#hellbalzer

[current-comix]

[naoa-ao3]

Rhymes and Reasons

It's a hot night for sleeping. Too bloody hot and John Constantine turns over in the damp sheets of his bed, the air around him putrid and suffocating with the promise of more rain.

It's the hottest part of June and he can't sleep a wink.

He's three months out of Ravenscar which is a pretty good shore leave for him, three months without getting carted back or in any kind of trouble.

He can feel it's coming to an end though, the edges of his mind starting to fray from all the wear again and he tosses and turns, trying to sleep, knowing he's going to fuck it all up, just like all the other times.

He's coming apart again, just like he does every few months, every time after they patch him up and send him on his way. It just keeps happening and as the night bares down on him, alone in a filthy little bedsit in Manchester he gives up.

He pulls himself into a sitting position and draws his knees up to his chest, reaching for a cigarette, not caring that the smoke only makes the room hotter and the air is already bad, not caring that he's dropping ash on the bed sheets or that his throat is already raw from too many cigarettes the day before.

He's got visions in his head, little blond girls that slip through the cracks. 1234567 all good children go to heaven, except when they don't. Except when you send them to hell and he pulls hard on his cigarette, remembering her blue eyes and how he sent her to hell. Little Astra all that was left of her was a hand.

His own hands shake and he tries to drill holes in his head with his knees, tries to drive out the shakes and the memories and the lies he's told.

He's good at lying. He thinks that may be all he's good at. Lying and killing kids.

He's only twenty-three, it's been a year since Newcastle and everything going wrong. A year since he's had friends and a band and a fucking brain that worked.

A year since he realized how fucking pathetic he was.

He shakes in the dark, not knowing the hour and unable to calm his thudding mind. His useless skull that screams guilt at him and wants to see him bloody and dead.

The little room is too hot and John feels as if his head is going to explode. There's sweat running down his skin and his shirt is soaked and the cig is out.

He lights another one and coughs, needing water, not having any and not getting up to get some.

He'll be back in Ravenscar with the doctors and nurses and orderlies and all of the screaming and screams that come from him.

He can feel the walls chasing him, hear the taunts and mocks and beatings, echoing off of them. He can hear Astra calling for help. He can hear his own heart thudding painfully in his black chest.

His heart must be black too. Rotten and still pumping for some reason. It forgot to stop in Newcastle.

He nearly calms the shaking and reaches for the clock radio on the bedside table. The time is wrong but the radio works and he fiddles with it, trying desperately to break the silence and it's screaming.

The rain hasn't started again yet but there's leaves and branches scraping at his window, clawing like an animal trying to get in. Like someone trying to send a message.

He get's the radio working and hears Chuck Berry singing Johnny B. Goode through the static.

Johnny B. Goode.

John be good or John Law will come and lock you away. Gotta protect John Q. Public.

Good old Johnny on the spot, always there to help a friend, always there to make things worse.

King John was not a good man.

Johnny Rotten.

Johnny come lately. . . always too late. Too late to save Astra. Too late to sleep. Too late to try. Fucked if he can do anything about it.

Pretending to know things he didn't. Pretending he knew what he was doing. Pretending, pretending, pretending and lying. Lying some more.

Sally went round the moon but Johnny had gone round the bend and Jack had a new master and Mary still couldn't find all her fucking sheep.

He gives up sleeping and goes for the drink instead. The drink always helps and who cares if its bad for him? Johnny already went round the moon, all in a loopty loop.

It's all in a loopty loop.

The bloody dish ran away with the bloody saucer and no one knew where Alice lived anymore.

Did anyone remember Alice? It was a song about Alice.

No, it was a song about Astra.

He chokes on the end of his second cigarette and wishes they didn't end. Wishes they just burned forever.

The muggy little room is hazy and he feels light headed. He can't remember if he ate that day, doesn't care. The rent is payed up on the crappy little bedsit and that's all that matters.

He's got a dark little hole he can hide in.

The drink is hitting him and it helps a little. Never enough because all good children didn't go to heaven and he wasn't going either, not that he wanted it or that he even had any idea what he wanted.

Sleep?

Not likely.

He stays up the whole night, unable to rest, mind turning in useless, dead thoughts, skull caving in on it's self as the rain starts again outside, hot and hitting like bombs against the roof and window, big dollops of water, pummeling the earth and her darkness, keeping him inside, keeping him from sleep, keeping him with his dead thoughts and self.

