The Demon #1-4
1986
Writer – Matt Wagner
Artists – Matt Wagner/Art Nichols
Back in 1986, Etrigan the Demon had last enjoyed a regular
series 15 years earlier by his legendary creator, Jack Kirby. Alan Moore’s
Swamp Thing was rekindling the darker corners of the DC universe and a
memorable guest appearance by Etrigan in that title was enough to convince DC
to give their rhyming demon another chance.
The Powers-That-Be called upon the services of Matt Wagner who
was one of the more prominent Indy creators in the 1980s with his creator-owned
series, Mage and Grendel. It’s not difficult to see how the themes that Wagner
explored with his own anti-hero Grendel and his own dark world were exactly
what DC was looking for.
The first thing that struck me upon re-read was the sheer
amount of narration in the first few pages, in particular title/credit splash
page. The first issue was a bit slow as Wagner really dug deep into the
characters of the Demon’s alter-ego, Jason Blood, and his girlfriend, Glenda. A
brooding Jason Blood is wrapped up in a blanket of self-pity because he’s
eternally bound to a demon and has all but given up on a way to escape from the
curse.
Wagner has fun with the relationship between Blood and
Glenda and she fights through his best defensive tactics, as Blood is trying to
keep a safe distance between Etrigan and Glenda, to convince him to keeping
trying to find a way to break the demonic curse. Her persistence and
determination pays off and Jason relents, agreeing to let her help him. She
then summons up her lover’s demonic form, Etrigan, and confronts him. It turns
out that Etrigan is also eager to free himself of Jason Blood and Merlin’s
curse.
Along this quest, Glenda is captured and Blood takes the
forefront. Wagner taps into the Demon’s supporting cast and has Harry Matthews
help Blood summon Etrigan’s father, the demon lord Belial. Unfortunately things
go horribly wrong and Blood gets Glenda back, but at a terrible cost. They
aren’t deterred from their quest as Etrigan gives them a crucial clue on how to
defeat Merlin.
The story, in its fourth and final issue, does a full circle
with Blood returning to Merlin’s sanctuary in England . Blood asks Merlin to
release him from the spell, but Merlin refuses. That refusal forces Blood to
put Merlin in a trance and make him leave his sanctuary. Blood leads Merlin into
a Hawthorn bush which proves to be an effective magical bane. As Merlin fades
from existence, Blood and Etrigan are split apart as their curse is finally lifted.
The series ends with a significant cliffhanger with Etrigan
roaming free and a glimpse at Merlin being held as a prisoner. Unfortunately, a
regular series wouldn’t be published until mid-1990 with a new creative team. I
can’t help but feel that Wagner had prepped this series as a launch pad for a
new ongoing series, but for whatever reason, it never happened. While I really
enjoyed what Wagner did and the pieces he put in place, this miniseries was
just the tip of the iceberg in terms of he was trying to and not seeing that
come to fruition saps a bit of the energy from this story.
In January 2014, DC will finally reprint this series as well
as The Demon (1990) #22 also by Wagner, in a trade paperback called The Demon:
From The Darkness.
No comments:
Post a Comment