It’s time to map the DC Universe! In June, I’ll be joining with Near Mint Condition to launch the Tigereyes Most Wanted DC Omnibus 2nd Annual Poll! This post explains every Swamp Thing & Hellblazer omnibus that does NOT exist – all of which will appear as options on the 2025 poll.
Through the end of May I’ll be covering DC entire publishing history by mapping missing omnibus volumes to fill in every gap in your DC oversize shelf! That’s all leading to the kickoff of the Tigereyes Most Wanted DC Omnibus 2nd Annual Poll on Near Mint Condition the first week of June.
DC seems committed to slowly dripping out the remainder of the omnibus volumes we need for these two characters – just five more to completely collect Swamp Thing, and likely eight for John Constantine.
However, the key word there is “slowly.” It has taken eight years to accumulate the four existing Swamp Thing omnibuses, and DC continues to studiously avoid releasing the hotly-demanded Alan Moore volume (#9 on last year’s poll). Things are slightly speedier for Hellblazer, who got three books in five years, but we have much more material to cover with him to collect all of his amazing 26-volume classic paperback line – plus his post-Flashpoint material.
If you’re not sure of what to vote for, stick around for a list of books vetted by a gang of the biggest mapping nerds on the internet with explanations from yours truly – keeper of the most-definitive guides to collected editions on the planet.
Or, if you don’t care about omnibuses, just use this post to learn about DC history and find some great comics to read!
This post covers the following speculated omnibus volumes:
- John Constantine, Hellblazer Omnibus Mapping
- Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 4 (AKA by Paul Jenkins) (1995 – 1998) [follows Ennis]
- Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 5 (AKA by Ellis & Azzarello) (1998 – 2002)
- Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 6 (AKA by Mikey Carey) (2002 – 2006)
- Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 7 (AKA by Diggle & Milligan) (2006 – 2009)
- Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 8 (AKA by Milligan) (2009 – 2013)
- Hellblazer: John Constantine, The New 52 Omnibus (2013 – 2016)
- Hellblazer, The Rebirth Omnibus (2016 – 2018)
- Hellblazer by Spurrier, Campbell, & Bellaire (2019 – 2024)
- Swamp Thing Omnibus Mapping
- Swamp Thing by Alan Moore (1984 – 1987)
- Swamp Thing by Rick Veitch & Doug Wheeler (1987 – 1991) [between Moore & Collins]
- Swamp Thing by Brian K. Vaughan (2000 – 2001) [follows Millar/Hester omni]
- Swamp Thing by Diggle & Dysart (2004 – 2006)
- Swamp Thing by Ram V & Mike Perkins (2021 – 2022)
Remember: These titles and mappings are a suggestion of how DC could assemble these books. Your vote on the poll is a vote in favor of DC creating a book with that title or covering that period, NOT an endorsement of a specific map. Maps are presented as a proof of concept and to help you build your personal reading list.
Want to check out all of the other voting options for the 2025 Tigereyes Poll? Check out my 2025 Tigereyes poll options overview page that explains the poll, how to vote, and every title that will appear – including links to all of the posts in this series.
Intensely researched posts like this one are made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis. For less than the cost of a single comic issue a month you can fuel my in-depth comics coverage, plus gain access to dozens of exclusive collecting guides & reading orders – including all of the Crushing Comics Guide to DC Comics.
John Constantine, Hellblazer Omnibus Mapping
John Constantine now has three omnibuses, collecting all of his material through 1991. However, that still leaves us with over thirty years of Hellblazer to collect into omnibus!
The mapping team generally avoided mapping more than one volume into an uncollected series due the ambiguity in where omnibus volumes could break. However, things are different for John Constantine omnibus mapping. His original 300-issue title was been well-defined by distinct creator runs and its mapping in a comprehensive series of trade paperbacks.
Even if DC wouldn’t use these exact mappings, we feel confident in having people vote on these books on a per-creator basis to indicate demand. Note the volume numbers exist purely for way-finding purposes on the poll – volumes wouldn’t really be named with continuing volume numbers.
