Son of Satan Classic

Marvel Team-Up (1972) #32

by Gary Friedrich, Steve Gerber, John Buscema (Artist)

He's got Marvel's most rotten family tree, with Satana as his sister and the Father of Lies himself as their dear old dad! So is there any saving the soul of Daimon Hellstrom, the sensational Son of Satan? The most flamboyantly dressed exorcist around will ride to the rescue of Ghost Rider and fight alongside the Thing and the Human Torch! Flaming trident at the ready, pentagram on his chest, he'll face ice demons, a fire dragon, an Egyptian god, nihilists, and folks who worship his father! Speaking of which, Daimon will face an unhappy paternal reunion and sibling rivalry with his succubus sis. They're the relatives from hell - literally!

COLLECTING: GHOST RIDER (1973) 1-2, MARVEL SPOTLIGHT (1971) 12-24, MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) 32, SON OF SATAN 1-8, MARVEL TWOIN-ONE (1974) 14

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Horror

473 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I rate a comicbook collection, I give each issue in the collection two scores out of five; one for the story and one for the illustrations. I then work out the average of all these scores to get the overall rating for the collection.

Why am I boring you with this? Well, it’s because, when I applied this process to this Son of Satan (that’s Daimon Hellstrom for you MCU newbies) collection, I was genuinely surprised the average score was so high. So surprised I did the calculation a second time to check I hadn’t made a mistake.

You see, this book legitimately averaged at 3 stars (just) but it doesn’t feel like a 3 star book. To be honest, based on how much I enjoyed it, I would’ve expected it to be a 2 star read. The stories are, quite frankly, a confused mess. Most of the artwork is just OK.

There’s also the disturbing number of times Hellstrom hits women in this book to take into account. I don’t mean female supervillains; I’m talking about perfectly innocent members of his supporting cast. I mean, Hank Pym hit a woman once and the fans have never forgiven him for it. Hellstrom does it practically every other issue and I’ve never once even heard it mentioned! I guess his much smaller audience explains that, though.

Having now read the Son of Satan’s first appearances I’m not only not surprised he never won a bigger fan base, I’m genuinely surprised the character ever appeared again, let alone got his own tv show! The tv show, which I enjoyed quite a bit, is significantly better than the source material… and it’s not often I say that, folks.

My next book: Daredevil vol. 6: Doing Time Part One

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my favorite of the 1970s supernatural characters from Marvel. Nice read and great collected edition. Recommended

[Michael Jandrok · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He is Daimon Hellstrom - spawn of the devil, born of woman - man of God, heir to Hell - and his two natures are ever at war! For though he carries Satan’s mark on his chest, his is sworn to drive his Father’s minions from the world of men. Exorcist, psychic, demonologist, wielder of the SOULFIRE - he is all of these, but within him lurks a second self, a savage, Satanic side he must constantly fight to control...lest he lose his human heritage forever!” - from the header plate on the splash pages of the Son of Satan comics. Stan Lee presents…..The Son of Satan!!!!!

I was a rather precocious reader when I was young, and by the time time I was 8 or 9 years old I had pretty much caught the comic book bug, despite my parents doing their best to dissuade me from this path. DC and Marvel were the biggest players on the block back then, much like today, and both of these behemoths were leaving the Silver Age behind and searching for new titles to attract a new generation of readers.

Comic books have always been about catching trends and running with them. And so it was that both DC and Marvel were taking chances on some really edgy material for the time. Occultism had made a big comeback in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with interest in esoteric subjects hitting new heights. Anything was game. UFOs, The Bermuda Triangle, spirituality, Wicca, and other such subjects seemed to provide an endless well of fascination for American audiences across the lines of all popular media. The big kahuna in all of this infatuation with the weird was Satanism, freshly remodeled and retooled for the New Age by a former carnival performer named Anton LaVey. While LaVey and his Church of Satan were getting mainstream coverage in places like Playboy and Penthouse magazines, movies and books were swiftly catching the wave. Rosemary’s Baby was born, and it took The Exorcist to get rid of the little bastard, but by this time the demon was out of the fire and into the glossy tabloid magazine.