He can barely see in the dark room, the wrong time is glowing on the clock, the static is nearly obliterating the music.

He's almost out of booze.

It's a bad night and as the sun starts to crack across the heavens he turns from it, tired, drunk, throat raw and head aching. A ,million cigarettes stubbed out in the ash tray.

Are you sleeping brother John?

One more John for his collection. One more bastard who couldn't sleep. One more John to fuck things up.

He'll go back to Ravenscar soon. He always does.

He finishes the booze and knows that in a few hours he'll have to venture out for more cigarettes.

John thinks of Matthews, Marks, Johns and Lukes, of Peters and Pauls and Marys quite contrary, Georgie porgie pudding and pie. . . all of them blowing in the wind.

Not sleeping was the right choice because even with his eyes open he still sees nightmares. No need to make it worse. No need to sleep. No need to leave the bedsit more than he has to. No need to put himself on another person. No need to see another soul. No need to see his own in the mirror. No need. No need. God, no need.

King John was not a good man- he had his little ways- and sometimes no one spoke to him for days and days and days.

King John was not a good man but he had his hopes and fears.

[dramamccringe]

Out of context Hellblazer :)

[a-wild-things-rambles]

I totally get what you're saying when you're talking about dc flattening constantines character, like as a queer northerner who found hellblazer at a time I was really getting into politics, it was really important to me to see British politics and issues being discussed that way. The whole thing with the hippies in Jamie Delanos run really reminded me of the stuff my parents used to do and I don't think I've found that anywhere else. And the whole thing with ravenscar still rings true to how the mental health services in Britain are at the moment. The whole magic system was pretty interesting too and took a lot of occult concepts you don't really see in pop culture and to see that all flattened into an Americanized "generic flirty wizard" in recent years has really been pissing me off for a good while now

exactly!! yea the hippie stuff also really resonated with me, and its why i love hellblazer, my parents were part of that community.

and thats why hellblazer is important to me- it covers english alternative history of the 20th century! john lives and interacts with all these people that dont get their storys told. hell when i read john constatine: hellblazer one of the thing that cemented it as having the true hellblazer spirit was bring up and talking about windrush. hellblazer is best when either confronting the current issues, or how old buried issues still affect us.

and ravenscar and the british mental health system... yet another example of the hellblazer covering important issues that unfortunately still ring true!

and im glad im not alone in getting pissed of at the americanisation- and you've really hit the nail on the head there.

[foeofcolor]

Oh you like bad boys? this man is a nightmare, have fun

[why-i-love-comics]

Justice League #62 - "The Trouble with Books" (2021)

written by Ram V art by Xermanico & Romulo Fajardo, Jr.

[bethkw-dan]

John constantine in JLA animation

[letzoespoilyou]

What is Matt up to?

[lobocomicsandtoys]

HELLBLAZER TRADE PAPERBACK VOL 03 THE INSPIRATION GAME

Home from Paris, John has a terrible dream about a dead teenager-and then finds an actual corpse! Did someone use his imagination as a weapon, or has his distaste for humanity made him a murderer? Then, another one of John's magician friends has died-with a smile on his face and the words "thank you" scrawled in his own blood beside him... Collects The Hellblazer #13-18.

Available at Lobo Comics & Toys this coming Wednesday, 03/07/2018

visit us on facebook, google+, blogspot, our eBay store, and our website

[thecomicon]

Preview - 'Hellblazer: Rise And Fall' #1 Goes Back To The Very Beginning And John's Birth

Preview – ‘Hellblazer: Rise And Fall’ #1 Goes Back To The Very Beginning And John’s Birth

Written by Tom Taylor

Art by Darick Robertson

Colour art by Diego Rodriguez

“A billionaire falls out of the sky and is gruesomely skewered on a church spire. Bizarrely, Angel Wings are attached to his back. More follow until, hallelujah, it’s raining businessmen. Detective Aisha Bukhari is stumped by this, until she’s visited by her childhood friend, occult investigator John Constantine. DC’s…

[fuffy2002moved]

dc fans where cna i start with uh. other stuff. besides hellbalzer

[naoa-ao3]

The Tape

SUMMARY: Gemma brings a tape home from school that makes her ears bleed. Cheryl asks John to get rid of it. Is there any chance he won't listen to it?

