Comicon Advent Calendar 2025 Day 5: ‘Hellblazer’ #49 — “Lord Of The Dance”
by Anton Kromoff
Welcome to the table,
As the story goes, told one way or another anyway, a long, long, long, long time ago, there was no Christmas. A fact that was quite alright with a Yule Lich like myself, as I loath the elven warlord and his nanny state from holly to jolly and everything in between.
In those days, there were other entities who consorted with mortals during festivals and feasts and provided more than arbitrary moral rules and a manufactured system of haves and have-nots to keep the classes in conflict with each other.
John Constantine: Hellblazer, a comic I love dearly, has an issue, issue 49 in fact, that speaks on this in a heartfelt way, and I’m going to tell you a bit about it in this installment of Comicon.com’s Advent Calendar 2025.
Written by Garth Ennis with art by Steve Dillon, colours by Tom Ziuko, and letters by Gaspar, Hellblazer #49 — titled “Lord of the Dance” picks up with the irritable John Constantine, rimes with wine, wandering the streets of London on Christmas.
As he drifts through the crowds, he senses an entity who feels like a ghost and the entity, once realising John can see him, engages him in conversation about the origin of a song titled “Lord of the Dance“.
As a kid who grew up in a very religious environment, the “Lord of the Dance” song was one I was all too familiar with, having heard it sung in mass a multitude of times in my life. So, a character in a comic I saw as a very counter-culture escape brought my young heart much delight and to this day is a heartwarming jab at spaces where I never felt welcome.
The entity explains to John over a cup of tea in a cafe that he was, and in a lot of ways still is, the Lord of the Dance, an ancient spirit of harvest and celebration, who would join mortals in their winter festivals to celebrate warmth and togetherness and pushing back the darkness as mankind experienced fellowship and freedom in the dark months where the winds blew cold and the times were tough and trying.
As is often the case, though, in these stories, deeply problematic men who seek to control others through fear and guilt arrive and twist the celebrations of the Lord of the Dance into something far more structured and full of rigid rules and deity oversight. This is a mechanism of control that continues through time, and thanks to the dogmatic forces that rule the world, the Lord of the Dance becomes a footnote in forgotten history, shifting from a celebrated horned champion of fellowship and feast days to what amounts to the “ghost of Christmas never”
John, however, is a wily old warlock. He takes the once Lord of the Dance to a pub where he swaps stories with him and other bar patrons. The two get drunk, dance and sing with the other pub patrons, and before the night is through, there is a full revelry that echoes the old celebrations.
What I love about this story is that John restores an ancient entity who protects and shepherds mankind with the power of basic kindness and friendship. Something the draconian religious machine has broken is mended not by debate, not by quip or social media post, not by argument and endless religious war, no…
The whole thing is tied up and restored over a few drinks, swapping stories, and spending time with friends old and new.
The story ends with two drunks wandering home singing the original “Lord of the Dance” song, a clear indication that our little forgotten entity has returned to his place of power, and the world is a better place, even if it’s just for a little while.
What I truly love about this story is that, at its core, it’s a showcase of the power of kindness and friendship. The power of those things over the “rules” and the “dogma” is so powerful, and this heartwarming little jaunt across the paneled pages really captures that magic in a way that warms my heart.
Until next time, I don’t know how you choose to enjoy the winter holidays. We all deserve a little comfort and joy this year. So for you, I wish kindness and comfort. Be kind, do no harm, and have the holiday you deserve.