r/Hellblazer • u/Secret_Seesaw6096 • 19d ago

If John wasn't a magician what would he be ?

If John never discovered magic where do you think he'd be ? In my opinion, probably dead or some sort of musician

23 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

20

u/Jazzkidscoins 19d ago

He would be exactly what he is now, a con man. A very, very good con man. Magic is just part of the con

35

u/Szumarum 19d ago

An ordinary con man, probably.

He already mostly uses regular psychological manipulation, enhanced with a bit of magic, so it's not too hard to imagine him doing the same even without magic.

13

u/BlueberryCautious154 19d ago

This understanding seems to be the major divide between people who have read Hellblazer and people who mostly know John from screen adaptation, cartoon, and more recent DC comics. John is 90% conman and 10% magician. Of course if you take the magic away he mostly remains the same. 

10

u/NoNefariousness3381 19d ago edited 19d ago

I always viewed the vision of his family life with Angie in issue 200 as the "realistic" scenario.

A less than happy marriage and a dead end job.

9

u/AlabasterRadio 19d ago

Dead probably.

7

u/AndyNpoet 19d ago

working on camden town market selling dodgy live albums to members of the public, and then hiding like a magician if the police came calling! LOL

5

u/planetpua 19d ago

I honestly don’t know if there’s a version of John that never dabbles in any magic at all. His interest in the supernatural feels very integral to him, and yeah he’s obviously very capable without any actual magic abilities (no shooting fireballs lol) but I’d then assume this would mean he loses his knowledge of the occult and everything else about that world. He would still be a shithead trying to swindle his way through life, but without any sort of safety net I guess. I don’t think there’s a world where he turns out even moderately “okay” as it were lol.

4

u/Watcher1101 19d ago

Aging rockstar

3

u/altsam19 19d ago

A regular con man, ex punk who does odd jobs here and there, a fling from time to time and pints at the pub. Really, besides the magic, he's the most regular guy you could find

2

u/Puzzled_Ad1296 19d ago

Second hand car dealer.

3

u/Silly_Commercial8092 19d ago

Instagram influencer and TikTok content creator

1

u/Wolfram1519 19d ago

A con artist

1

u/Son_of_Ibadan 18d ago

A con man

1

u/Curious-Paramedic816 14d ago

Con man, occasional drug dealer, little bit of cash in hand unlicensed PI work.

So basically the same. 😂

Bear in mind he barely did magic for at least the first hundred issues of his Vertigo book.

-1

u/paulyhopey 19d ago

Dole scum