Name : Clarice
First Appearance : Hellblazer #134, Haunted
Last Appearance : Hellblazer #181, The Game Of Cat And Mouse
Who is she ?
An aging woman with considerable magical connections, Clarice’s relationship with John Constantine
stretches back to the mage’s early twenties, when she went down on him in Highgate cemetery.
Her long term friendship with Constantine has led to Clarice developing a strong understanding of the
Englishman’s character and, as a result, she has little time for his more-often-than-not selfishly motivated
schemes of vengeance and damnation against those he marks as the enemy.
The history between the pair often allows for some frank exchanges, with Clarice always ready to
verbally berate John when he’s in danger of getting caught up in his own self righteous anger. Case in
point, after Constantine learned
of the murder of an old girlfriend by the name of Isabel, Clarice was quick to strip him of the angelic tendencies he was heaping on
his deceased ex. Pointing out that the woman’s own stupidity had played a great part in her
downfall, Clarice accused Constantine of being an adrenaline junkie and seeking to exploit the woman’s
murder in order to give him an excuse to get hip deep in the magical nastiness that he so desperately craves.
Despite these misgivings about John’s motivations, Clarice eventually agreed to introduce him to Albert, court
magician to the Cray twins, who in turn helped to guide Isabel’s ghost on to the afterlife.
She can often be found in the Knightsbridge tearooms, where – to quote the elderly lady in question – “the old
generation of magicians come. Half of us are waiting to die, the other half’s waiting for us".
Clarice found herself facing off against John Constantine when the pair were briefly on
opposite sides of a magical gang war that raged through London. Having helped an enemy of John’s to
find his niece, Clarice had feared that a vengeful Constantine would have tracked her down but when he
did, they actually ended up working together with Map to defeat the man responsible for Gemma's abduction.
John's decision to spare Clarice from his vengeance soon paid dividends as she proved invaluable in keeping him alive
after a number of Lukhavim (creatures created from dead souls) were sent by friends of Domine to avenge his death.
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Nailing Constantine's character.
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Toasting John's latest resurrection.
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