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in: Issues Rated M, Comics Published by DC Black Label, Mark Doyle/Executive Editor,
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The Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer Vol 1 1

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This title is Suggested for Mature Readers.


"The Best Version of You": John Constantine stands in the darkness, lighting a cigarette. As he steps out into the light, he finds himself walking through chaos, a world engulfed in madness. It is [[The Books of Magic Vol 1 4|the final magical conflict

Quote1 Madness is the only constant. Quote2
— John Constantine (Older Incarnation)

The Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer #1 is a one-shot with a cover date of December, 2019. It was published on October 30, 2019.

Synopsis for "The Best Version of You"

John Constantine stands in the darkness, lighting a cigarette. As he steps out into the light, he finds himself walking through chaos, a world engulfed in madness. It is the final magical conflict of this age, an all-out war between good and evil. Battles between superheroes, wizards, monsters, and magicians rage as the world is consumed in conflict.

As John muses over the ongoing chaos and destruction, his longtime friend Chas Chandler arrives with a pig's head, which John plans to turn into a magical weapon. Chas asks John if there is anything he can do, but John replies that there isn't - in fact, he'd told Chas not to follow him. Chas protests that he must do something as he has a family; though John points out Chas hasn't been in contact with his family in years, Chas refutes that there's a difference between being loved and doing what's right. John concedes, and tells Chas that they need to get the pig's head closer to the massive monster that superheroes are unsuccessfully fighting. An overeager Chas tapes the head to the hood of his car and speeds away, in spite of John's attempts to stop him.

To John's horror, monsters sense Chas' will and chase after him, destroying his car and killing him. The superheroes are able to take down the massive monster, while debris from Chas' car exploding hits John, severely wounding him. As John stumbles away, he ruminates on what's going on: Zatanna's eye has been torn out by an enemy, a yellow demon has murdered his host, and his "sort of but not really daughter" is screaming with her hair in flames. The ghosts of John's past surround him as he attempts to make it to a pub, where he sits down, ready to die. As John sits, Tim Hunter and Mister E arrive from the past, as E continues the young Tim's lessons on the world of magic. Knowing that Tim has embraced evil and leads the villains of the DC Universe, John curses him and points to the sky, where a horrified Tim sees what he has become. E whisks Tim off to go further into the future - where John knows that E will try and fail to kill Tim.

John looks up, and comments that this is "not... my... scene". An old man approaches and asks John what his scene is, before responding that his scene is sordidness and guilt. The man says that he wants a deal, then proceeds to finish John's sentences as John describes events from his past. John realizes that the old man is himself, and expresses anger that this John seems happy. The older John offers to save John from death, and John accepts. The older John says John has only one thing he has to do: be the best version of himself. The older John places his hands - now glowing - upon John's head, and John finds himself flying through madness, surrounded by alternate versions of himself.

John suddenly awakens in his old room at Ravenscar Secure Hospital, with a shaved head and wearing a hospital gown. Getting up, he finds himself surrounded by the ghosts. John tells the ghosts to piss off, before contemplating his possible methods of escape: he could invoke Almiras to slip out with invisibility, or Syrach's minion Surgat to break his door's lock. He decides on the cleanest way: to convince the staff he's sane. After an interview with a psychiatrist, John is free to go. He leaves, and hitches a ride to London. Though he senses a shadow from underneath, John finds a changed London - it's clean. He learns from a newspaper that it's now 2019. John is confused: the magic war hasn't happened, and he finds his mind flooded with contradicting memories that can't coexist. John asks himself: What matters right now?

After buying some Silk Cut, John ponders his next move. He wonders where Tim is, and if he has turned evil. Upon seeing a taxi, John decides he needs to find Chas. Chas is not at his house, and a neighbor informs John that he has moved out. Though the neighbor at first refuses to help John, she obliges after he gives her ten reasons to do so. Chas is at the Royal London Hospital, and a staff member leads John to him. John finds Chas surrounded by demons waiting for him. The demons tell John they've been waiting years for him, and that they've caused Chas great distress in the time he's been gone. The demons say they won't release John until he has killed himself, but John has another plan. As he plans to use a woman in a coma to lure the demons away, a voice tells John to stop.

John turns to see Chas' ghost. Chas reveals that he's been joining the demons as they gripe about John. Chas reveals that he only has a month left to live, having been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer - thanks to John constantly smoking inside his cab. Chas reveals that in spite of everything that's happened to him and his family - like Renee being crucified by a vampire, the perils that Geraldine and Trish have faced, and his cancer diagnosis - he still trusted that John would help. But Chas reveals he realized that it isn't the cancer that's killing him. It's John. Chas tells John to fuck off. John replies with a joke he once told his friend Swamp Thing: How do you baffle a vegetable? Chas asks how, but John has vanished, and Chas dies.

In a London alley, John cries in the pouring rain over having lost his best friend. He's lost more friends than he can count over the years. But now, with no "old" friends, John feels like a stranger. He senses a coming darkness, hiding underneath the shine of London. He wonders if it's Tim and decides he'll check in on him. He steals a trenchcoat from a clothing store and decides he'll try to be the best version of himself, but says that the old John mustn't get his hopes up. Lighting a cigarette with a smug look on his face, John repeats another thing he once told Swamp Thing: I'm a nasty piece of work, chief. Ask anybody.

As John sets off to find Tim, the older John emerges from the broken window of the clothing store.

Appearing in "The Best Version of You"

Featured Characters:

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Other Characters:

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Vehicles:

  • Chas Chandler's Taxi (Destroyed)

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Notes

Trivia


See Also


Links and References
Superboy Vol 4 69
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