Hellblazer isn't straight
Jun. 16th, 2026 01:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI read a thing on tumblr headcanoning John Constantine as aroace, plausibly,
and it reminded me how interesting the first Hellblazer omnibus has been about sex.
There are a lot of other stories where the all conquering hero gets the girl. Or where creeps use their power to get the girl. Guys use what they've got to get sex.
John Constantine, interestingly queer antihero from the get go, has thus far used sex or dating to get information, magic, power, and on more than one occasion a place to sleep.
(The more I think on these early issues the more annoying I find the assertion he was only queer in later issues. You have to be determined not to read between the lines to insist upon that, or possibly to not have read Swamp Thing when the story was spread between them, I would have to double check.)
Some of the more graphic incidents are sex John arguably didn't want, or was having to save the world, or both.
And that might be a side effect of it being a horror story that very seldom leaves him in control, but it ends up interesting for a male protagonist.
Changes the whole dynamic of power in ways that does interesting stuff to gender presentation.
He is a guy who has a lot of sex, but an interesting amount of the time the reasons seem to be not entirely about wanting sex or to have sex with that specific person, and sometimes it is because he is not the one in that situation with the power.
But it contrasts with the Newcastle Incident, where more than one person was there listening to him tell them what to do explicitly because they fancied him, and where he went to 'raise power' in a way that might have been 'got distracted by sex'. Desiring him put others in danger. Which actually might be the most consistent aspect.
Horror comic, so desire is made part of the horror in assorted weird ways.
Leaves the character more interesting.
and it reminded me how interesting the first Hellblazer omnibus has been about sex.
There are a lot of other stories where the all conquering hero gets the girl. Or where creeps use their power to get the girl. Guys use what they've got to get sex.
John Constantine, interestingly queer antihero from the get go, has thus far used sex or dating to get information, magic, power, and on more than one occasion a place to sleep.
(The more I think on these early issues the more annoying I find the assertion he was only queer in later issues. You have to be determined not to read between the lines to insist upon that, or possibly to not have read Swamp Thing when the story was spread between them, I would have to double check.)
Some of the more graphic incidents are sex John arguably didn't want, or was having to save the world, or both.
And that might be a side effect of it being a horror story that very seldom leaves him in control, but it ends up interesting for a male protagonist.
Changes the whole dynamic of power in ways that does interesting stuff to gender presentation.
He is a guy who has a lot of sex, but an interesting amount of the time the reasons seem to be not entirely about wanting sex or to have sex with that specific person, and sometimes it is because he is not the one in that situation with the power.
But it contrasts with the Newcastle Incident, where more than one person was there listening to him tell them what to do explicitly because they fancied him, and where he went to 'raise power' in a way that might have been 'got distracted by sex'. Desiring him put others in danger. Which actually might be the most consistent aspect.
Horror comic, so desire is made part of the horror in assorted weird ways.
Leaves the character more interesting.