Casanova Club

The Casanova Club is a fictional business featured in comic books published by DC Comics. It first appeared in a flashback story from Hellblazer #11 in November, 1988 titled, "Newcastle: A Taste of Things to Come".

History
The Casanova Club was a nightclub owned by Alex Logue in 1970s Newcastle, England. It is known as the first venue for young John Constantine's punk rock band Mucous Membrane. Alex Logue had developed a reputation for himself as a sex and drugs magician, and after shows, he would often invite guests and performers down into the club's cellar for private parties. Dubbed the "Chapel", the cellar of the Casanova Club was the scene of various black magic occult ceremonies and tantric sex rituals.

In 1978, John and his friends Judith, Frank North, Anne-Marie, Ritchie Simpson, Gary Lester and Benjamin Cox arrived at the Casanova Club after hours. The crew came to Alex about payment for a prior gig, as well as inquiring about further work. Benjamin Cox heard strange noises coming from the cellar, and when they went to investigate, they found a veritable abattoir of corpses. Running back upstairs, they found Alex's daughter Astra gyrating to loud music and acting strangely. They immediately detected that something was wrong, so John and Anne-Marie combined their talents to hypnotize Astra, forcing her to calm down. Astra revealed that a demonic entity known as a Norfulthing appeared in the cellar during one of her father's tantric sex parties and slaughtered everyone present. John theorized that the Norfulthing was a terror elemental and was created by Astra's subconscious mind. He further believed that the only way to defeat such an entity was by raising a more powerful demon. Benjamin Cox panicked at the prospect of raising a demon and fled from the room, right into the claws of the Norfulthing. Frank North drove the beast away with his shotgun before it could kill Cox, but the young boy was inconsolable after the experience. John retrieved his occult gear from his van, including a copy of the Grimorium Verum. He sent Frank outside to prepare some gas cans in case they needed to torch the place, and he sent Gary Lester to retrieve a black cat for the ritual.

John conducted the elaborate ceremony and tried to summon a demon known as Sagatona. However, he mis-spoke the invocation and instead enabled a different demon altogether to enter the Earth realm. The demon took possession of Astra Logue and used her body to destroy the Norfulthing. When John realized what had happened, he attempted to bargain with the demon to spare Astra's soul, but to no avail. While John attempted to exorcise the demon, Frank North set the club on fire. John barely made it out in time, but Astra was forever lost.

This incident set into motion a series of events that resulted in John being committed to the Ravenscar Secure Hospital as well as the grisly deaths of everyone else present that day. Ten years after the fact, John returned to Newcastle and found the burnt ruins of the Casanova Club outside an old junkyard.

Points of interest

 * The Chapel
 * The Lounge

Residents

 * Alex Logue
 * Astra Logue