And this is where DC and Marvel come in. Pressed with the need to cash in on the occult craze, both houses went into overdrive to bring all sorts of new and creepy characters and titles to the drugstore racks. DC put Jack Kirby to work on a new book called “The Demon,” while Marvel went out to left field and conjured up magazines like “Man-Thing” and “Ghost Rider.” Marvel’s biggest entry into the Satanic sweepstakes, though, was a crazed strip titled “The Son of Satan.” Making his hellish debut in “Ghost Rider” #1,” man-by-day and demon-by-night exorcist Daimon Hellstrom would crash the party with all of the typical Marvel bombast. Daimon got a shot at his own series starting with “Marvel Spotlight #12.” There he would reside until he got his own book after “Marvel Spotlight #24” wrapped up that particular story arc. Alas, poor Daimon couldn’t keep his sales mojo going and his self-named title was cancelled after a mere 8 issues. The character lived on, of course, as a member of The Defenders superteam, and later as a revised vision of the original renamed as Daimon Hellstorm.

What’s surprising to me is that this strip even got published due to the Comics Code Authority. The CCA was an invention of the comics industry itself, as an alternative to government regulation. It was meant to ensure that all comic books adhered to a set set of rules for their characters and stories to follow, though it was primarily concerned with portrayals of sex and violence. You can read more about the CCA in its Wiki article if you are interested in more information about it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_...

“Son of Satan” was truly groundbreaking if for no other reason than it represented the character of Satan in a more or less sympathetic light. The Dark One displayed a definite code of honor and seemed to be happy with his lot as ruler of Hell. He was evil personified, of course, but he was not completely without a set of scruples. The character of Daimon was also played seriously, as he was a man torn between his pure, human side and his demonic, Hellspawned persona. This dichotomy is at the very heart of the Christian faith as a part of canonical doctrine, so it’s hardly a surprise to see it in print, but it had never been handled with such philosophical force up until that point in comics history. “Son of Satan” brought all sorts of theological and psychological questions to the fore, and if you think that this was heady stuff for a comic book...well….you’re right.

The presentation of the omnibus itself is spot on. The colors are sharp and vibrant, the text virtually unchanged from the original presentation, warts and all. I’ll confess that I’m a sucker for these compilation volumes from the comics giants, and the attention to detail and overall quality of this book is fantastic. Here’s a quick rundown of what you are getting with this collection:

“Ghost Rider 1-2” - This introduces the Daimon Hellstrom character, as he comes to the aid of Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider himself. Blaze has been trapped in Hell, and it’s up to the Devil’s scion to get him out of his pickle. You get a bit of a feel for what the Hellstrom character might be like, but his true origins are still shrouded in mystery.

“Marvel Spotlight 12-24” - This run includes Daimon’s origin issue as well as his entire residence in "Spotlight." Here is where you get a real understanding of the character, as he morphs from “exorcist-by-day and demon-by-night” into a fully integrated powerhouse of demented conflict. Daimon moves his base of operation from New England to St. Louis in an attempt to break free from his loneliness and isolation. This is also a foray to get his act more in the game as a professional exorcist and professor of the occult. He even develops a romantic interest of sorts in paranormal researcher Dr. Katherine Reynolds. My favorite part of this run is where Daimon’s chest tattoo of a pentagram changes from an “upright” star position to the supposedly diabolical “inverted” state. This is in conjunction with the melding of his two states of consciousness into a cohesive condition. These revisions made for a more compelling and believable character. No longer bound to a day/night transformation, Daimon could now bring his darker side to the fore with a mere hand gesture. POOF!! The “Son of Satan” would appear in all of his demonic glory, bare-chested and virile and dressed to the nines in superhero spandex and a flowing cape. That mere mortals seemed to take all of this in stride was a continual part of the charm of the entire exercise.

