When the most influential creator in the American comic book medium left Marvel to join DC Comics in 1970, history was made. Long before then, Jack Kirby had established himself to be one of the most creative names in comic books. Whether it be his work for characters like Captain America or the Newsboy Legion in 1940s, Green Arrow or the Challengers of the Unknown in the 1950s, or The Avengers and the Fantastic Four in the 1960s, Kirby had created a memorable and famous roster of characters who quickly became famous. But it was in the 1970s where Kirby’s full creative mind was unleashed. Launching his Fourth World saga in 1970 in titles like Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, the New Gods, the Forever People, and Mister Miracle, Kirby created a huge world of new heroes and foes which have remained staples in the DC Universe. But after a few years of the Fourth World, the DC editors ordered that Kirby invent new characters, ones who were separate from the success, but exhausted world he created in the early-1970s. This is where Etrigan the Demon comes in. Originally devised for the Fourth World, could a demon chanting spells and retorting rhymes spell success?
The Demon (vol 1) lasted for sixteen issues, all of which were written and pencilled by Jack Kirby, with his faithful inker Mike Royer always present. For this first review, I’ll look at the first seven issues, published from September 1972 to March 1973. These stories can be read in the Jack Kirby’s The Demon hardcover.
Unleash the One Who Waits/My Tomb in Castle Branek
Throughout his career, Jack Kirby had written for nearly every single kind of comic book genre. Whether it be action, romance, or science fiction, Kirby had a bit of everything. But the one area which his pencils were distant from was horror. Kirby had produced few horror stories (at least inside the mainstream of the medium) during his career, and the incentive for him to write and draw a title such as The Demon was that it would be a unique horror title. So, I guess this could qualify as the closest thing to a successful Kirby horror comic, but I wouldn’t really describe The Demon like this fully. If anything, it’s more fantasy and this is shown in the first two issues, both of which are connected to spell out the Demon’s origin and some of the basics of his world.
It all begins in Camelot with Merlin. Many-a-mythical character appears throughout the Demon, and it’s shown that Camelot is invaded by enchantress and villainess Moraine Le Fey, who wants both Merlin and his Eternity Book. Her goal is to discover the secret of immortality, but in between her and her objective stands Etrigan, a demon whose loyalty to Merlin is undying. But with Camelot’s collapse and Merlin forced into hiding, he trusts Etrigan with his Eternity Book. Therefore, Etrigan is sent to Earth where he memories of everything are buried in a man named Jason Blood. Unaware of the supernatural power within him and how to unleash it, Jason Blood is immortal and has lived for many centuries. Remarkably, Kirby sets up all this in the first eight pages. The pacing is incredible, especially since Kirby doesn’t go overboard with the dialogue. Jason Blood is an expert in the supernatural and has few friends. However, the power within him begins to unleash when Moraine Le Fey returns to lure him into a trap so she can steal the secrets of immortality from him. Kirby sets up a plot which – while cliched and predictable – is easy to engage with. Providing a long back story at the start may sometimes bore readers, especially since everything is revealed at once. But the fantastic pacing avoids any problems there. I have to admit that the first two issues of The Demon are far from my favourite. It feels like Kirby is trying to cram far too much in. After the origin story, Jason Blood is thrown into the action far too quickly and then we get monsters appearing and a roster of characters who, while very good, are introduced in a sloppy and splash-dash manner. Jason Blood also has a love interest named Glenda, who lacks any personality. The middle of the first issue is drowned by too much useless or dull dialogue, but you are rewarded for surviving it. Towards the end of the first issue, Blood is forced to confront Moraine Le Fey at her creepy castle. It’s there where Jason Blood discovers the words to unleash his power. By banishing his humanity and embracing Merlin’s gift, he becomes Etrigan! And that is when the action begins!
The second issue quickly impresses us with an impressive protagonist. Both heroic and visually scary, Etrigan takes out Moraine Le Fey’s goons. But it’s also here where we learn the limitations of his power. Upon speaking another chant, the Demon transforms back into Jason Blood. With the chant unknown to him, but remembered by Moraine Le Fey, the Demon is banished once again. With many superheroes, it’s often shown or thought that their powers come naturally to them. That’s not the case with the Demon, and it’s fantastic that Kirby goes the extra mile by showing Jason Blood coming to terms with the Demon and how to use his other persona effectively. He is also helped in this regard by his friends. While Glenda is there for moral support, another friend named Harry knows Jason Blood very closely. But the most important ally is Randu, an Indian mystic who saves the Demon’s skin using his grasp of the supernatural. These three characters were glanced over in the first issue but prove to be very useful and good characters here. This group – along with guidance from Merlin – leads the Demon to locate Moraine Le Fey and seemingly defeat her. But Kirby finishes the title’s introduction with a mystery – does Moraine Le Fey achieve immortality? This isn’t shown, but it sets up future adventures.
