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I can't stop thinking about the dichotomy of the Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound: specifically, the metaphor of a rock in a river.

He is a stone. A constant, unyielding force. Capable of being changed, of course- sharpened into a weapon, stacked into the walls of a prison- but entirely inert.

She is a river. Ebbing and flowing, never retaining a constant shape. The waters can be cleared, deepened, displaced momentarily, but you will not change its course by plunging a hand or a blade into it. You will not still it.

The rock is what moves the stream.

The waters meet this unyielding surface and flow around it. Their path is altered ever so slightly, but it is altered. A well-placed rock can change the trajectory of a river's flow, can be shifted to allow the waters to flow in more directions or with more power, can block it off entirely until it stills to a stagnant pool.

And all the while, changes begin to happen. Things that couldn't, had the rock not been placed. The rock's edges are smoothed and its layers peeled back to reveal glimpses of its core, while imperceptibly tiny pieces of it join the river's flow. They understand each other just a little bit better, now.

Be it a bridge, or a dam, or a reservoir, or simply a stone sitting in a stream... the fact remains that the rock met the river. Change met stagnancy, and something new was created.

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Gospel of Thomas

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czarnoksiężnik

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HUNGER! is now a big physical woven tapestry you can buy here. smiling normally at you

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King Laios

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Haven't login for a while 😅

This is my new ship 🥹

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Warsan Shire, from "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love"

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jawsh is such a fascinating entity to me bc in many ways it feels like he's still trapped in 2019. dude is still making "if I cringe the video ends" videos in the modern era. that's why I love his dynamic with berd so much. every asocial streamer recovering from years of irony poisoning needs a playful well-adjusted artist fairy godmother to guide him through his journey

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Hellblazer issue #100, "Sins of the Father" (Paul Jenkins & Sean Phillips), is one of my favourite Hellblazer stories. Spoilers below, obviously.

John Constantine, having recently sent all the parts of himself he didn't want anymore to Hell inside a doppelgänger in order to, once again, outwit The First of the Fallen, winds up in a coma in hospital while his subconscious is taken hostage by The First and taken to task for his disrespect.

The writing in this issue is excellent. I absolutely love John's wandering internal monologues and, in my opinion, aside from Jamie Delano and Neil Gaiman, Paul Jenkins is one of the best at delivering these in the original 300 issue run.

I also love the 'hate-love' (definitely different to 'love/hate') relationship John and The First share. The witty jibes and constant bickering. It's such a fun relationship that goes much deeper than just 'sarcastic protagonist vs equally sarcastic antagonist'. They're like exes: John's the one that got away and The First is the resentful one who can't let go.

The First spends a great deal of time gloating over having the upper hand this time, which is always the hallmark of a villain about to be bested by the main character. But not before he puts old John through the emotional wringer. Plus, there is always the chance that this isn't really happening at all and is just one of John's own fever dreams from his guilt-ridden conscience.

The visual storytelling in Hellblazer is, for the most part, always exceptional. They're all gritty, high calibre comics, even the arcs I'm not a big fan of. But issue 100 boasts some fantastic side-by-side comparative Earth vs Hell panels that feel very cinematic (in that my brain easily imagines these in live action as I read).

We see what is happening in reality compared to what John is experiencing in Hell throughout the story and the question is always there whether the Hell scenes are just John's imagination or not.

Back to the story. At this point in Hellblazer John has actually got a bit of a social life on the go. He has allied himself with some old punk friends (never previously mentioned punk friends, but John is always pulling allies out of the ether) and so Straff is able to find him when he falls into the coma and call the paramedics. Rich Eldridge and Slart join him at his bedside with their tornado of a child, Syder, causing chaos in the waiting room. A concerned Chas Chandler, of course, turns up when he hears what's happening and eventually they call John's sister, Cheryl, down from Liverpool when things look to be in dire straits. It's always nice seeing John with some support now and again even if, in true Constantine style, he seems completely disconnected from it and unable to appreciate it while it's there. But we can cut him some slack this time, I guess, what with him being in a coma...

