John Constantine's First Spell Backfires And Kills [SPOILER]
WARNING! SPOILERS FOR HELLBLAZER: RISE AND FALL #1!
Long before the infamous incident at Northcastle - which has haunted John Constantine ever since - Hellblazer: Rise and Fall #1 reveals that wasn't the famous magician and occultist's first failure. In a flashback that recalls tragedy befell John long before he ever put on a trench coat, his first real attempt at spell-casting would backfire, resulting in the kind of pain and loss that would come back to haunt and wreak havoc on Constantine's life years later.
In the Black Label Hellblazer series by Tom Taylor and Darrick Robertson, John's birth had left him with no mother and a bitter and drunk father whom he had little in common with. John chose to rebel against authority by dabbling in petty crime, cigarettes, girls and magic as a means to impress his friends. Although he was warned not to go, John manages to convince his friends Billy Henderson and Aisha Bukhari to meet him near the river one raining night where John was confident that he could cast his first magic spell.
As Billy and Aisha lit the candles in the rain and drew the pentagram in the muddy ground, John hoped that he'd be able to open a portal to hell while making foolish promises that he'd be able to protect them from whatever he summoned. When it appeared the spell was a dud, the three schoolchildren were distracted by what they mistook for the sounds of an approaching demon that turned out to be the crumbling of a nearby bridge due to the unrelenting rain. Drowning in the contaminated and garbage-filled water, John was pulled to safety by a terrified Aisha, but Billy was nowhere to be found. His body was discovered two days later, a newsworthy moment that John remembered as the second death he was responsible for which also cost him his friendship with Aisha.
This would not be the last death John Constantine would blame himself for as a running theme in his battle against dark and supernatural forces would the casualty of those who got close to John, whether they were friends or lovers they often met a gruesome end. With the exception of Chas Kramer, John's lifestyle helps to keep people at arms length when his sour personality or habits don't do the trick.
In this series, resders are reminded that dabbling in the dark arts often comes with a cost, even if you don't end up making a deal with a demon. Unfortunately for John, Billy has apparently returned where he tricks, injures and then kills the-now adult Aisha's friend Gary. Drawing a pentagram with the dead policeman's blood, he blames his death on being in the proximity of John Constantine and promises revenge on his old school chum for everyone, himself and all the other people who died because of the famous exorcist's actions over the years.