The second issue is certainly more action-based than the first, which features a lot of integral lore. It is fair to say the title suffers something of a slow start, with too much dialogue and little plot in the middle of the first issue. However, when the Moraine Le Fey story reappears and Jason Blood’s Demon persona is introduced, the story’s pace quickens, and you can enjoy the title much more. As for Merlin, his presence is as rare and mysterious as it should be. Overall, Kirby set up the basics of the Demon’s world quite well. The second issue certainly recovers enough to make the Demon a memorable title right from the start.
Reincarnators
As a one-off, The Demon (vol 1) 3 is a favourite. Kirby hooks readers in immediately with the presence of a huge brutish monster causing chaos, death, and destruction. This monster is the creation of a cult who transform (using magic) innocent people into ugly brutes in order to kill. This cult has been around for some time causing trouble, and they have been going around executing supernatural experts investigating their activities. Their next and final target is Randu! Randu reminds me very much of Vashnu, another character linked to the supernatural who starred in the Deadman story in Strange Adventures. Both had close links to the main characters, Jason Blood and Boston Brand respectively. Also, they stood as characters of authority and importance. Randu is obviously a star here, but he appears far more interesting than other characters in the run because of his knowledge and closeness to the Demon. While the cult goes after Randu, Kirby adds another matter of interest to the mix – that being Jason Blood’s relationship with himself. Similarly, to Two Face, Jason Blood has two personalities – himself and Etrigan. The third issue shows Jason Blood suffering from a dream where the Demon tries to control him and drag him into danger. This negative relationship where the Demon is a hero, but also a villain to his other persona, is an interesting dynamic and one which Kirby plays with during the run. Regardless, that’s all for latter. The third issue is a strong one-off and it ends with the Demon helping his friend and destroying the cultists. With fantastic pacing, great action, good characters – despite the occasionally naff dialogue – Reincarnators is a strong story.
The Creature From Beyond/Merlin’s Word… Demon’s Wrath!
The Demon (vol 1) 4 is a more fear-based tale. It begins in the grimness of night with the Demon entering an abandoned home only to discover a man has killed himself.
After this dark note, a huge green monster attacks the Demon, who succeeds in banishing the creature but only temporarily. Kirby plays with fear quite a bit in this two-parter. The Demon investigates many curious and sudden deaths, and the link between all of the deaths is both the presence of this green monster, and a much smaller creature perhaps recognisable to readers of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing. While Moore’s ground-breaking run wasn’t to be written and published for ten years after Kirby’s run, this story introduces us to the Kamara, better known as The Monkey King. This small white animal appears playful but can actually transform into a huge monster which exploits fear. Kirby writes many deaths here, and for most of them, we’re treated to some shocking and tense dialogue about fear and it’s link to humanity. This all sounds very deep, and while this is certainly a new approach for Kirby, its handled very explicitly and it’s on-the-nose. Nonetheless, the dialogue is powerful and makes the two main villains, the Iron Duke and Ugly Meg, into powerful foes. It’s worth mentioning here that the main setting for the Demon in Kirby’s run is Gotham City. While most of Kirby’s work has always been just that inch outside the DC Universe, placing the events here in Gotham is bizarre. Surely, with both death and demons present, Batman would get involved. This happened in Len Wein’s Swamp Thing around during the same decade. Regardless, the Demon is required to bring in some extra help to take down the two villains here. When the Demon confronts the Iron Duke and Ugly Meg, he is backed up by none other than Merlin himself!
Adding Merlin to the mix – while having its pluses and minuses – is surely an interesting move. Merlin has been very much a background character thus far, and including him as a main character shakes things up. Together in the Demon (vol 1) 5, Etrigan and Merlin travel to yet another dark and grim castle, this time to defeat the Iron Duke and Ugly Meg. But after some supernatural threats catching the heroes off guard, they are captured by the villains, who Kirby tries to make more interesting as they fight one another for power. Ugly Meg tricks the Iron Duke and forces him to become her puppet, using him in her goal to steal Merlin’s power. I suppose Ugly Meg is a threatening villain, but there’s nothing that memorable to say. Regardless, the Demon breaks free from captivity and both the foes are defeated. By the end, there is little reason why Merlin is present so directly in the story. For starters, it defeats the point of him being omnipresent but from a distance. He watches over the Demon – nothing more. It feels frankly silly that he’s involved so deeply in this story, and it’s made worse by the fact that he doesn’t do anything. He just stands around and doesn’t unleash even an ounce of power. In short, Etrigan is lumbered with an old man for a whole issue. The reasoning for his inclusion is that Ugly Meg used the mighty power of a creature named Somnambula. This tentacled mess was effectively a slave to Meg, and its huge power attracted Merlin to the Demon’s aid. In the end, Etrigan sends the creature back to safety, but perhaps Somnambula could have featured earlier and more could have been said about it. Nonetheless, the pacing is once again impressive here. Fear plays a large part in the first issue, while action takes centre stage in the second part. Overall, it’s good but not perfect.