The phone rings and John picks up, hand twitching only a little. Most times when he get's a phone call it's something bad but he answers anyway and this time is surprised to hear his sister's voice on the other end.

He doesn't get around to see Cheryl as much as he probably should. Most of the time he just causes her trouble anyway.

"John, what do you think you're playing at?" She asks before he can speak, she sounds angry and he winces a little, unsure of what he's supposed to have done now.

"Gonna have to be more specific than that." He mutters.

"You bloody know what I'm talking about. The damn tape. I don't know where else Gemma would have gotten it from."

He get's annoyed now because he doesn't know anything about a tape. "What tape?" He asks. "She watch a porno flick or something?"

Cheryl makes a noise of irritation too. "You wish it were something that ordinary. It bloody hurt her."

And he just doesn't know what she's talking about. "Cheryl come off it, I'm all the way in London. I don't know what tape you're talking about. Now is Gemma okay?"

A huff. "Yeah, she's alright. Turned it off and she was fine again but she had all this blood coming out of her ears and then Tony listened to it and he started bleeding too."

"Jesus. . . Glen Campbell's greatest hits then?"

"It's not funny, she said she got it at school but I-"

"She didn't get it from me but I'll take it off your hands." John say's immediately, not knowing what this thing is but understanding and wanting it away from his niece and sister. "I can be by in a day or so."

A sigh. "You promise, John? I don't want this shit mucking up her life. You hear me? I don't want that."

"No, you're right. I won't let it."

He can hear her trouble and disbelief even when she doesn't say anything. "Okay, stay for dinner then? I'll make something up."

He nods. "Won't say no to that. I'll be there, Cheryl."

"Yeah, okay." She say's again. "Sorry I yelled. There was just blood and all coming down her face. No mother wants to see that."

"No of course not." And he knows his sister loves Gemma. Of course she does. She's a good mum. She was a good sister to him when it came down to it.

"So you'll come get rid of the thing?" She asks.

He nods. "Yeah, already there."

He hangs up and rubs at his face, feeling dark. He's tried so hard to keep this shit away from Gemma but it keeps finding her. Just like it found him only she's just a kid and she's young and innocent and it hurts that he can't keep it away from Gemma.

It hurts that Cheryl thinks he could have given Gemma the tape but then. . . Cheryl's dealt with his shit for years. . . who else would come to mind?

He get's the first ride out of London he can get and heads her way, thinking about all the songs that have ever made his ears bleed through the years. It's almost comical except that it isn't really like that. Not literal blood like what was running down the sides of his niece's face.

Of a little girl's face.

It's supposed to be just a figure of speech.

The ride takes forever and there's rain. Too much rain and the inside of the lorry he's managed to talk his way into is wet and cold.

The driver has a thermos of steaming coffee but he doesn't offer to share any and John can smell the burnt crap's stench floating next to the dank humidity of the cab.

The driver is snide. Probably picks people up so he can feel better about himself. He asks rude questions, smirks a lot but John just ignores it.

The ride is mostly silent.

Wet and silent as water droplets form against the inside of the window panes and jump out at him. The old leather stinks and feels gritty under him.

He get's off in Warrington and from there it's an easy trek to Cheryl's.

The familiar streets of his teenage haunts have changed. Progress and modernization have replaced most of shabby exteriors and old Victorian facades. It's surreal but then he doesn't come home much.

Cheryl greets him at her door, eyes troubled, face worried and he knows she's more upset than she wants to let on.

He hugs her anyway. "How's Gemma?" He asks.

"She's alright. You know how kid's are."

He nods and follows her inside.

There's school pictures on the walls of Gemma and a vase of dried flowers on the television. Cheryl's house looks normal. The weird stuff only brushes her life and he suddenly hates that this tape has invaded her home.

She puts on the kettle and sighs unhappily. "Thanks for coming on such short notice." She say's giving him an apologetic look.

There are lines around her eyes now that hadn't been there when they were kids. John feels like a kid around her again. He think's it's funny how you shrink up around family.

He isn't a kid though. "Of course." He say's.

This is the now.

She shakes here head. "I was out of my mind when I called you. I really was. I was so upset. There's no excuse for how I talked to you."

