Chas/John...published...in AU...but No Gay

[hohaiyee]

I'm always conflicted when AU versions of my OTPs appear, because
1. It validates the ship in that hey, the subtext is intentional, maybe in mainverse they are together Off Screen!
2. In this this day and age...why is it only AU, and usually where it is now heterosexual (Captain America and Iron Woman, though imma gonna pretend that CA was swapped too), OR, where the guys are now lipstick lesbians;



...and I have a feeling that their targeted audience aren't other queer women...but once again lemons, lemonade, it'll do FOR NOW.

Scan from Books of Magick: Life During Wartime issues 13-1
Written by Si Spencer and Drawn by Dean Ormond

gekked from; The Ultimate Hellblazer Index; A Bastard By Any Other Name

Tag
char: jacqueline constantine, title: books of magick: life during wartime

Comments

[rattsu]

Life During Wartime is one of my favorite Constantine stories ever.

[icon_uk]

So who is Chas supposed to be?

[hohaiyee]

Hey hon, read the last speech bubble!

Imma going to interpret that as meaning that Chas and John totally slept together back in the days too.

[icon_uk]

That only means something if one has some idea who "Chas" was, I don't.

Wait, you don't know who Chas is?

[hohaiyee]

What?????

I thought you was asking which one in the picture was supposed to be this universe's version of Chas.

John and Chas sticks together like salt and pepper mates!

No, I don't, I'm not a Hellraiser reader

[icon_uk]

.... so I was hoping there might be come explanation as to who Chas was to give this the context it's otherwise lacking to casual passerby readers.

Re: No, I don't, I'm not a Hellraiser reader

[hohaiyee]

It's complicated...really complicated

...but basically, Chas and John met as teenagers, and John noted, in CANON, in "In Another Part of Hell", that Chas' wife never likes John because she knew that "Chas will always be in love with John", though he'll punch people who point it out, possibly including John.

Chas drives John around a lot, but more importantly, they have a hydra monster of codependency going on.

Re: No, I don't, I'm not a Hellraiser reader

[clodia_risa]

I'm not either, and it took me a few minutes to find the right link. Here's the info you're looking for:

http://www.comicvine.com/chas-chandler/29-3335/

Re: No, I don't, I'm not a Hellraiser reader

[halloweenjack]

Chas is a London taxi driver that, all shippers' fondest wishes aside, functions mostly as John's anchor to mundane reality. Garth Ennis made particularly good use of him (except in the Son of Man arc, easily my least favorite thing that Ennis has done this side of Crossed). Chas has had his own miniseries, Chas: The Knowledge, which is a slightly From Hell-ish excursion into London geography and history and also deals with "The Knowledge", probably one of the most awesome real-life job qualifications, period.

Re: No, I don't, I'm not a Hellraiser reader

[hohaiyee]

all shippers' fondest wishes aside

Oh you!

What were you smoking during the 90s that made you forget this bit;

"In Another Part of Hell" (#84)
"And Renee was right. I was a 'bad influence,' and Chas was always in love with me--although he'd kick your face in if you told him so." - John Constantine

Re: No, I don't, I'm not a Hellraiser reader

[halloweenjack]

Heh--never mind what I was up to in the 90s (nothing that much fun), but I had to look that one up. It's a pretty slim line to base an OTP on, but given how crazy-cracky-funny the story with Queenie and Slag is, I'd allow it.

Re: No, I don't, I'm not a Hellraiser reader

[hohaiyee]

Not so much base, as confirm, their relationship was always there, it was always obvious that they were very codependent, that Chas was always in love with John, and well, in his own way, the feeling is returned.

It's just, there seem to be Some Unspoken Agreement, or understanding, at least from John's part, that it'll be a bad idea to actually explore it.

kindkit got this bit with them as answers to a sex meme that I really agree with;
http://kindkit.livejournal.com/392208.html#cutid1

Regarding "In Another Part of Hell", yeah, it was crazy cracky funny, but above all, it strikes me as dark, a really dark light on the Chas and John relationship that is not all funny.

Like, fuck, first of all, John, pre-Newcastle, casually decides to commit Black Murder, to kill Slag when he knows it'll kill Queenie too. John stated outright within the story, to himself, that he knows if he got Queenie off Chas back, he'll have a friend for life, "and friends are useful". John also stated that if he hadn't done it, they would have been catching Chas right about now...with 30 bodies in his yard. A bit a trope trope joke, boy with oppressive mom grows up to be serial killer that haunts our showers....but then Nergal possesses Chas, loosen his inhibitions, and fuck, BOTH Chas and John are codependent people who are not nice.


...and so, while the signs are there all along, that they love each other, rather or not they do anything about it, I don't ship those two (even though I know they are there), until I saw how malfunctionally interesting they are, and most importantly, that Chas was not entirely a push over at all.

bad romance

[hohaiyee]

It's not that I don't like Nice People In Nice Relationships, but while Madonna/Whore might make a pretty hot one-off, a relationship gets boring when one person is stuck s the bad guy.

Heck, Willow/Tara wouldn't work for me if Tara was actually the saint some people remembered as, she wasn't. Tara had her cowardly and selfish moments too, when she put a spell on all her friends so they couldn't see demons, because she was scared that she was one.

[kamino_neko]

Chas is a buddy of John's. Drives a cab, gives John a hand every so often. Doesn't tend to enjoy being dragged into John's shenanigans (which is the smart way to be). Not really a lot to know beyond that.

Played by Shia LeBeouf in Constantine, which is almost as bad as Keanu as John...if you assume the movie's supposed to be faithful to the comics. I thought he was the high point of the movie (which isn't too bad if you put the comics out of your mind).

re: Constantine

[hohaiyee]

I really think KR should have played Gary Lester;

[nothingbutcake]

I thought he was the high point of the movie

Umm, Tilda Swinton and Peter Stormare.

Though I do hold a weird soft spot for Shia LeBeouf.

[kamino_neko]

There was nothing wrong with either Swinton or Stormare, but most of the cool came from the simple casting, or visual effects department, not their performances.

Most of Chas's cool came from LeBeouf's performance, on the other hand.

[rattsu]

Well, they have insinuated as much on countless occasions...

come to think of it...

[hohaiyee]

SPOILER FOR MAGLICK:






I read on wiki (yeah I know), that at the end of the arc, Jaq and Chas was settled in Ourverse by ourverse's Timothy Hunter.


So yeah...wouldn't Tim ask John about him and Chas the next time they run into each other? Tim asked John about whether or not Spectre was gay in Books of Magic...

[bliumchik]

Oh man, I keep meaning to read more Books of Magic, though it's so hard to figure out what goes where after the initial Neil Gaiman volume...

re: Books of Magic

[hohaiyee]

It's okay, I haven't either, it's sorta intimidating, and well, while Tim's a cute kid, the character I caught onto was John Constantine so I started reading Hellblazer.

...also, I just realised that Faeryland runs on prison rules, you accept a gift, you get owned! Perhaps Uncle Johnny should have explained that one...

Re: re: Books of Magic

[bliumchik]

I found a bunch of single issues that I THINK are from the run immediately following Gaiman's, but I'm not sure? Because the numbering is weird? Never MIND the trades :P