“Marvel Team-Up #32” - Daimon guest stars with The Human Torch in a mostly forgettable adventure in Arizona. This seemed to be the beginnings of taking the Hellstrom character out of the world of the strictly occult and into a more traditional superhero sort of role. That transition would prove to be the ultimate failure of the first runs of the “Son of Satan.”

“Marvel Two-In-One #14” - Another team-up, this time with the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing Himself, Ben Grimm. Ghostly doings in an abandoned ghost town in Arizona pull the Thing and Daimon together to fight one of Daimon’s old demonic foes. Better than the Human Torch mash-up but still not up to par with the rest of Daimon’s adventures.

“Son of Satan 1-8” - Daimon’s run in “Marvel Spotlight” earned him a shot at his own title, but it would prove to be short-lived at a mere 8 issues. Part of the problem was the schizophrenic approach to the whole character. Marvel apparently couldn’t decide whether or not to maintain Hellstrom as an occult character or bring him more into the realm of a traditional superhero fighting off other costumed bad guys. The end result is that the book couldn’t maintain its sales momentum and the whole thing just got more or less abandoned. Daimon would continue on as a Marvel character, but it would be years before he regained his own title again in a VERY revised format that ignored most of the origin story and canon of the first runs of the character. The last couple of issues are just a complete psychedelic freak out that must have alienated a lot of the core audience. I personally loved that finishing story arc, but it was also obvious that the series had pretty much run out of gas and had already said everything that it needed to say by that point.

A quick note on the art. All of the artists that work on the “Son of Satan” did credible jobs and kept a very strong sense of continuity in the Daimon Hellstrom look and feel, but a couple of artists did standout work and I think it’s good to recognize those runs. Gene Colon took the iconic “Satanic” look to new heights for a two-issue stretch in “Marvel Spotlight,” and Jim Mooney and Sonny Trinidad did the same for Daimon’s swan-song run in the “Son of Satan” 8-issue run. There is some really spectacular art to be found in these pages, and it’s great fun to dwell on the backgrounds and attention to detail that was put into the strips.

“Son of Satan Classic” was a fantastic trip down memory lane for me. I loved this comic book as a kid and I treasure it even more now as an adult. It is a reminder at just how wild and unhinged the early ‘70s were for comic books in general, a seminal moment in time that set the stage for the independents and the eventual dissolution of the Comics Code Authority. It’s probably too much of a niche title to attract legions of fans, but the “Son of Satan” still stands the test of time and reads as fresh and interesting today as it did back in 1973.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting artifact of Marvels 70's output, where the storytelling was getting pretty crazy. I was on the fence about getting this, but decided I wanted to after reading about Daimon in a Defenders collection. I thought he was an interesting character.
The book is pretty good, but only if you read it in small chunks. Reading one issue after another would become really derivity very quickly. I think that mostly has to do with Daimon continually fighting demons, or things related to demons. Wish they would have gone a more Supernatural route and had him fighting other things like ghosts, goblins and ghouls. I couldn't but wonder to if a story where Daimon comes across someone from the other " God" Pantheon's Marvel has. Daimon is the son of Satan, so how would he interact with another god of death? It would have been cool.
The arts is good, but once it becomes the Son of Satan title, the art is somewhat uninspired. Also, the art from the Marvel team up, and the Marvel two in one stories is weak. Still cool to see that Daimon teamed up with the Thing and the human torch.

[James A Conder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Marvel 70s Horror Hero

Daimon Hellstrom, one of the last of Marvel's 1970s Horror books. Basically, the Excorcist meets Rosemary's Baby. Daimon is the son of the ultimate big bad SATAN.
Well, until retcons made him the son of a Satan impersonator named Marmaduke or something like that. It's like thinking you were the son of Elvis,, only to find out daddy was just some wannabe performing at county fairs..

Ahhh, but in these classic tales it's still the Devil himself, and they're pretty good. Granted Daimon has a tendency towards melodrama, but what else can you expect.

