Marvel has never shied away from controversy … unless, um, the controversy was really big and scary.
Case in point: Daimon Hellstrom, The Son of Satan.
Tapped to be a superstar following the Exorcist craze, inconsistent sales and reader outrage over the “Satan” sobriquet doomed the poor guy to supporting player status and eventual revamps that left essentially transformed Daimon into an entirely different character.
Created in 1973 as a typical Mighty Marvel Mash-Up (Rosemary’s Baby meets Doctor Strange and The Incredible Hulk!) , Daimon was initially portrayed as a tortured soul who tried to contain his satanic heritage while waging war against his father - who just happened to be the ultimate incarnation of evil.
In his earliest appearances, Daimon could only transform into the Son of Satan at night and barely maintained his control over his Darksoul™, a fancy word for the evil within his heart.
That approach was abandoned quickly, though, and Hellstrom soon possessed enough self-control to be considered a super-exorcist - scary enough to give kids the chills but ostensibly heroic enough to avoid the wrath of the Bible Belt.
Still, the whole “Son of Satan” bit proved too controversial to overcome. Sales soon petered out and Marvel found itself peppered by letters from outraged readers and - surprisingly - occultists who complained the series was insufficiently accurate or realistic.
(For your humble host’s part, the Keeper stayed away from the character until adulthood. A satanic super-hero was too scary for this dyed-in-the-wool Catholic boy!)
After his solo series ended, Daimon settled in for a long run as part of The Defenders supporting cast. The character eventually shed his demonic curse and married Patsy Walker, the fun-loving heroine known as Hellcat.
The Reagan era was no place for a Son of Satan, so Daimon’s next incarnation was a scarlet-clad super-hero known as Hellstorm.
Recast as an “occult investigator,” he helped the West Coast Avengers battle Master Pandemonium in a story better known - if at all - for Tigra’s acceptance of her human/feline nature.
This version was certainly less controversial than the original concept, but also less interesting. Daimon returned to comic-book limbo until the early ’90s, when he was once again re-cast as a master manipulator who held little concern for the traditional values of good and evil.
This “Hellstorm” mixed elements of DC’s nascent Vertigo imprint and Todd McFarlane’s massively successful Spawn. Still, Marvel was hesitant to restore Daimon’s satanic heritage and revealed the character’s father was not the Biblical “Prince of Lies” at all, but a demon named “Marduk Kurios.”
The ret-con stuck until a few years back, when Steve Englehart and Norm Breyfogle teamed up for an awful, awful Hellcat mini-series.
Yep, The Son of Satannish. How the mighty had fallen …
The Keeper is pretty sure that particular ret-con didn’t last, because Daimon next emerged in a MAX mini-series entitled Hellstorm: Son Of Satan. The advanced hype indicated that Daimon would return to his ’70s incarnation - albeit with a few modern touches.
The Keeper never saw any issues however, and isn’t even sure if the series ever came out. Has anyone read those books?
Well … no matter. After all these years, it’s apparent that Daimon Hellstrom and Marvel aren’t an ideal match. The character probably would have been better off at Vertigo, where he would have starred in a long-running, critically acclaimed series penned by a writer who’s a close and personal friend of Neil Gaiman.
Like this guy …
Some demon lords have all the infernal luck!