He reaches for her sleeve. "You think I don't know that?" He asks, trying to be comforting.

She smiles weakly. "No, I know you know." She say's and he sees her shoulders finally relax a little. "Gemma's going to be happy to see you." She say's.

He smiled and nods. "She at school, then?"

"Yeah. She's got good grades, you know? I'm proud of her."

"You should be."

She brushes her hair back and yet he can see the tension still there because everything isn't perfect with Tony and now she's got this to worry about. "Sometimes though, John. . ." She shakes her head and then smiles. "I'm glad you came."

He is too and he smiles gently back at her. "Any time you call, I'll turn up."

She laughs genuinely there. "Now don't go pulling my leg." She say's.

That hurts a little but he knows it's fair. He isn't totally reliable and she knows it but just the same. . . he means it to be true.

He sighs to himself and the kitchen is alright. Tony doesn't keep them living in splendor but it's alright.

"Everything alright on your end, John?" She asks.

He nods because it mostly is and what isn't there isn't time to say. "Think so." He say's.

"Good, you always seem to have a lot going on. I worry about you sometimes."

He appreciates that and looks down at the table, the yellow Formica is starting to show some wear now. "Nah, I'm alright Cheryl." He say's because it's easier than telling her all of the things she might not even believe in. "You don't need to worry. You got enough on your plate as a mum."

She smiles a little sadly. "Oh John you know it's not that easy to stop worrying."

He appreciates that too and sips his tea. "So what about this tape, then?" He asks. "What's on it?"

"How should I know? I didn't bloody listen to it."

He laughs a little. "Gemma say?"

"She was in shock, I think. If she even knew it in the first place." She fishes into her pocket and hands over a white cassette tape, shaking her head. "I don't even know how mums are supposed to know what their kids are up to these days." She say's. "I can't check everything she brings home from school. Remember when you had to save everything you got for a new record? It was vinyl then. This thing fits in your back pocket. I didn't even know she'd brought it in the house."

He takes the tape and turns it over curiously. "I remember." He say's, thinking back some years now.

She shakes her head. "We didn't have it perfect but. . . at least our music didn't make your ears bleed."

He laughs and wonders what's on the tape.

He think's he'd really like to know.

A symphony from hell? Some kind of muttered, arcane chanting? The possibilities were endless.

"Gemma should be back soon." Cheryl say's, looking towards the window and sighing. "I told her you were coming." She looks like she expects him to dart out the door.

He smiles, trying to put her eat ease. "Wouldn't want to disappoint, then."

Her eyes find him. "You're staying for dinner, aren't you? You said you would."

He raises his hands in surrender. "I meant it."

"Good because I've got a roast in the oven."

He looks towards the oven and nods. That sounds good. "Wouldn't miss it." He say's, feeling comfortable in her house when it's just the two of them.

He's not that far from where they grew up although Cheryl and Tony have managed to get themselves into a better neighborhood.

Cheryl sighs and looks at the clock on the opposite wall. "Tony should be off soon too. Do you have somewhere to spend the night?"

He glances towards the living room and raises an eyebrow. "If you wouldn't mind."

She shakes her head, smiling a little. "No, go ahead. Couch is yours."

He likes that and smiles too.

These are the easy moments, the moments when everything is working the way it should and if he ignores the reason for his trip, he's just a brother visiting his sister and her family.

He slips the tape into his pocket as the kitchen door opens and Gemma steps in, school bag thrown over her shoulder and shirt untucked.

He can remember shucking off school clothes the moment he was able to, the useless, oppressive uniforms were nothing once the last bell had rung. Once the doors had opened.

She stops and looks at him, eyes bright. "Uncle John!" She say's with delight. "Mum said you'd be coming!"

He lets her hug him and then she set's her bag down and starts working on a snack. "It's cause of that tape, isn't it?" She say's in a voice that's probably supposed to be sly. It tells him she's been thinking about it.

He nods. "Partly but also the chance to see you two."

She smiles and takes her snack off to her room, leaving the adults to talk and he raises his eyebrows at Cheryl. "She get's bigger every time I see her."

"You should come by more, then it won't be such a surprise."

He nods but knows he won't. Tony doesn't like him that much and he brings trouble. It's better if he keeps some distance, especially with all the weird stuff that tracks home after Gemma these days.

