Links, tools and gadgets

Friday, July 02, 2021

Blue Devil #22 [1986] (Random Comics Theatre)

Random Comics Theatre

Blue Devil #22 [1986]

BLUE DEVIL was one of the longer lasting DC comics launches of the mid-1980s based on an original concept, starting with a preview story in FIRESTORM and then a 31 issue series plus an annual.  The character was created by writers Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, who wrote most of the issues, and artist Paris Cullins, who left the interior art after a half-dozen issues, but returned for the annual a year later, and stuck around on covers for the whole run.

The series revolves around a stuntman and special effects expert, Dan Cassidy, who designs a giant Blue Devil prop suit for a movie, only to find himself trapped in the suit following a chance encounter with a real demon. He eventually settled in as a costumed adventurer with light-hearted escapades in Hollywood and on the fringes of the DC Universe, 

By this time the artists are Alan Kupperberg and Bill Collins joining creators Mishkin and Cohn on the story "Bounty Hunter". Dan and his friend are travelling cross country and stop in Las Vegas, where Dan had been back in #6, so he reunites with his alien friends Jorj and Lehni who settled down there in that previous issue. 

As luck would have it, an alien bounty hunter shows up in Vegas around the same time, and chaos ensues. This is a decent issue overall, a bit of a step down in quality from the first year of the book, but part of a solid middle run before it began to coast in the last year. There are also a few pages advancing some subplots with the rest of the regular cast, and a full three page letter column, including namechecks for some fifty or more writers whose letters they couldn't print. 

Unfortunately most of the series has never been reprinted, other than a few "Year's Best" digest reprints back in the day and a few issues tangentially related to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS reprints in a few expensive anthologies of such crossovers a while back. The whole series is available digitally.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Weblog by BobH [bobh1970 at gmail dot com]