Hob Gadling - Appearances

Appearances

Gadling first appears in vol. 2, The Doll's House issue # 13, “Men of Good Fortune” in 1389, sitting in a smoky tavern in what will eventually become London's East End. Gadling is arguing that if he refuses to die, he will have eternal life. Dying, he argues, is merely a habit, something that people do simply because everybody does. It is, as Gadling puts it, "a mug's game." This catches the attention of Death, who encourages Dream to listen. Death agrees, at the request of her brother, who says that "it might be amusing" to grant Gadling eternal life. Dream strikes a conversation with Gadling who agrees to meet him again in the same inn once every hundred years.

They do so, and Gadling recounts each century of his life. In the century following his initial appearance and meeting with Dream, Gadling becomes rich, marries and is knighted (1389-1589 AD). Over the course of the next three hundred years, he falls into disgrace following the premature death of his wife and child (1589-1689 AD), enters the slave trade to again become wealthy (1689-1789 AD), and exits it after Dream comments on its immorality (1789-1889 AD). In 1789 their meeting is interrupted by the arrival of magician Johanna Constantine, ancestress of John Constantine, who says she heard it rumoured that once every hundred years The Devil and The Wandering Jew meet in a tavern. He also mentions a more polite man named Jack Constantine, who was killed by Night Walkers. The first and last meetings (in 1389 and 1989 respectively) bookend mirrored conversations criticizing two unpopular and resistance-inducing poll taxes: the instituted in the 1380s and the in the 1980s.

In the penultimate meeting in 1889, Gadling suggests to Dream that the true purpose for meeting was friendship. Dream rejects the suggestion angrily and walks out. In 1989 Dream’s return confirms their friendship.

In issue #22, collected in Season of Mists, Dream visits Hob in his dreams while preparing for a visit to hell sometime in 1990. He gives Hob a bottle of Chateau Lafitte 1828 which remains material in the waking world.

He next appears in issue #53, “Hob’s Leviathan” which recounts a portion of Hob’s biography independent of the Dream King; the story, which takes place on a ship called the Sea Witch in the first half of the 20th century, forms a section of the frame narrative which comprises Worlds' End.

The narrative later reunites Hob and Dream in issue #59 of The Kindly Ones. Having lost his most recent significant other in a car accident, Hob is devastated and asks Dream to resurrect her, remarking that "it never gets easier, people you love not being there any more." Dream states that such an act is impossible, but offers Hob the comfort of making her killer aware, while dreaming, of that which he has destroyed. As they leave Hob warns Dream that he has the stench of death upon him, which Dream responds with an ambiguous smile and thanks.

Hob’s final three appearances occur in issues #70 ("Chapter One, Which Occurs in the Wake of What Has Gone Before"), #72 ("Chapter Three, In Which We Wake"), and #73 (An Epilogue, Sunday Mourning) of The Wake. In “Sunday Mourning”, Hob attends a Renaissance festival with his girlfriend Guenevere. Disgruntled by the inaccuracy of the event, he spends most of the afternoon drunk in a derelict tavern, somewhat similar to the one in which he first met Dream. While there, he is visited by Death who, reflecting that Hob may have reconsidered his pact for eternal life since Dream’s death, offers him an end. He refuses the offer, saying "I'm not ready to die. Not today. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Anyway, Gwen'd kill me." The issue concludes with Hob dreaming of walking on a beach with Dream and Destruction (whom he does not recognize completely).