They talk for a little bit more and then Tony comes in, also through the kitchen door and the talk stays pleasant, Gemma pokes her nose back into the room too and eventually the kitchen smells like Cheryl's roast and John feels for a brief, fleeting moment like nothing's out of the ordinary.

He eats and talks with his family and manages to get along with Tony and by the end of it he's got his shoes off and is sitting on the couch.

Gemma seems unbothered by the tape but he supposes that it wasn't the weirdest thing she's ever encountered.

She talks about friends and school and asks pointed questions. She wants to know things he knows and he worries for what that means in the future.

When the lights go out he lays back and stares at the ceiling.

He wants to know what's on the tape. He absolutely wants to know what's on the tape.

He looks over at the stereo center against the wall and thinks about turning the down volume real low.

He glances down the hall however and thinks the better of it. It'd be his luck someone would get out of bed.

He pulls the blankets up to his chin and broods about it.

He really wants to know what's on the tape.

They'd said it was music.

He looks at the stereo center again and turns over on the couch. He can wait until he get's back to London.

He eats breakfast with them the next morning.

Gemma is dressed for school and Cheryl is in a bath robe and slippers.

Tony is already dressed for work.

"You're heading out today, are you?" He asks John, who nods.

"Well. . . nice seeing you."

It's awkward but John only nods again. "Same." He say's, getting an approving glance from Cheryl.

Gemma say's she wishes he could stay another night and he assures her he'll be back soon although he doesn't know when that will be.

Then Tony and Gemma are gone and it's just him and Cheryl.

"You be safe heading back today." She say's. "You still hitch hiking?"

He shrugs, guilty.

She shakes her head. "This is why I worry about you."

He laughs. "I'm alright. Never have any trouble."

That's not entirely true but he doesn't want her to worry at all so why tell her the truth?

She shakes her head again and sits with him. "It was nice having you in again." She say's, mug steaming in front of her. "Even if it was only for a night."

He shrugs. "I'll be around again."

She nods and sips her drink. "You're not going to listen to it, are you?" She asks suddenly, eyes on his coat. It's hanging over the back of his chair and he laughs.

"Of course not." He say's, heart speeding up at the thought of what might be on it.

She nods again and sighs. "I wish I believed that." She sounds like she really does wish it.

He grins. "Maybe it'll fall out of my pocket."

"Yeah, right into a tape deck."

He laughs again and it's good, sitting there with her.

He leaves around noon and hitches a ride all the way to Coventry and from there back to London, the tape burning a hole in his pocket.

He's run through all the things that could possibly be on the tape and come to the conclusion that it could be anything.

He get's inside and heads straight for the stereo in the corner.

His hands are sweating as he pulls the damn thing from his pocket.

He needs to know.

He shakes as he tries to fit the tape into the little slot, fucking it up a few times before getting it in and closing it.

He presses the button down and waits, hearing a faint crackle as the tape turns. It's almost unbearable and then a sickly sweet tune starts to emit itself from the speakers.

And they called it puppy love

He winces as a sharp pain starts to build in his ear drums.

It get's worse with each swell in the music and every line makes it so much more unbearable.

He clamps is hands over his ears and feels wetness there. He looks at his left hand and sees red.

He hits the stop button and the pain turns into a dull ringing.

He shakes his head, dizzy and nauseous now.

"Christ." He mutters, taking the tape out and looking at it.

Donny Osmond.

He shivers a little as the music stays in his head. He feels violated in a way and his hand itches towards the tape player again. . . just wanting to be certain but he stops.

His ears have stopped bleeding and he's afraid the song is going to be stuck in his head now.

He tears the tape out of the cassette and breaks the plastic.

Some people just like putting evil into the world and he thinks that whoever made this must have a particularly cruel sense of humor.

He throws the tape in the trash and tries to remember which day pick up is.

