I’m not convinced of that. Specifically, we know next to nothing about the Blackstaff; it was only in Changes that we had any evidence that the Blackstaff was a physical item, not a job title, and even that was pretty uninformative. The Blackstaff (referring to the item, not the person) may work in the way that you describe, but then again, it might not. It might be that the staff does nothing, and that McCoy simply bears the weight of the deaths he causes. We already know rather definitively that older wizards minds are less susceptible to magical warping; it might be that these older wizards can take the risk, or that McCoy’s mind is being warped. There’s simply not enough information to really be sure about the Blackstaff. For that matter, Harry sincerely believes that breaking the First, Third, and Fourth Laws bends and breaks the mind of the wizard who breaks the law, but there isn’t a whole lot of actual evidence for this. Hell, Harry broke the First Law once for certain and very likely more than once. The hard data just isn’t there.
I understand that Jim Butcher has said that’s what it does on his own forums.
Geez, I gotta get over there more often - or at all. Thanks for that info.
I reread Changes recently, and recall black lines starting to run up McCoy’s staff hand (and arm) after he had killed a couple hundred mercenaries working for the Red Court. The lines receded with time, as I recall. Seems like it was an important detail now.
Wow. Fun thread!
I don’t know much about Constantine except the movie but I know Dresden well.
It’s my understanding that the laws of magic only apply to humans. Maybe mortals might be a better word? As such, we have seen Harry blast things from the Nevernever and there are no consequences for it. He’s also blasted vampires and even had some collateral damage on that front with no consequences over the laws. It was argued as self defense, iirc.
I think Butcher has done an excellent job of showing Harry “grow into” magic and understand why the laws are there, especially when he teaches later in the series. And it’s also shown to us why the laws are what they are. It’s an excellent progression.
I enjoyed the TV series because it got my wife and I into the books! And we love the books! I still see Paul Blackthorne as Harry, Terrance Mann as Bob (at least the voice) and Valerie Cruz as Karrin, even though she’s not a blonde. I thought they did well and would love to see it come back! But not on SyFy.
btw, to the poster that asked, apparently SciFi was re-branding itself as SyFy (ugh) at the time and so they completely messed with the production schedule and ended up making them do different introduction episodes with less magic “so viewers wouldn’t be confused by all of the magic.” No, I don’t understand it. Nor do I understand why it didn’t get more episodes, as it was still better than Charmed as it was!
sigh
vislor
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
From wikipedia:
Not only that, but the name of a character from the first Hellblazer storyline. Excellent.
I would bet on Constantine winning but not without a lot of collateral damage.
And I liked the film once I stopped trying to connect it to the comic and got over my natural loathing of Keanu Reeves.
The series another redeeming characteristic…it made me seek out the books. 
John fights dirty. I think before the inevitable team up, he would either have the upper hand, or convince Harry that he (JC) has the upper hand. Remember, JC is very much the con-man.
The movie wasn’t half bad, as its own entity. If you could just wrap your mind around the idea that John Constantine (rhymes with mean) is a different character then John Constantine (rhymes with wine), then you could enjoy the movie. If you try to reconcile the two characters, then you’ll just make yourself angry, and eventually, Karen Berger will take out a restraining order on you, too.
True - I always think that the quintessential JC moment is that scene from The Books of Magic where he stops an entire room full of extremely nasty, extremely powerful beings from attacking Tim merely by striking a match and a pose, despite having virtually no powers at all. Perception is reality, and doubly so with him.
Oh, well, that may be. I’ve never read those.
JC is pretty conniving, and poor Harry isn’t very good vs conniving minds.
However, Harry is tough enough to take just about anything being dished out on him while he laboriously works to finally connects the dots, at which point he’d start holding his own without much trouble. I doubt he’d do much retaliatory damage to JC however, because if the OPs premise holds true, Harry and JC would be working together by that point, and dear Harry doesn’t go in for gratuitous vengeance on people he has tagged with the “good guy” label, even if it takes a while for them to get there.
However, if it’s more of a Dresden/Marcone style alliance? I think Harry wouldn’t mind dishing out some payback, and then poor JC would be all beat to hell. Harry is a damn sight heavier hitter than he was when this thread started.
Not that I’m biased or anything. 
NEW 52 Constantine is a lot more magic-y than his Hellblazer incarnation. Never read the Dresden Files but 52 Constantine is quite a powerful magician
What’s interesting is that we may be soon discussing the TV version of Constantine vs the TV version of Dresden - not the low-budget, SyFy version, but a newer TV version of the Dresden Files. Butcher says talks are in progress, though nothing will be certain until he cashes the check. I’d link to it, but he dropped this during one of his fairly recent book-readings/signings, and it’s on Youtube somewhere. It could take awhile for me to find again. If I find it again, I’ll post back.