The Howler
Every horror comic needs a good old fashioned werewolf story. Do I need to mention Len Wein’s Swamp Thing again? Like that masterpiece, The Demon (vol 1) 6 is a standout in the run. It begins directly with the Howler, this strange werewolf-like creature who haunts a town in Transylvania. It just so happens that Jason Blood is present, and he confronts this beast only to discover that it is indeed a human being. Eric Shiller, the man under the fur, is the victim of an ancient curse which transforms him into the Howler, whose goal then is to get rid of the curse by forcing it onto somebody else. At first, Etrigan consults with Merlin and the two decide to leave the Howler alone. This decision is utterly baffling. With the Howler haunting villagers and aiming to poison others with the curse, why would doing nothing be a good idea?
Etrigan eventually abandons that idea and opts for an exorcism. After a first half full of fear, the second half is slightly more comradery. As two immortals, Jason Blood and Eric Shiller have an interesting relationship. They understand one another and how their two opposite personas are radically different from their human ones. Nonetheless, Kirby writes a grim ending. Blood’s exorcism fails for the punniest of reasons – his girlfriend Glenda walks in shocked and surprised, causing Shiller to transform into the Howler and attack. In the end, the Howler fails to overcome Etrigan’s strength, and falls several storeys down to his apparent death. And this is where the Howler becomes a marvellously interesting concept. The fall kills Eric Shiller, but the curse then suddenly infects a passer-by, meaning the Howler is alive and well. Kirby sets up future stories by doing this, and while he himself wouldn’t come back to the idea, others would. Alan Grant would revive the Howler in the second relaunch of The Demon in 1992, while Kurt Busiek would include the character in Trinity 8-9 in 2009. Overall, while a few of Kirby’s plot choices are bizarre, the Howler is a memorable story that leaves a strong impression.
Witchboy
The Demon (vol 1) 7 introduces the most famous of Demon villains. That foe is none other than Klarion the Witchboy, a supernatural youngling who – in his first appearance here – acts like an imp towards Etrigan. Like all good Kirby stories, this one begins straight in the action. The Demon confronts a villain called Judge, who unleashes a devilish creature called the Draaga to attack Etrigan. This creature poisons Etrigan, who – before collapsing in pain – banishes the villains to another dimension. The story really begins when Etrigan awakens in his home to find Klarion the Witchboy and his cat Teekl have healed him after his fight with the Draaga. Klarion is a mysterious character right off the bat – he calls Jason Blood his uncle, he calls Harry his cousin, and he seems to know all about Etrigan. Klarion does have his own supernatural powers, but at first he appears to be a figure of friendship, although Jason Blood does accept him far too quickly into his entourage. It turns out that Klarion is on the run from Judge, and the Witchboy obtains the power to summon Etrigan at will and use his powers. This causes the Demon to banish Klarion the Witchboy to another dimension, but it’s clear that there’s unfinished business between them. He does appear later in the run with more devious plans, but as it stands, The Demon (vol 1) 7 is full of padding. The plotting and storytelling is mostly
good, and I like the sense of mystery present and the fantastic opening. But there are times when nothing is really happening. For example, Jason Blood goes to some random party and little of note happens for about five pages. Overall, this story is more vacuous than previous ones. That all said, Kirby does introduce an intriguing new foe and with that, the promise of thrilling stories in the future.
As writer, penciller, and editor, Jack Kirby enjoyed an extraordinary amount of power when it came to creating The Demon title and its world. There’s much to discuss when it comes to Kirby’s art. Nearly all of Kirby’s characters follow a similar appearance anatomically. With a huge chest and impressive muscles, the Demon is no different compared to the strength of other Kirby characters, but visually he is more frightening and angular. The world of the Demon unleashes Kirby’s fantastic skill of drawing uglies and monsters. There are plenty present throughout the book, and it’s interesting to see Kirby pencil use fear as a storytelling device to make the monsters more frightening. Each character ends up looking unique, while the page layouts are magnificent and impressive on nearly every occasion. As for the inking, Mike Royer has an unbreakable record of being faithful to Kirby’s pencils. On occasions, that faithfulness can be a hinderance as sometimes textures or feathering could be toned down a notch. But on the whole, Royer’s smooth inking style is fantastic and looks delicate. While artists of the 1980s and 1990s would favour horror comics to enjoy scratchy styles with rough inking, the Kirby-Royer way of doing things brings out the quality of the dialogue and stories.
VERDICT
Overall, the first seven issues of The Demon (vol 1) are a brilliant introduction to a new Kirby title. It may suffer something of a slow start, but when it hits its stride with stories like The Howler or Reincarnators, it’s Kirby at his seventies best. The art adds a tremendous amount of drama, fear, and intensity to Kirby’s dialogue too, helped by a good inker. Let’s hope – as it looks likely – that the rest of the run is as favourable.
Next Week: The Demon: Immortal Enemy (The Demon (vol 1) 8-16). Written and pencilled by Jack Kirby, with inks by Mike Royer.
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