See my Guide to Hellblazer – John Constantine for details on all of those existing collections!
Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 4 (AKA by Paul Jenkins) (1995 – 1998) [follows Ennis]
This would follow the Ennis omnibus to collect Hellblazer (1998) #51, 85-128, & 132-133. Issue #84 is in John Constantine, Hellblazer by Jamie Delano Vol. 2 and issues #129–131 are in Hellblazer by Garth Ennis.
Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 5 (AKA by Ellis & Azzarello) (1998 – 2002)
This would follow the Jenkins run to collect Hellblazer (1988) #134-169, plus Vertigo Resurrected (2010) #1, Vertigo: Winter’s Edge (1998) #1-3, and Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer (2000) #1.
Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 6 (AKA by Mikey Carey) (2002 – 2006)
This would follow the Ellis/Azzarello run to collect Hellblazer (1988) #175-215 and material from issue #229. We’d add John Constantine Hellblazer: All His Engines (2005) OGN – collected later in the paperback line, but written by Carey.
That’s already 40+ issues, so we probably wouldn’t want to go bigger. However, Denise Mina writes from issues #216-228 – which would add 13 issues but also make the inclusion of #229 and the OGN more of a natural fit in this book. You can vote for this regardless of whether you think it would include those issues.
Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 7 (AKA by Diggle & Milligan) (2006 – 2009)
Hellblazer: John Constantine, Vol. 8 (AKA by Milligan) (2009 – 2013)
This final pair of volumes would need to cover a total of 85 issues plus associated mini-series and one-shots, which means they’ll be big! It’s tempting to split them into three books, but DC have repeatedly showed they are willing to collect massive Vertigo omnibus volumes – including the first Hellblazer by Jamie Delano volume!
First, we have Hellblazer (1988) #216-228 by Denise Mina and #229 by Carey, which could be reasonably merged into the prior volume.
Then, Andy Diggle writes from Hellblazer (1988) #230-249. The paperback line adds to that John Constantine Hellblazer: All His Engines (2005) OGN (almost surely in the prior Carey volume) and Hellblazer Special: Lady Constantine (2003) #1-4.
Regardless of whether we began with the Denise Mina material, I think we’d also want to press onward to include the beginning of Peter Milligan’s run from Hellblazer (1988) #250-260: Hellblazer Special: Chas [- The Knowledge] (2008) #1-5.
Then, the final volume in this series would be entirely Peter Milligan material from Hellblazer (1988) #261-300, Hellblazer Special: Papa Midnite #1-5 , Hellblazer: Pandemonium (2010) OGN, John Constantine: Hellblazer: City of Demons (2010) #1-5, and “Exposed” from DC’s 9/11 anthology (and maybe Dark Entries (2009) OGN, which was not in the paperback line).
Hellblazer: John Constantine, The New 52 Omnibus (2013 – 2016)
John Constantine often flirted with being included in DC’s main continuity, but his New 52 series made it official as he tied in closely with Justice League Dark (2011). This would be a hefty omnibus collecting 38 primary Constantine issues. plus 13 crossover issues from Blight, three issues of Swamp Thing, and an issue of Secret Origins for a total of well over 50 issues of content.
This would include Constantine (2013) #1-23 & Future’s End (2014) #1, excerpted Trinity War crossover material (since Constantine only had a single issue in the crossover), Swamp Thing (2011) #22-23, the “Blight” crossover since he was in every issue (Constantine (2013) #9-12, Justice League Dark (2011) #24-29, Trinity of Sin: Pandora (2013) #6-9, Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger (2013) #14-17), material from The New 52: Futures End FCBD Special Edition (2014) #0, Secret Origins (2014) #11, DC Sneak Peek: Constantine: The Hellblazer (2015), and Constantine: The Hellblazer (2015) #1-13.
Hellblazer, The Rebirth Omnibus (2016 – 2018)
This would collect Constantine’s initial Rebirth series in full – The Hellblazer (2016) Rebirth & #1-24.
