The Devil's Boy, goes against all things his dad believes in

Good morning, a little birdie told me that I needed a Marvel topic for my next entry. I thought that wasn't a bad idea, considering how many DC Comics Presents/Superman articles seem to keep coming up from my son's picks. So I thought, that since The Defenders was one of my favourite Marvel (non)team titles of all-time (at least until they changed the title to the New Defenders around issue 125), and the fact that I am currently watching season one of Jessica Jones, where Patsy Walker is a main character, I decided that I would go with the spawn of the Devil himself, Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan.

Created by Roy Thomas and designed by Gary Freidrich, Daimon was originally conceived to be a horror character after Stan Lee Suggested that Satan himself would be a good character for a comic book. Thomas disagreed and suggested to Lee that a series starring the offspring of the Devil would be better instead. Making his debut in Ghost Rider #1  (Sept 1973), Daimon Hellstrom was born as the son of Satan and a human woman named Victoria Wingate. He also had a sister named Satana (she is a black-magic woman...oh wait, that's Santana.) The siblings were taught in magical arts from the beginning, using dark forces with regards to this power. But right from the start, Daimon embraced his mother's heritage. After discovering the truth of who the father of her children as, Victoria goes insane, and the siblings are broken up and sent to foster homes. Daimon grows up to become a professor of anthology, as well as an occult and demonology expert, and continues to fight his father and his minions in the guise of the Son of Satan. His powers are of a dark force natures, allowing him to project fire, healing abilities (both himself and others), and his physical abilities are of a superhuman nature.

After Ghost Rider received his own book, Daimon took over the lead spot in the book Marvel Spotlight with issue number 12. He stayed in the lead until issue 24. Although the occultism and symbolism and the use of the name "Satan" was proving controversial, sales on this period of Spotlight convinced the powers that be at Marvel (at the time it was still Roy Thomas) that this character could continue. Thus he was given his own series with Son of Satan #1 (Dec 1975). This book, however, only lasted eight issues total.

Daimon didn't live in Limbo for very long. He became a Defender in Giant-Size Defenders #2 hile fighting against the creature Asomodeus and remains a regular member until the story arc in issues 120-121, where he and his lover Hellcat marry and leave to help Daimon find himself after he gives up his powers. Once he discovered he is fully human, he became sick and begins dying. At this point, Patsy pleads with Satan to save Daimon's life. He does, by returning him to his previous state, with a demonic half. When Patsy sees Daimon's true face, she goes insane. It is during this period that the character shines best, always seeming to be able to keep his humanity despite everything that is thrown his way. 

1993 brought a new series (I had owned the book pictured above at one point), where Daimon (with his name changed to Hellstorm) was again the star of the book, (with Patsy of course.) The series was called Hellstorm, Prince of Lies, and one of the seminal events is when Patsy commits suicide in issue 14 of the series.

Daimon's parentage kept changing throughout his existence as well. Originally we has considered the son of the Devil himself and was described that way in his first appearance while helping Ghost Rider fight against Satan and the Witch-Woman. It was later retconned that his father was a demon by the name of Marduk Kurios (in Hellstorm, Prince of Lies issue 12), who was also known as the biblical Lucifer). Then it was revealed that his father as Satannish (turns out this was a lie, told to try to ensure Patsy would stop loving him). However, it was Daimon's upbringing with the Jesuits that ensured he would be a better man and feel his humanity, making this a central tenement of the charter. His last appearance in Marvel Spotlight (issue 24) featured the first time he met his sister as an adult. By Issue 62 of The Defenders, he has become a regular member of the group and falls in love with Hellcat (and eventually marries her.) They spend some time with the West Coast Avengers.

After Patsy kills herself, he eventually becomes ruler of Hell, allowing Hawkeye and the Thunderbolts to bring her back to life. After Mephisto ends up taking over much of Hell from his control, he ends up with the Defenders again. Daimon was also very heavily involved with the Chaos War crossover storyline and eventually joins the Masters of Evil storyline.

In conclusion, I admit I don;t know much about this character, but from what I have read about him over the years I have found him interesting, especially after he began to be involved with Hellcat. I believe that without her influence during a major part of the late 1970s Defenders run, he would have been more unstable and not as good of a character. I am going to try to get my hands on some of the books and read and reread about Him again.

Ottawa News and Notes - It gives me great sadness to see what has happened to our beloved city on this past Friday, when a hurricane ripped through Ottawa/Gatineau. I hope everybody is OK and are all their loved ones as well.

Now, it gives me great pleasure to announce a new comic show coming that is just for comic books. On October 28, the Mariott hotel at 100 Kent Street is holding the inaugural Capital Comic Book Convention from 11 am to 5 pm. Details will follow but you can see some of it here: https://www.facebook.com/events/465464847291850/?notif_t=event_friend_going&notif_id=1537667442970972. Hope to see you there.

And, of course, next weekend is the Geek Market at the Sportsplex. 

See you again in a few days.