This could explain why I've always had a soft spot for the Son of Satan. After all, if a back-story like that doesn't make him a kindred spirit, then what would?
And that can mean only one thing.
It's time for me to look at the Son of Satan comics I had when I was barely more than an imp.
It's our anti-hero's first appearance, as he goes to Hell to retrieve the soul of Johnny Blaze, in a tale blessed with the tortured looking art of Herb Trimpe.
Despite what it claimed on the cover of the previous issue, this is the issue in which we actually get to learn the origin of Daimon Hellstrom and how he got that fancy pitchfork of his.
Apparently, his mother never once suspected she might be married to Satan, despite the fact her husband was called Hellstrom and he insisted on naming their two children, "Daimon," and, "Satana."
Bored with fighting Satan, Daimon branches out and tackles a bunch of ice demons lurking in a college building.
My memories of this one are vague.
Does it involve time travel and a team-up with Dr Strange to defeat some Steve Gerberesque menace to the cosmos?
If I remember right, this is a Gene Colan drawn tale of possession and exorcism.
The SOS finally gets his own mag.
And he's back off to Hell again after he discovers there's only one thing in life worse than having your house repossessed - and that's having it possessed in the first place.
My memories of this one are fairly vague. Clearly, it continues the storyline started in the previous issue and gives us the origin of the Possessor, which may or may not have had something to do with a travelling carnival.
I genuinely have no memory at all of what happens in this issue.
It all looks very dramatic though.
My memories of Marvel Spotlight #17 are pretty vague too, but if I remember correctly, "Spyros" turned out to be Adam, yeah, the biblical Adam, who was scarred and bitter after his fall from grace.
ReplyDeletePretty wild Gerber stuff, and not a bad comic.
Despite the undeniable appeal of a comic with Satan in the title, I recall the first couple of Marvel Spotlight issues as very disappointing. They were badly written, but as that never stopped me from enjoying, say, Ghost Rider I'd have to put most of the blame onto Herb Trimpe's typically terrible artwork (sorry, Steve).
ReplyDeleteNow Gene Colan on the other hand.... I had no idea he drew a couple of issues of Son of Satan. And they were written by Steve Gerber? That definitely sounds like something worth tracking down.
-sean
I, myself, me, tried to initiate a conversation with one of those ice demons lurking in a college building. Still have frostbite. I mean, that b!tch was cold! Like ice cold........
ReplyDeleteThe Prowler (cold as cold as ice, you know that you are).
I don't understand why Satan was introduced into the Marvel Universe when Marvel already had Mephisto - wasn't Mephisto supposed to be Marvel's version of the Devil which meant they could avoid the awkward problem of religion, God and the Devil etc. Are Satan and Mephisto meant to be the same being ? I suppose Son of Satan just sounded too good to resist but logically it should be Son of Mephisto.
ReplyDeleteSome wonderful covers here especially the GIl Kane and John Romita ones - I loved the idea of Son of Satan but for me it never quite hit the mar,- then again like Sean I also wasn't aware of Gene Colan drawing 2 issues and only read the Herb Trimpe issues first time around (not his best work I agree - but I still like Trimpe) the Sal Buscema issues were pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI used to get mixed up with Satan and Mephsitos role in relation to MARVEL comics. In some Marvel titles the character has posed as Satan (most notably Ghost Rider) but I think they are now meant to be two very distinct and different characters (Mephisto is cooler) originally Mephisto is from the German Faust folk legend and is more a major Demon rather than Satan himself and Marvel seem to have him in this role now as well.
Incidentally from Comics Vine issue 16 AND 17 were time travelling issues but Dr Strange wasn't in any of that run (this story took place 20,000 years in the past in Atlantis) perhaps it was in the Defenders where SoS and Dr Strange appeared?
I always assumed that Satan was one of the things banned by the comics code - like vampires and werewolves - which then became available to use when the code was relaxed in the early 70s. So a stand-in like Mephisto was no longer needed but, continuity being what it is, Marvel kept him around anyway.
ReplyDelete-sean
I remember when these were on the rack at the 7-Eleven, They did have eye-catching covers but I never could get myself to buy them or really look at them, had to reserve my quarters for the more familiar titles.
ReplyDeleteNow as a collector I kind of wish I had gotten them.
Interesting fact: just a few years ago Marvel were going to put out an ESSENTIAL SON OF SATAN but found that some big retailers in the USA refused to handle a book with that title. So they called it ESSENTIAL MARVEL HORROR instead.
ReplyDelete