[deniskhenry]

John Constantine: Hellblazer Condenado - Volume 6/7 O Dom . . Minissérie do Selo DC Black Mabel, com Roteiro de Mike Carey e Arte por Leonardo Manco e Frazer Irving, contém 168 páginas e compila os capítulos 207-213 de john Constantine: Hellblazer de 2005/2006 e pela Panini Comics em 2021. . . . John pagou um preço alto por sua arrogância e assim condenado a sacrificar sua própria mente em favor da não destruição do mundo dos homens, A oferta demoníaca da entidade Rosacarnis que está pronto a puxar o tapete e cobrar a dívida de John e com isso ação ou por condenar sua irmã a danação eterna . . A saga melhorou bastante (principalmente neste volume) tem muita interação com o sobrenatural, temas maus sólidos e adultos dignos do selo Black Label, tem violência, bizarrices, nudez acerejada e explora bem as consequências do Inferno e o esgotamento mental e cansaço físico de John Constantine ainda tendo de lidar com sua "ex-esposa" Demoníaca: Rosacarnis e um velho conhecido seu chamado Nergal. . . O encadernado possui a narrativa focada em Na Terra para onde vão os mortos: Capítulos 1-6 (Hellbalzer 207-212) mais o Dom (Hellblazer 213) que dá o sobrenome ao encadernado. . . Constantine continua sendo um ótimo título, sua personalidade constante e arrogante muitas vezes da um tom especial a trama, pois ele sabe ser cínico e irreverente em momentos tensos, sem perder seu lado investigativo, já os desenhos seguem o mesmo padrão dos anteriores sem nada de especial a saga fecha no próximo encadernado, que só em oferta vou pegar devido ao aumento abusivo de preços por parte da Panini. . . #coleção #Colecionador #Hqs #GraphicNovel #Hellblazer #JohnConstantine #DC #DcComics #DcBlackLabel #Leitura #Review #Quadrinhos #PaniniBooks #Leitura #Resenha #Comic #MikeCarey (em São Raimundo Nonato) https://www.instagram.com/p/COp5lQUDEJL/?igshid=1abvp4qc4j3ra

[snootsnooter]

7, 12, and 21 :D

|| Meme questions can be found here ||

7.) Favorite trans meme/bit of trans humor? I actually don’t know of many, if any, trans memes ;w;

12.) Favorite trans headcanon? I have quite a few, but the favorites I can think off the top of my head are: - Garfield Lynns (Firefly) is trans - Jimmy Olsen is trans - Gabriel (Constantine/Hellbalzer series) is nonbinary

21.) what makes you feel euphoric? People actually respecting my pronouns (’:

[exitiumparit]

@skymma asked: “all of my enemies started out friends.” for zatanna

The thaumaton’s magic reverberates in her body. Neither of them are dying or some state of in-between, but she still feels the fire burning from her on the inside out. She couldn’t be thinking of what it felt like to be brought to death and remade and back again, over, and over, again, as she was tied to one love of her life while her other rejoiced in their agony. Zee didn’t have the option to be affected.

Or was that illuminating, poisonous, incinerating fire her anger?

There was a time when John Constantine’s blue eyes were home like a springtime sky instead of as pale as the glint of a knife blade. She’d kissed his lips once upon a time and the taste of silk cuts would center her. Now she looks at his lips and braces herself for whatever lie he’d sell her today to save his own skin.

John said he’d choose her over the entire world, and even if that was true, John would always choose one person over, and over, and over again.

“We make our own monsters, John!” Zee snaps. Nanda Parabat (and the world) may burn around them, but John Constantine, leader of the Justice League Dark, John Constantine, owner of the House of Mystery, John Constantine, Hellbalzer, would never be the lover or hero Zatanna needed.

“May yours come for you one day,” she vows, but he’d already disappeared without a trace.

 lover sentence starters || accepting

[matrizsecretax-blog]

La Matriz Secreta Podcast

Por fin tenemos nuestro primer podcast de la Matriz Secreta! Pueden escucharnos en el siguiente video:

Primer capítulo de nuestro programa donde analizamos el fenómeno de la Ouija, compartimos casos y nuestras propias experiencias y el demonio Zozo. También comentamos sobre algunas películas como El Exorcista y el conjuro, comics como hellbalzer y hellboy, series como The OA y Stranger Things y también sobre los aficionados al metal y lo gótico. Como podrán ver no falta el buen humor en el programa. Recuerden agregarnos en youtube, darle like y compartir en las redes sociales. Tambien pueden escuchar este capitulo en Ivoox: http://cl.ivoox.com/es/matriz-secreta-01x01-la-ouija-audios-mp3_rf_16957324_1.html  Saludos!