So, we reach the big reveal: John's dead father, Thomas Constantine is inside the house he and The First enter in Hell.

The First has outdone himself this time and Constantine is completely winded for the next few horrifying pages as The First uses Thomas to punish John while dangling the idea that some key piece of information will let him escape back to the Earthly plane.

Throughout Hellblazer we learn of John's tumultuous relationship with his father. Thomas consistently blames John for the death of John's mother, Mary Anne, during childbirth. Thomas is a violent drunk, an abuser and a sexual deviant (he gets arrested for stealing women's underwear from their washing lines after harbouring horrifying thoughts about his own daughter). John and Cheryl's relationship is strained due to the fact they had to depend on each other growing up. Cheryl was resentful for being pushed into a motherly role for her baby brother at a young age, and John was resentful for Cheryl leaving home and abandoning him with their horrible father as soon as she could.

But it isn't until this issue that we get to see John really process his complex feelings about his father. We do explore John's guilt over his father's murder at the hands of serial killer, The Family Man, in previous issues, and John's childhood is reflected on throughout Hellblazer. But issue 100 really pushes John to confront Thomas and it's an incredible read.

In this issue John exorcises himself of some of his anger at his father. Thomas continues to be a complete piece of shit, demanding that John save him and that him being in Hell is all John's fault. We see John shrinking at this outburst and we know it's a repetition of his childhood cycle. But it's The First who calls Thomas out on his bullshit.

And it's The First who reveals the truth about Thomas Constantine's dirtiest secret: that he is responsible for Mary Anne's death through a dangerous and unsuccessful backstreet abortion (and now those clothes hangers make sense, eh? Yuck). John's stillborn twin remains a bit of a mystery as to whether this was also Thomas' fault as the Constantine line and twins are a bit of mythos at this point and we previously see John killing his brother in utero in an earlier issue (issue 39). But, as always, how much of this is John's guilt and how much of it is real... Or how much is retconned by subsequent writers... it's what makes Hellblazer so fascinating sometimes.

But before the reveal we get a bit of back and forth mudslinging between father and son. But no matter which way you slice it, Thomas was a horrible father and the creator of much of his own misery as well as inflicting it onto his children. And his expectation that they would grow up and just suddenly forgive him and respect him was misplaced (although, it seems quite common a belief amongst some people to this day).

But John knows that this is what The First wants. The angrier he is, the less likely he is to escape. And the longer it takes him, the more likely it is for his body to die and leave his soul stranded in Hell. In short, it's a trap.

So he resolves to forgive his father, despite the fact that this new information is quite possibly the most horrendous thing he could ever learn about his father. So, in a way, The First gets to win a little bit. John is put into a position and essentially forced to tell his father he forgives him for one of the biggest traumas in his life. But, at the same time, John is able to distinguish that Thomas' damnation is Thomas' own fault: a realisation that frees John of The First's trap. And so John gets to make a dramatic return to the land of the living (of course it's dramatic. This is John fucking Constantine we're talking about). Where he can ponder whether or not anything we just read really happened and whether or not it really means anything. But one thing can remain constant; John Constantine is still not okay.

As an aside, this is definitely not an anti-abortion story. While abortion was only legalised in Great Britain (Scotland, England and Wales) in 1967 and John's birth year is 1953, the availability of legal procedures is not the point of the story. This is a story about an abusive husband who forced his wife into a life-changing decision against her will then, when she paid the ultimate price for his dangerous conduct, blamed his children for it. And the impact this had on his children well into adulthood.

It's a heavy, heartbreaking story. And it's definitely no walk in the park to read, and I say this as someone who has no personal connection with any of the issues contained. But it's a powerfully told story and it's an incredible one-issue exploration of several key characters (John, Thomas and The First of the Fallen). And that's what makes it stand out to me as one of the best Hellblazer issues.

Anyway, if you're looking for light-hearted entertainment, Hellblazer probably isn't the DC Comic you should be looking at!

