There’s also the TV show (I haven’t read the comic) Preacher where people in Hell watch the worst moment of their lives repeated over and over again on a film loop.
I do not remember anything like that from the comic Preacher, though it has been a long time since I read it. Maybe it was in one of the limited series? But that does sound exactly like the TV-show-Lucifer hell.
No, that was invented specifically for the Preacher TV show, which diverged significantly from the comic. IIRC, the only time you see Hell in the comics is the one-off issue where you get the backstory for the Saint of Killers, and it’s the pretty standard “fire and brimstone” type of Hell.
Same goes for the Lucifer TV show versus the various Sandman and Lucifer comics, for that matter. The film loop stuff was only in the TV show; in the comics Hell is full of demons torturing damned souls.
I’ve always liked the Dungeons and Dragons cosmology, where demons (the personification of the concepts of chaos and evil) are engaged in an unending war with devils, who are the personification of the concepts of order and evil. This eternal struggle over, essentially, how much paperwork should be involved in destroying Creation is the only thing that keeps the forces of evil from overrunning the universe.
I gave that a try but got tired of what’s basically badass porn.
Yep. This is great! Nothing is quite so horrifying or funny as Rape Spiders.
Ditto. It was established in the first book that Sandman Slim can never be killed, and that’s a pretty big spoiler for all the fight scenes.
Yet more issues in hell with ATHF:
I thoroughly recommend Old Harry’s Game. Presenting the Devil as the guy who has to clear up all the problems created by God’s illogical, unclear laws works brilliantly.
And - Series 1-4 all available here.
It’s the Masturbating Spider. Granted, there is plenty of rape as well. And his ejaculate can be made into a wine that makes you trip balls!
It’s a little UK-centric, with a lot of references to British politics and personalities, but Andy Hamilton is still a comedy genius.
Re: spiders - wasn’t it The Good Place that had a reference to butthole spiders? (Also: penis bees)
Father Arnall’s sermon in chapter 3 of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man doesn’t offer a great deal of hope for the sinner.
This sobering description begins, ‘Now let us try for a moment to realize, as far as we can, the nature of that abode of the damned which the justice of an offended God has called into existence for the eternal punishment of sinners. Hell is a strait and dark and foul-smelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke.’ It gets worse. Much worse.
One of the most disturbing aspects of Hell is the amount of time one is expected to spend there, if selected as a resident. Hereunder is Joyce’s take on eternity. It would seem to last a very long time.
Altogether, Joyce’s version of Hell suggests it is a place to be avoided if at all possible.
I was going to say that as seen in The rapture…Hell is a 'Grey, life-less place eternally removed from the sight and grace of God."
One of the more intriguing concepts of Hell that I’ve encountered was proposed in several stories by Jack L Chalker: that Heaven and Hell are exactly the same place. It’s a place of unimaginable bliss, and everyone there is keenly aware of that; but only the “saved” can really experience and participate in it. The “damned” can only see it as a shadow, and the knowledge that this is the result their own actions gnaws at them forever.
I’ve heard that sort of thing before. That Hell is Hell but part of what makes it Hell is that there’s a window looking into Heaven.
Well, there is Paradise Lost hell:
You beat me to it. Pure genius.
From the grossly underrated movie “Drive Angry”, Nick Cage’s description of hell:
You know the pain and suffering ain’t the worse part, right? That’s what they tell you, what they want you to believe. But it’s all a big fucking lie. No sir, worst part’s the goddamn video feed. It ain’t about the fire and brimstone. Ain’t about your suffering. It’s about the suffering of them you love. Cause you see it. You see it all. In full goddamn detail. And there ain’t nothing you can do about it.
Plus of course, it’s possible to break out of Hell by stealing a muscle car and a God-killer rifle.
There’s a fantasy story from the 50s or 60s, where an underground train goes past the end of the line to Hell. The passengers get out and are horrified, but one of them, being a lifelong skeptic, says “I don’t believe it”.
Whereupon Hell starts to fall apart. They re-board the train, and return to the ‘real world’. As they get out, the skeptic looks round and starts to say “I don’t believe…” and reality starts to crumble, but Our Hero pushes him under a bus before he can finish the sentence.
Anyone remember this? Who was the author?