[I.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more interesting characters of the 70s there are some great stories in here. However the series stumbles here and there with some repetition and lack of real villains. Finds its footing right at the end though.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really had to keep reminding myself, during reading, why I chose this book. And it has nothing to do with the subject matter. I mean, reading about the devil and hell is not very interesting to me. I think I ended up with this book in my hands because I love Bronze Age Marvel stuff and, aside from X-Men, I have always shied away from the most mainstream stuff. Thor, the Avengers, Captain America, they are all pretty boring to me. But this character was a result of Marvel asking "what is something shocking and controversial that we can write about now that the Comics Code will let us?" So we got the Son of Satan.

But there is a problem with the character. He is the son of Satan and Satan is really kind of boring as a personality. He just has no depth since he's just pure evil. But Damian Hellstrom is a little more interesting than his boring father. For starters, he has a split personality, kind of like the Hulk. Only instead of turning dumb and strong, he becomes and asshole and loses his shirt and wears a bright red cape. His personality is not really very clearly defined though. So he ranges between noble and cold and stand-offish when in human form. But whether he's wearing a cape or a suit, none of the writers could completely get a grip on his personality. Steve Gerber did the best at keeping things consistent and he set the protagonist out on some cool adventures, fighting demons and monsters. But the writers changed quite a bit during this run. The Marvel Spotlight issues were definitely the best.

And then it all came crashing down, when Marvel hired John Warner to write the ongoing series. To put it bluntly, John Warner thought he was writing a Gold Key comic from the 50's. So we have a whole lot of dialogue boxes and exposition, with not a lot of interest going on. So Marvel asked the great Bill Mantlo to write the last issue and then discontinued the series. I know that the Son of Satan shows up again in the Defenders and my hope is that the character is used a little better by then. But don't get me wrong, there are some fun issues in this book. Chris Claremont writes a great issue, Gene Colan does a couple of great, moody issues, and Jim Mooney does a great job. My favorite characters to appear are Ghost Rider, Satana, the Thing, and various witch and devil-ladies wearing either skimpy outfits or metal bras. That stuff is all fun and makes the book worth a read.

[Scott Waldie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thorough collection here, featuring his early appearances in Ghost Rider, his own issues, team ups, and so forth. I love the color and characters from this era, and the majority of the artwork in this volume is wonderful. As for the Son of Satan himself, he's a pretty silly character, as are some of the villains here (The Possessor for one), and while the writing isn't bad for the period, the story itself leaves much to be desired. I just don't feel myself wanting to turn the page, and the excess of spoken dialogue to highlight what we can usually already see on the pages, a trait of that age of comics, is a bit of a drawback, though certainly not specific to these issues. Happy to have it on the shelf as a conversation piece, will occasionally flip through the art, but it's not a compelling read and you can see why he never really broke out in popularity, even in multiple incarnations through the decades.

Halloween Read 5/13 for 2019

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 3 out of 5]

En sintonía con aquel misticismo efectista que empapó la cultura Pop de los setenta, Damion Hellstrom integra la plana sobrenatural de Marvel Comics en un rol pretendidamente trágico: Renegando de su herencia infernal para defender a la humanidad mientras pugna a su vez con su lado más oscuro y demoníaco. Una premisa atractiva que, sin embargo, pasa a segundo plano en aventuras más bien genéricas y similares a las de Ghost Rider y Doctor Strange por aquel entonces, desaprovechando un enfoque innovador.

Al respecto, el completísimo volumen que recopila sus apariciones en Ghost Rider, Marvel Spotlight, Marvel Team-Up, Son of Satan y Marvel Two in One ofrece un despliegue gráfico interesante, sobre todo en las páginas firmadas por Tom Sutton, Gene Colan, P. Craig Russell y Russ Heath, acaso los más cercanos al perfil macabro del antihéroe. Un personaje y una serie hijos de su tiempo.