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John Constantine: Hellblazer – City of Demons #2

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Posters for National Theater of Korea's production of Macbeth, designed by Yuni Yoshida and photographed by Noh Juhan. [1][2]

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so sad cause recently i discovered that will actually MARRY A WOMAN in hannibal how is it even possible how yall so normal about it im going insane

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I actually want to discuss in-depth the Molly kills Hannibal idea cuz it has some really fun potential for a series ending. It makes sense okay. She kills the Dragon in the books, why can’t she kill Hannibal Lector? I don’t think it would be easy and she would have to be driven to it. She would have to also become a monster and that is kinda beautiful.

(ALSO- please this is just an idea I had months ago and have been sitting with for awhile. Idgaf if this “ruins” Hannigram for you, stay mad) (if you have ACTUAL constructive criticism please share, I’m willing to be wrong)

When she kills Francis in the book it is to persevere her and her son’s lives. She has to protect them and nobody else can. He chases them into their house and she shoots him four times in the face, she didn’t go easy on him and that’s pretty bad ass. This aspect of her character shouldn’t just disappear in the show.

Her character in the show also doesn’t just go away. Her and Will are STILL MARRIED. Their relationship is significant even if Will chooses Hannibal over her in the end. She would probably be a tether to Will’s humanity post-fall which is dangerous for Hannibal. There would be a great benefit in Molly dying. Will would have to either destroy Hannibal and himself or Molly to relieve himself of the love and pain that her existence would bring him. The comfort and love she brought him still exists. Even though she gets shot by the dragon and is changed, that love and warmth hasn’t changed. Now Will is unable to have that and it would be something to rectify. He would have to eat her.

I imagine post-fall Will and Hannibal would be slowly eating their way through the cast starting obviously with Bedelia. The whole point of Hannibal wanting to eat Will was to satiate his love for him so for Will to eat Molly would be to codify his love for her and have the ability to move on with Hannibal. If they went after her I don’t think she’d play into their game and she could potentially be the only character that could actually kill them from her own sheer power to stay alive + not caring for either of their bullshit. Molly hasn’t even met Hannibal so she wouldn’t be blind to his hospitality and charm. She would see right through this polite demeanour.

If they took her or something she would have to decide whether or not to keep Will alive. Post-fall Will would be operating completely under Hannibal’s influence through manipulation. If there was even a spark of humanity left in Will, I think Molly would want to save him. The real question is can she save him? He would be incredibly dangerous and the choice to save him might not be possible. If Will lives and Hannibal dies the cycle that Hannibal created would still exist. (Hannibal Lector still has agency in the world if Will Graham is alive!) If she does kill Will it would be in her best interest to survive even if it would be painful. She never stops loving him after he leaves her. She would see who he is completely and maybe that would be comforting to know that he has become a monster, that the man she loved doesn’t exist anymore. The only thing left for him is death and she would be able to bring that to him, her last act of love. She could finally free him from Hannibal.

I think it’s fun to have Molly kill Hannibal as an ending. It’s a characteristic they would finally have in common. I’ve seen people compare Molly and Hannibal mostly on their physical appearance but I think they both serve a similar purpose to Will. They both love him unconditionally and are willing to do a lot for him. If Hannigram went after Molly she would have no choice but to fight and she’d probably enjoy getting to kill Hannibal. He took away a lot from her and sent the dragon after her family, that’s not something you just get over. HE STOLE HER HUSBAND. I think it’s the type of revenge that Hannibal would revel in and not that I think he’d be happy to die but I think he’d be amused to die at Molly’s hand. Also pissed. Obviously.

I just think Molly deserve a righteous ending. Even if this doesn’t make sense within the narrative of the show or whatever was supposed to happen post-fall but I think thematically it’s a fun idea.

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arthur truly suffers more than jesus on the cross i love him

(cw body horror / cw guts) full second painting under the cut

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I was avoiding doing actual work this afternoon and, well...

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John Constantine - art by Kevin Keane