A Rhetorical Question

If John Constantine is no longer part of the DC Universe, but in a Vertigo world of his own ...


... why is he cowering from the Joker on this cover?

(Note: I have read the issue, so I do know what that image is supposed to represent. But the white, elongated face and green hair still seem awfully familiar.)

Picture
Hellblazer issue 233, cover by Lee Bermejo, DC Comics/Vertigo, August 2007