Constantine: Easter Eggs and DC Comics References in "Waiting For the Man"

Tonight's episode of Constantine, besides being one of the best episodes of TV this season, was [...]

By Russ Burlingame

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Tonight's episode of Constantine, besides being one of the best episodes of TV this season, was chock full of little details -- some of which were Easter eggs and DC Comics references.

We had Papa Midnite, The Spectre, a major plot reveal they can follow up on in a prospective second season and more.

So...what did we see? What did we miss? Read on...!

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Waiting For the Man

Both the title and the basic plot of this episode come from one of the earliest John Constantine stories, in which he faces off against a deranged man rather than a demon or ghost.

That's a challenge for John, as the character said in this episode and star Matt Ryan said in a recent interview with ComicBook.com acknowledged when looking forward to a potential second season.

"I also love, and what could be a possibility for Season Two I think, is the Family Man arc. What I like about that is, it's not John dealing with demons and devils, it's him dealing with human beings and I think that's a very interesting place for John," Ryan said. "I think there's actually a line in the comic where he says, 'Demons, devils I'm fine with, but the real life, the real problems that human beings have...' I think that's quite an interesting storyline that could be done over a few episodes or something, you know? That's something I'd like to explore as well. I mean, there's so much there, man. That's the great thing about this job, this gig and the source material. There's so much there that every time you pick up a comic, you're thinking about how well it can be translated to screen."

In the comics, it was actually John's first interaction with Zed -- and they had a date, which was ruined not by her flirtations with Jim Corrigan, but by the news that John's niece Gemma had been abducted. 

In the comics, Gemma's family had taken up with the Resurrection Crusade, the church which is hunting Zed in the TV series, and that was the source of their disagreement when Zed ran out and ended up abducted. The Crusade opposed their hunt for the mysterious pedophile at the center of the story.

There's also no Corrigan, Papa Midnite or in fact cops at all. Here's how the final pages play out, per the Hellblazer Wiki:

"John and Zed make it outside just as The Resurrection Crusade arrive. Zed disappears quickly, before they can see her, while John passes Gemma to her parents. Soon 'God's Warriors', the army's militant wing, have set the house on fire. Later that night, John and Zed check into a hotel. John notes that the woman is hiding something from him - and he can't wait to find out what..."

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Spectre

About seven minutes into the episode, we got another tease of Jim Corrigan's future as The Spectre. All throughout the episode, though, there were scenes where there was a barely-noticeable green hue to the lighting, which we presume was hints of more to come.

Lung Cancer

John's gallows humor about how he hasn't got lung cancer yet is likely a hat tip to the "Dangerous Habits" storyline, in which he does get cancer, but fools a demon into rescuing him from death.

Ryan, again, had something to say about that story.

"My favorite arc from the comics is the 'Dangerous Habits' arc, and I don't think that would be Season Two, I think that would be further down the line," he told us. "But that's something that I would really love to get to. It's my favorite run of the comics."

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4 Delano St.

The story "Waiting For the Man" took place in John Constantine: Hellblazer #4, written by Jamie Delano.

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Blood Moon

The Blood Moon shows up in mythology all the time and has various meanings for different religions and the like.

Here, we'll just point out that it played a big role in promotion for The New 52: Futures End, a weekly comic book series running until April in which John Constantine is a prominent figure.

And speaking of Futures End, check out this page-to-screen retrospective, which includes our Futures End Easter egg pull from a few weeks back...

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Gary the Ghost

In the comics, Gary Lester is one of a number of John's friends and foes who follow him around as ghosts, occasionally helping and occasionally just plain ol' haunting him.

We got to see Gaz's death, which played out in the show very much like it did in the comics.

"I will say this: I don't think it's any coincidence that [the series] hit stride with a storyline that was straight from the comic books, which was the hunger demon," showrunner Daniel Cerone told us in a recent interview. "And without a doubt, that encouraged us all to dig deeper into the source material."

Carswell Security

Alastair Carswell was a minor magician Constantine encountered in Hellblazer #250. John stopped him after he stole a sickle from The British Museum with the intention of using it to sacrifice a baby on New Year's Eve to gain immortality.

Blass, who runs Blackhawk Design (they do set design for the show), was likely not looking to be self-aggrandizing but to acknowledge that DC's Blackhawk Squadron are a security firm in both Arrow and The Flash.

Branding Irons

monitor-earthprime said ... (original post)

Easter Egg: The Ace of Winchester

                  The Devil's Branding Iron is like Morgaine's Branding Iron

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