Xan

Intro sucked. Plain and simple.. It sorta tosses you into the story like the beginning of a bad script. But fear not! It does get better. For a bit.

Interplay with John, Bartender, and Chas is pretty good, if a little cliche'. ("If I'm not back by the time the missus wakes up...") but "It's not like we're going to sodding Japan." made me snicker, though the bartender's reference to Japan seemed forced.

The Inu-Yasha bit... er...

Well, grasp of John is still decent. But.

The premise is so forced that I can hear it screaming and writhing. I mean, I've read worse.. but I'm one of those masochists who likes to look for fanfiction that actually makes /sense/.

But.. I mean.. It could still potentially get better. Sort-of.

Actually, I'm a bad person to try and review this, because I'm not a huge fan of crossovers of things that don't really have much in common. You seem to be a good dialog writer, and things were actually good once you got into the middle of a scene, but, as mentioned, transitions and settings could have been a LOT better.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/37678427/

Spent all evenin' workin' on it.

(Yes, I'm still alive.)

I want waffles.

..with strawberries.

...and whipped cream.

By the way, guys?

I'm a fan of John as bisexual... but I think that Azzarello's work was. in a lot of ways, just... wrong. The dog had no real point except to make the reader cringe, I think. And I also agree that since it is, sadly, stuck in continuity, someone should bring it back to fuck with him.

As for Blood and Ashes... In some ways, I sort of like it, but in a lot of ways I don't. The whole S&M club thing sorta made me go 'huh?', though I actually could see John seducing someone just to fuck them over.. it just.. doesn't read right. (Hey, fiction is my forte. I suck at reviews.)

But come on, guys. It could be a lot worse. You could get struck by a horde of slavering fangirls who get let in on the fact that in the comic, it's sort of cannon for their beloved Keanusteen to be the victim of all their sadistic pairings. Just mention demon Mpreg, and you've got a great spinoff right there...

(Yes, I'm a creative sadist. I -enjoy- being cruel to my characters and seeing how they get out of it. Isn't that why you want to read what I've got to write?)

Gotta agree with a lot of the holes, but the general gist of it, I really liked... Though it seemed sort of muddled and rushed.. I wish this whole arc had been paced differently, with less build-up and more time spent sorting out the climax. Maybe it's because Mina's less experienced with comics?

Wow, Christian. Awesome much.

Lots of tea of various sorts

Micro-brewed rootbeer that we sell at my work

Dr Pepper when I'm out, though I sometimes get crazy, inexplicable cravings for just plain ol' Coke.

Can a n00b play?

All right. Here'a a long one, too. Another open-form one, mostly. I'd make a note about graphic language and imagery, but I don't really see the need here.

Seven Deadly

I.

God is on his side.

There are no mistakes

for the Chosen.

High on success,

He says the rest is

floccinaucinihilipilification

though he doesn't know

what it means.

He rules the world, you know.

Or will.

II.

One more toke.

He drinks himself asleep

to a morning filled with itching crumbs

of old Mac-something

Countless packs of insta-food

Tastes so good

laced with butter.

The body rots alive

in the juices of his deepest

gastronomical

pleasures.

(I'm lovin' it.)

III.

He should have been hers.

A thousand brushstrokes

she curses the mirror

as if to reach

the ones who make her do this.

She'll show them all

when she's a star.

Reality TV

is more real

than them.

IV.

Lamp shatters

on fist-bruised wall.

He has no thought

but pouring rage

into his arms, like molten fire

like afterglow intensified

The words slip free

like 'whore' and 'slut' and 'hate'

He finds the knife and plunges in

to see her blood.

A muffled whimper

from upstairs

his future learns.

V.

droning

infomercial

reminding her

it isnt worth

the trouble

to emerge

from bed

anymore

VI.

Expressly hers

it was an investment

the thousand-dollar shoes

to seduce the millionaire.

And now a multitude

of priceless (useless)

bagatelles

fill the luxury

silk-draped

closet.

They might be worth

something

someday.

VII.

All day he barely restrains

his straining pants

at the thought of her

in the basement.

Wide blue eyes

and china-doll skin.

They grow them bigger

than they used to.

Cupping breasts

pink and raw

he shoots off

just knowing

thirteen.

Ew. A romantic poem. Not what I most wanted to post, but it's my favorite of my shorter ones. About two years old, now, I think.

Warm evening laughing

we danced in the wished-for torrents

thunder distant in our words

chocolate wet and steamy streets

filling

overflowing

until slippery touch

became embrace

kisses

salty

from sweat.

So I was trying to think... Just how many people involved with John have definitively ended up in flames?

Really neat looking cover. Took me a second to catch the ghost, though.

*cackles madly*

are you planning to provide a link to the entire story when it is done?

or just a synopsis?

