must save him before they make the killing blow on Blight. They are too late, though, and Blight escapes. Unexpectedly, John finds himself less concerned with that than what he imagines Zatanna might do if she were there. Surely, she would assure him that they would find a way to persevere together - but she's not there, and he has betrayed her several times since. Under the circumstances, she'd be far more likely to just say, "Par for the course, John."

As the sins resume their attack, John realizes that he and his friends are losing the battle. Soon Blight returns to finish the job, and sensing his imminent death, he promises to Zatanna that he will forgo his callous attitude if she will assure him that things will all work out.