LOOKS 10, DANCE 3 For those of you who think I require little more than a 263,000 watt spotlight and a brief excursion to the Courreges Universe, you're clearly mistaken. I've decided to share the stage with my old accomplice Peter Milligan, one of the original Vertigo provocateurs of pop fiction. He’s currently the writer of the monthly GREEK STREET (think fresh blood/ancient myths), the upcoming crime graphic novel THE BRONX KILL and the regular scribe on our longest running title, JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER. The latter of which hits the stands today and marks issue #263. Bond: Like John Constantine, you've spent most of your life in London. Is this the only thing you have in common with our proverbial low-rent, occult street mage? Milligan: Well, I don’t smoke like Constantine, but I used to. And now that I think about it I did dabble in the supernatural when I was a kid. Maybe it was being cooped up in a pokey council flat with three bedrooms, four siblings, my parents and a ghost that made me fantasize about being able to escape my mortal body. In any event I researched, practiced and got heavily into astral projection (really). I almost died one scary night while “projecting.” If I’d been a bit braver or more successful maybe I would have continued exploring even darker arts. But I still wouldn’t smoke as much as Constantine. Come on, I have to look after my singing voice. Bond: So if you're that inspired by Old Blighty, why send Constantine to India? Does he have a death-wish that involves being a part of Bollywood a line dance? Milligan: Bollywood and all things movie-land are a long way from Constantine’s mind. I don’t think he really gives a toss about popular culture. If anything, he prefers unpopular culture. Preferably without the culture. He’s going to India to save the life of a woman who’s already dead. Like a lot of people before him, Constantine is going to the east to find purity. He might not find purity--but he will find plenty to keep his uncultured mind busy. Bond: But what they really want to know: Who would win in a pub fight --John Constantine or cover artist Simon Bisley? Milligan: If Simon was drawing the comic of this bust-up, I’m sure he’d flatten Constantine on page one. Thankfully in spite of any image he might have of being tougher than Lobo and just as sensible, Simon is in fact a sensitive flower, and probably a bit of a cry-baby. None of this unashamedly girly side is in evidence when he gets stuck into drawing NO FUTURE, the two part post-punk viciously political punch-up that’s appearing in HELLBLAZER directly after INDIA. Bond: For the Record: HELLBLAZER #263, India, part 3 is on sale today. Check out the attached artwork from the secret files of the cracking art team of Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini and see how the layouts and finishes come to life -- or in this case, death! And note the cover to issue #264 by the handsome, irascible Simon (you'll never catch me commenting on his girlie side) "The Biz" Bisley...apparently SOMEONE thought that seeing John Constantine in a kick line would be one for the books!