Hellblazer 6

"Extreme Prejudice" is the title to the sixth issue of the Hellblazer ongoing comic book series published by DC Comics. The story was written by Jamie Delano with artwork and inks by John Ridgway. It was colored by Lovern Kindzierski and lettered by Todd Klein. The story was edited by Karen Berger. This issue shipped with a June, 1988 cover date and carries a cover price of $1.25 per copy.

Synopsis
It's midweek, and without their typical activities to occupy them, the Neo-Nazi youths who call themselves the British Boys have taken to delinquency. They take a molotov cocktail and set fire to Ali's newsstand, forcing the man to rush out and attempt to put the fire out.

The British Boys hate homosexuals especially, among the many races and creeds that they hate. Nearby, John Constantine watches as they catch sight of a man that they believe to be a homosexual and prepare to beat him up. They are unprepared for the violence that is unleashed on them by the thing - not a man by any stretch - who greets them in the public toilet they followed him into.

John catches sight of the blood outside, and opts to have a look. The destruction and the blood give him quite a shock. He notices a panel in the floor, and assumes that that is where the bodies have gone. However, he chooses not to investigate, given that he's wearing his good coat. He does notice that someone has written "Damnation Army" on the ceiling in the boys' blood, and knows that this is whoever was behind the kidnapping of his niece Gemma.

The creature that the boys had the misfortune of attacking is, in fact, the demon Nergal. He and the Damnation Army have been occupying themselves with the corruption of human hearts and minds, corroding away at the roots of life with horror.

Constantine heads to the local bar and uses the phone to call his crime-reporter acquaintance Tony to find out what the word on Fleet Street is about the Damnation Army. As it turns out, this organization is linked with numerous horrors; suicides, sex crimes, assassinations, cannibalism... The government has even formed an anti-terrorist squad to deal with the case. John knows, however, that this is not a case of anarchy so much as chaos.

Hoping for some relaxation, John heads to Zed's flat, only to find that she has unwanted guests. These men appear to belong to some kind of cult, to which "Mary" - Zed - once belonged. She refuses to go with them, despite their warnings, and John decides to help by pretending he has a gun and ordering them to leave. Zed is grateful, but unwilling to talk about it, so instead, they embrace.

Down in his underground lair, Nergal grotesquely manipulates the flesh of the British Boys' corpses into a reanimated chimera. He hopes that Constantine will get the joke. After sending the creature off, he throws off his coat and orders his human thralls to pleasure him.

While John and Zed have sex, the monstrous creation that was once the British Boys decides to take on the name of Ironfist the Avenger, and comes across the car of the boys from the Resurrection Crusaders who were annoying Zed earlier. It smashes their car into a wall.

Meanwhile, John sneaks out of bed and starts snooping for the answers to his questions about Zed's past. Before he can look into her journal, he is overcome by a strange feeling of discomfort. Thinking someone has broken into the building downstairs, John arms himself with a knife and gets dressed, running down. However, the monster is not after him at all, and it climbs the outside of the building to Zed's room. When John hears her scream, he manages to run back upstairs just in time to see the monster attempting to steal her away.

However, when he sees the creature made up of all of the four Neo-Nazi thugs, he begins laughing. He did get the joke after all. The creature becomes annoyed, wanting to know why he's laughing. John points out that one of the boys' arms sports a Chelsea tattoo, while the other sports an Arsenal tattoo - they support opposing teams, but they are one creature. John wraps Zed in his overcoat and rushes her to safety as the monster tears itself to pieces in accordance with the football wars.

John has Chas drive them to Ray Monde's house, and they put Zed to bed. Afterwards, Ray confides in John that he has AIDS, and nobody has been coming into his shop, and he's been getting nasty phone calls as a result.

John stays up all night thinking about prejudice and victims, until he gets a call from Nergal himself. The voice tells him to be warned not to aid his enemies further, and to join the Damnation Army. John is merely confused.