#somewhere isolated to get away from the police (re: insane parents) that or some crazy shit in their past theyre trying to run away from

[gu6chan]

Your post about The Most American Sandwhich just made me imagine Leonard as an American... Leonard scuttling about at a Walmart parking lot, trying to fit all the food he bought in the trunk (enough to hermit away for the next few weeks begote he has to restock again)

this is a bit late but this has me WAILING........ american leonard, what groceries will he buy........ do you think he would treat him also to The Most American Sandwich

now introducing: the U.P's youngest resident

also during the process of scribbling in his hoodie i looked at it and almost started crying

[marireadshellblazer]

Hellblazer Issue #4

Issue #4 here we go! Woo!

I liked this one overall. Let’s start with the what I didn’t like, though.

Much like the first issue, this one introduces a few important characters (why he still a dick to Chas tho?). First and foremost is John’s family. It’s made very clear that his sister has some serious issues in her marriage (though for all his judgment, John doesn’t exactly have the moral high ground here).

Maybe I’m the only one who noticed, but in Supernatural’s first season they introduced a girl who is possessed by a demon. Her name is Meg Masters. Meg…Gem…..Gem Masters….Maybe I am a conspiracy theorist, but I swear to God Supernatural steals so much from this it’s borderline sad. Yeah, I know they wanted to bring in John as a character therefore giving us Cas when that didn’t work out, but still. There is some little shit here that seems just as blatant as the similarities between John and Cas. Did they really have to have so many just… I just…I can’t be the only one who noticed this case with Meg and Gem’s names, right? Am I the crazy one?

Speaking of Gem, now that I have re-read this for this post, I noticed something I hadn’t before. This might just be the situation or something, this seems to imply that Gem is sensitive in a similar way that John is; that is she is able to connect with the metaphysical in a way. It makes sense that she is so close to him. In a way I feel like they have a lot in common; both of them have a real draw to magic and the occult. Neither of them are able to rely on their parents for one reason or another, and both of them are unable to find any real emotional support from his sister Cheryl. I mean, you know shit is bad when uncle John is a better big brother/father figure than your own dad (no offence to John or his dumpster fire of a life).

As for Cheryl I can’t help but judge her a little here. At least in this case, while she is clearly upset and worried for her daughter, I can’t help but wonder “where the hell has she been?” It had to have been obvious that Gem was having issues. Did it not occur to her that the major changes in their lives could be really detrimental to Gem’s wellbeing? I get that cults get into your head and change you and all, but still. I dunno, maybe she isn’t a bad mom, per say, but when I read the chapters showing what she was like when she and John were little (more into herself than anything), it gets me thinking that maybe that’s just her personality. Maybe it’s due to how she and John were raised, which was not a good time, or maybe it’s her fixation on her shitty marriage. God knows I’ve met enough people in my life where their parent’s relationship was more important than their kids/literally anything else. I get that shit can be complicated, but at least right now I am seriously judging her.

I mean, what Gem did was stupid, but she is also a child. A lonely child, taken away from the world she had grown up in leading up until this point and isolated from the comforts she has always knew. With her parents in a cult, I can kinda see how it made her an easy target for the ghosts and the man; she wanted to fit in somewhere and she wasn’t getting the love and attention she needed at home. Poor thing. Plus, in agreeing to go with them, although the girls manipulated her, in that moment I can see how it felt like what was happening was her choice; when it came to the cult and the insanity it created in her home she had no say in what happened to her and she makes clear her frustration over that at the beginning of the chapter. Again, not stupid, but manipulated while she was in a rough patch in her life.

What did I like? Let’s start with the cover! This series has some seriously great art. Gets me HYPED. Though, I suppose that’s the point. So, good on them.

This is also, I think, the first time that synchronicity is mentioned. If you don’t know about synchronicity there is a decent-ish explanation on Wikipedia. Awesomely enough I found that it was a little easier to understand through the Police song Synchronicity II (it all comes back to Sting in the end). This plays a pretty big role in the fuckery that happens in Swamp Thing, and it’s interesting enough on it’s own, so it’s worth looking up if you’re curious.

Of course this is where Zed comes in. Woo! She is a fun one. I like that she just kinda goes along with everything. Like, she is ok with driving John out there in the middle of the night like “fuck it, I don’t have anything better to do. Let’s see where this goes.” I mean, I get that she wants to figure out what it is that connects her to John and probly wants to stick close to him, but she didn’t need to go that far. Pretty dope.

I love that John dropped everything, even the sex, to go after Gem (good uncle is good). I love that Zed got involved and helped. John even points out that this is not her problem, and really she barely knows him, but she risks her own safety to help him find Gem. It says a lot about her. I think her character is very mysterious here and this gives you a reason to trust her. Much respect.

I swear that something like this is said in the live action portrayal of John (Matt Ryan) but for the life of me I cannot find the episode. If I do find it I’ll put it here since now it’s bothering me.

Fun observation I made language wise: the use of “ta”. It apparently means “thanks”. Some sources I found simply list it as British slang, while another one I found said that it was specifically a Scouse thing. So far I think John is the only person who has used it, so that would make sense.

Along the same lines I noticed the use of the word “cheers”. It appears that it’s a kind of sentence ender, at least in the context that John uses it.

Words/phrases that I had to look up:

Journo- slang for journalist