Hellblazer by Spurrier, Campbell, & Bellaire (2019 – 2024)
Two years into DC Rebirth, DC relaunched a new line of Sandman Universe titles to celebrate Sandman’s 30th anniversary. Though Constantine wasn’t included in the initial launch, he was later pulled into the Universe and got his own high-acclaimed title in 2019. That book was somewhat abruptly cancelled – leading author Simon Spurrier to defect back to Marvel Comics!
Luckily, DC rebuilt that bridge and had Spurrier and the entire creative team back to continue their run in 2024.
This would collect Books of Magic (2018) #14, The Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer (2019) #1, John Constantine, Hellblazer (2019) #1-12, and John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dead in America (2024) #1-11.
Swamp Thing Omnibus Mapping
Swamp Thing currently has four omnibus volumes – one more than Hellblazer. But, it is incredible to look at the pedigree of what hasn’t been collect in a missing five omnibuses – including work by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Brian K. Vaughan, & Ram V! See Guide to Swamp Thing for existing omnibuses and how all of this material is collected.
Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Omnibus fits directly prior to the Alan Moore run.
Swamp Thing by Alan Moore (1984 – 1987)
Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing material has been collected many times over, including in Absolute edition, but never in omnibus format! Hopefully it would have the original colors, which would give it a distinct sales draw compared to the Absolute Editions.
This would collect the entirety of Alan Moore’s historic run from The Saga of the Swamp Thing (1982) #20-38 (Jan 1984 – Jul 1985), Swamp Thing (1985) #39-41 & Annual 2 (Aug – Oct 1985), The Saga of Swamp Thing (1982) #42-45 (Nov 1985 – Feb 1986), and Swamp Thing (1985) #46-64.
Swamp Thing by Rick Veitch & Doug Wheeler (1987 – 1991) [between Moore & Collins]
Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing was immediately followed by a run by author Rick Veitch on Swamp Thing (1985) #65-87 & Annuals 3-5, followed by a run by Doug Wheeler on issues #88-109. From there, we lead directly into Nancy Collins’s Swamp Thing omnibus.
This would collect Swamp Thing (1985) #65-87 & Annuals 3-5 by Rick Veitch (plus Hellblazer (1988) #4-5 and material from Secret Origins (1986) #23 and Infinity, Inc. (1984) #4.) and Swamp Thing (1985) #88-109 by Doug Wheeler (plus Firestorm, The Nuclear Man (1986) #90-93).
Swamp Thing by Nancy A. Collins fits here, followed by Swamp Thing by Mark Millar and Phil Hester.
Swamp Thing by Brian K. Vaughan (2000 – 2001) [follows Millar/Hester omni]
Brian K. Vaughan worked on Swamp Thing relatively early in his comics career – before his breakout hit with Y: The Last Man. This series stars both Alec and Tefé Holland.
This would collect Swamp Thing (2000) #1-20 (May 2000 – Dec 2001) and supporting material from Vertigo Secret Files and Origins: Swamp Thing (2000) #1 and Vertigo: Winter’s Edge (1998) #3, to which we could add the abandoned Swamp Thing: Roots (1998) OGN.
Swamp Thing by Diggle & Dysart (2004 – 2006)
This volume was launched by Andy Diggle, though the majority of it (from issue #9 through the end of the series) is written by Joshua Dysart. It stars both Alec and Tefé Holland.
This would collect Swamp Thing (2004) #1-29 (May 2004 – Sept 2006)
Swamp Thing by Ram V & Mike Perkins (2021 – 2022)
This would collect The Swamp Thing (2021) #1-16 and Future State: Swamp Thing (2021) #1-2, which Ram V wrote after concluding his run on Justice League Dark. This could optionally also pick up material from Legend of the Swamp Thing Halloween Spectacular (2020) #1 and other anthology books from this period. It could also optionally add non-continuity stories from Swamp Thing Giant (2019) #1-7 AKA Swamp Thing: New Roots (2020) #1-9, but that’s not likely.
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