[Ahdom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love retro comics and I really love just how obscure this one is. There are so many great characters and cool old school artwork throughout that there is much to appreciate. However, it was a bit of a slog. It wasn't super compelling or gripping and it ran a little long, but I did want to reach back and get the beats of the character before I started the Hulu series. I think I will also visit another more recent series of graphics novels before I get to the series, just because I like the idea of the character and I want another comic experience that is more modern. All that said, these comics are where it at starts for the character if you are wanting to explore the Son of Satan, AKA Hellstrom.

[Julian]

Have read parts before and mostly as I remember it, the Gerber stuff in Marvel Spotlight is pretty good, also benefiting from some of the best art in the run (Gene Colan, Sal Buscema). There are some great issues early on by the unsung Herb Trimpe. Laster issues transitioning to Daimon's own title immediately fall flat, and somehow the team of Russell/Trinidad fails, though Trinidad's solo issue later on is better-- ending with a Xmas issue drawn by Russ Heath! (except for one notorious page!)

All in all, a great representation of bronze age Marvel: Weird, wacky and different and probably not really achieving what it could have.

[Jimbo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is a bit uneven. Every time a new author took over, the feel of who Damien Hellstrom changed slightly. Every villain or adversary would tell him that he didn't know how to use the powers that he was born with, yet, he never really got better at them. Occasionally he would let his dark soul run things, but even then, there were things that he could have done and didn't.

I am looking forward to reading the next chapter in Hellstrom live with Prince of Lies--hopeing that the author capture all that this dual hero can do.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining slice of 1970's Marvel that doesn't quite live up to it's promise. It's a curiously directionless series where the obvious main villain - Satan himself, no less - is reduced to a background character while his offspring battles lesser threats.
The art is fine throughout, with the issues drawn by Sal Buscema a particular treat for the eyes.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting if not altogether successful slice of Marvel’s experimentation with horror in the 70s. Part of the problem is it takes forever to get a handle on Daimon Hellstrom and even when he gets his own title it’s unclear where they’re going with him. It’s very much in the Marvel style with overwrought melodrama. It’s mostly bonkers in a fun way though. It’s just hard to care about any of the characters since what motivates them and their relationships are always in flux.

[Brent · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started out confusing but entertaining and ended up confusing but not entertaining.

I did enjoy Steve Gerbers run though. He's a nut but always does something interesting.

[Christian Kotsur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a weird one, never before had I heard of the fabled Son of Satan until I stumbled upon it at my local Zia. This collection is during the late 70’s so they tend to get a little bizarre. Story telling is so so for the most part but really begins to come together just as the book ends. 4/5

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read many of these stories when they were first published, and while Son of Satan was never a favorite of mine, I did find his 4-color adventures ... interesting. Perhaps even more so is that I preferred his appearances in The Defenders and the team-up titles better than his solo outings. Go figure. I had previously read the entire run from Marvel Spotlight and his own title when collected in the pages of Essential Marvel Horror, Vol. 1, and I’d hoped that maybe this newer reprinting in color would add some additional enhancements - unfortunately, that didn’t happen. These stories are still interesting, but they lack a real focus or direction. Daimon Hellstrom’s powers are too vague, too ill defined and inconsistent from issue to issue, and writer to writer. The adventures themselves run the gamut from ancient Atlantis to time travel, from tarot cards to Egyptian mythology, from Christian possession to elemental demons, from Freud to satanic symbolism. This was the melting pot that was early and mid 1970s and it’s ridiculous new-age-fad-of-the-week. It was a joke then and holds up rather poorly today. Still the stories are fun, if overly melodramatic, but they do break ground and lay thematic and narrative seeds that would later be harvested by the talents of the likes of Alan Moore, Rick Vietch, Neil Gaiman and Mike Carey in other titles and with other characters. And, to be fair, the art is at times spectacular. So there are some redeeming aspects of this collection. Not the best of Marvel’s 1970s, but far from the worst.