To end any speculation I give you my version of what is going on with this cover
First, the set up.
I didn't have a script for this one so at first my editor sent me a few rough ideas based on the outline he'd read.
Not to shoot him down but nothing of what he at first described to me sounded like anything that would serve to - A. Be something I think would make a good cover and play to my strengths, or B. offer me something to knock out of the park for my last ish.
Not the editor's fault, he was just throwing out a few ideas to get the ball rolling. Anyway I thought I'd bounce some stuff off Carey and he got back to me right away with several suggestions. I was getting a little depressed until I read his last one. The last suggestion had this shattered glass thing. And without giving any story away I thought it might be interesting to take that idea up a notch by having the glass shards reflect these pieces of John's past (which does actually tie into the story in a peripheral way). I described what I wanted to do based off that kernel and Vankin and Carey both loved it.
Now another important thing was that I get JC's emotion right. In the story he's fucking HAD IT.
So I needed to get something extra from Stevhan when we did the shoot.
We went through a lot of shots and I wasn't getting what I wanted so we took a break and talked a bit. What we ended up with (to my delight) was Stevhan bending over to the camera with his impression of Johnny Lydon (pissed off), and shouting "I hate fucking hippies!"
It was exactly what I wanted.
Now, as to the "two fags" question.
I wanted JC throwing the "V". Been wanting to do it since issue 134.
This was the perfect cover for it. Problem is, how do we get it past the folks upstairs?
I wasn't aware of someone else doing it recently on a cover so to my knowledge we had to cover ourselves to get it past the censors. I had previously been told it was a "no can do". Vankin agreed. So I decided to use a different hand with the ciggy in it AND kept the one perched in his lips from the original shot. It seemed the only way to slip it by the censors. It also made sense to me that as a chain smoker (as J.White also points out), I could easily rationalize that JC could have both smokes in the shot. The one in the fingers serving double duty to mask our - up yours 'V', and to light the unlit end of the smoke in John's lips just scant seconds after this scene. I considered removing the one from his mouth but I ended up keeping it because to me it's more John. Most likely drunk, chain smoking, and acting the shit.
It's certainly not the "Don't Smoke" issue.
And just for clarity's sake, the 'V' is in no way my thumb of the nose to DC.
It's JC's thumb of the nose to . . . Well, you'll have to wait for issue 215 to find that out.
Anyway, I think I've gotta say that this cover may be my favorite one of the bunch.
It's got the attitude that I've always loved about Constantine. It's hard for us to flip off our boss and tell 'im ta fuck off like a good little ninny. The reason we love Constantine is because he dares to do and say the things we wish we could do or say without having to suffer the repercussions and consequences. To live vicariously a bit through John we avoid the nastier things in life like prison or taking a truncheon to the face. So cover price seems a cheap way to retain our sanity every month
Popped a bigger file over to John so hopefully he will post it here.
Cheers to you creeps
- TB