I suppose because it's fanfiction, technically, and therefore stands no chance of publication, I'll probably post it somewhere online and link it.

Oh yeah! Computers!

I had a computer before any of my friends, because my Grandfather and my mom (for a while) both worked for IBM. First one we had of our own (when I lived with my grandfather he had several even older. He taught me to program BASIC.) was this little box with two colors, cyan and magenta (which could combine to do white). I used to play this weird little dungeon-crawling pseudo-rpg for hours on end... can never remember it's name anymore.

Then we got a 486- top of the line!! And the Internet, when most people still didn't know what it was. I wasted too much time on a chatroom that had been at www.t2.co.uk and must've literally cried when it went down when I was 12 or 13.

I had my own website at some free webpage site that no longer exists, and once again the name fails me.

Sometimes, I find it inconcievable that there are kids in grade school who have never not had the Internet.

I remember when Magic: The Gathering was new, and one of my mom's nerdy IBM co-workers gave me a huge box of cards.

Speaking of IBM.. I remember when they actually made computers.

Pogs and pagers are the two things leaping out at me. My mum refused to let me have cable until I was in high school or something, and my stepdad wanted it.

I remember lots of random cartoons.. Biker Mice From Mars! Yeah!

Oddly, growing up in America, my childhood involved lots of Monty Python, due, again, to having a weird mother.

Also, we had lots of snakes and other reptiles. Which was cool.

On a random note, Hellblazer on Ice is my current desktop background.

Pardon the Pustulant Purple Prose, please. ;) And potential overuse of commas. (It's like the new ellipsis, dude.)

I've written too much poetry lately.

The first thing that struck him was the scent. Stinging sweet like rot and insecticide, like burning trash and chlorine, ammonia with the tang of blood. The air seemed to drown him, burning in the sinuses like suffocating smoke. Air like fallout, the second before you realize you're damned. His senses became clearer and he was momentarily overwhelmed by that first harsh wave of blistering dry heat, the feeling that his skin would boil, if he'd had skin anymore. The demon opened his eyes.

 

The jagged red-stone cliffs that warred against the bleeding black were fuzzy, unfocused, then suddenly blinding clear, impossible geometry roiling in a dance of agony. He ached, weak. A petty pain, yet a nagging reminder that he needed to feed, to prey and crush and drink the rush of power of another being's destruction. Needed to focus, to call himself back into a shape that would serve him better. A flash of tattered memory: twisted bulbous sprout squeaking comical in a parodied Jiminy Cricket voice, and for that he did not speak.

 

His rebirth would be silent, seen only by the dark and the damned, and from his bloodied, scavenged corpse he would rise with a purpose, with a fire anew. The demon smiled, and thought of Newcastle.

My name is Xan, and I'd also say 101% (meaning all of Hellblazer, and some of the stuff with ConJob outside the series.)

Fine. Ahmet & Dweezil Zappa- Hit Me Baby One More Time

:D

I pronounce it "zan" in my head. Sounds like a cool nickname to me. Never heard it before.

Yep. Pronounced Zan. Something I started using at one point when there was another Alex I was associating with a lot, and wanted to be different. It sorta stuck.

Gotta second those Johnny Cash ones, definitely. Especially 'Hurt'. I don't like the original, but his version rocks.

The two I can think of at the moment:

Marilyn Manson- Sweet Dreams

Jack Off Jill- I Touch Myself

A few from me:

Sorcery 101- Supernatural alternate-reality with plot AND funny. And the main character is a chain-smoking British fuck-up.

Fallen Angels Used Books- A pretty serious urban fantasy with a touch of the surreal (think Charles DeLint with a bit less whimsy). Awesome art, sometimes a little hard to follow, but quite good.

Ozy and Millie- Probably my favorite webcomic of all time. Cute 12-year-old animals somehow manage to make me snicker more than anyone else with great social commentary and randomness that hits just right.

As for my own answer... Though I've read all of Hellblazer and would sorta like to pick someone from early in the series... I have to go with one of the biggies and say Demon Constantine.

I know he was "taken care of" in Down in the Ground, but Nergal's story was being told right there, of a demon coming back from a lot worse than having his throat ripped out. Multiple times. (And c'mon, DC's made of bits of John. He's going to be a tenacious, resourceful bastard, too.)

I really think the character wasn't explored nearly enough. He's sort of a vague personal antagonist, making appearances here and there... when he's got so much potential. What about the fact that, oh, he has feelings for Kit? That he'd probably be pissed at the FotF rather than just holding a grudge against John? And that of all the beings in Hell, he's got his own unique situation.. It was a huge disappointment for me to see him offed so easily by Nergal-John. If he was going to have an anticlimactic death, at least make it an ironic one.