Former DC Colorist Gabe Eltaeb Reacts To Resurfaced Page Of John Constantine Kissing The Devil In A Bathroom: “The Captain Of The Titanic Thinks The Leadership At DC Comics Sucks”
JB Augustine
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DC isn’t shy about playing around with its decades-old characters anymore, especially in terms of their sexuality, whether or not they are normally written as gay or sexually fluid. Examples of stalwarts rewritten as LGBT are Tim Drake, Jonathan Kent, and Alan Scott over the years — starting in Elseworlds. These retcons were eventually brought to Earth-Prime of the Multiverse and rendered irreversible.
Keanu Reeves as John Constantine in Constantine (2005), Warner Bros. Pictures
Another one the publisher has played around with, and across all media to boot, is John Constantine. It’s true he was outed as bisexual years ago and has been known to consort with humans and demons, but DC kept raising the ante to more ridiculous proportions. Look no further than the DC Animated Universe to see what we mean.
In Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, it was revealed through a weird joke that the sorcerer had dated King Shark, to say the least. This strongly implied Constantine would go to bizarre and absurd lengths to get his freak on, which he is still doing. In fact, he may have topped himself in a confusing moment of fridge nuking.
Keanu Reeves as John Constantine (2005), Warner Bros. Pictures
A page from Hellblazer Rise and Fall (2021) resurfaced and it shows John getting cozy in a bathroom with Satan. The Prince of Darkness is presented as a male and the two are locking lips. In his inner monologue, Constantine says, “Kissing Satan in the pub toilets. I’m all f—ing class, I am.” It’s not new, but it has readers confused.
YouTuber Fatal Jay, who initially posted the image on Twitter, commented on it with confusion and sees this instance as a new low for DC. “You have John Constantine kissing satan in a bathoom, is this the current state of dc comics,” he wrote accompanied by several vomiting emojis. “I thought the devil was his enemy.”
@FatalJayShow weighs in on DC’s Constantine via Twitter
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Constantine’s sexuality was pointed out, as was the Devil’s penchant for degeneracy, by one reply. But Fatal Jay countered with his bemusement (shared by many) at the hypocrisy of the wizarding bloke tongue kissing — let alone hooking up with — his rival. When you consider his alliances in the DCU, and that the Devil is the enemy of all mankind, it’s no wonder people are stunned.
No one gets more stunned or outraged by creative stunts like these than former DC employees and one of the most outspoken is illustrator Gabe Eltaeb. He left the company in disgust after they changed Superman’s motto and has explained the circumstances of his departure several times since. Now they’ve given him extra justification plus more proof he made the right call.
Peter Stormare as Lucifer and Keanu Reeves as John Constantine in Constantine (2005), Warner Bros. Pictures
“Yes this is from 2021, [but] it’s making the rounds today,” Eltaeb wrote in a repost. “Constantine making out with Satan like perverts cruising? Any wonder why I left @DCOfficial ? The captain of the titanic thinks the leadership at DC comics sucks.” DC’s leadership is Publisher Jim Lee, whom Eltaeb has discussed his differences with in the past.
Gabe Eltaeb reacts to image of Constantine kissing The Devil via Twitter
Lee, whatever his reasons, has been approving of all of DC’s woke and controversial creative directions since he took over as the lone lead figure on the publishing side of the Warner Bros. Operation after Dan DiDio was fired.
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