31 days of horror Year 3 comics 03

Back in the 70's the comic code authority rules were relaxed and we got a new breed of horror comics. This time I will focus on the Marvel stuff.

Daimon Hellstorm,He is the son of Satan and a human woman. And from his father he has what is refered to as the darksoul. This gives him a variaty of powers. I always loved how even though he was the Son of Satan he was for a short while an exorcist and even almost became a monk at one time.The Son of Satan  first appeared in the first issue of the 70's Ghost Rider comic. Then was quickly given a short run in the Marvel Spotlight series.This run lasted 13 issues. This was popular enough that he got his own series. Titled Son of Satan it lasted for about 2 years. Once that was canceled He started appearing in the Defender's title. And was with the team for a long time. Towards the end of the Defender's he lost all his powers and retired to get married to Patsy "hellcat" Walker. For years nothing was done with Daimen. Then in the 90s Daimon was given a second solo series. This series,titled Hellstorm,while short lived was one of the most underrated titles of its era. We got 21 issues,and what is really surprising about the title is what it got away with even though it was approved by the CCA. But sadly it didn't sell well so it was canceled right in the middle of a storyline. Then  a few years later Marvel through it's MAX adult line put out a Son of Satan mini series.

First appearing in August of 1972,Johnny Blaze would be the second person to use the title of Ghost Rider in the Marvel Universe. He was a motorcycle stunt rider who sold his soul to a demon to save the life of his adopted father. And cause of this at first every night Johnny would change into the Ghost Rider and go out and fight crime. Slowly over the series this was changed and by the end Johnny could not only control when he would turn into Ghost Rider,but had was in control when he was in the Ghost Rider form. Over all the series was pretty well written. One storyline that was started but never full finished involved Ghost Rider meeting up with this stranger that kept helping him out. The original plan was for this stranger to turn out to be Jesus,but the storyline was shot down. By 1983 the sales of the Ghost Rider series were slumping,so the title was canceled. And it ended with Johnny losing the ability to become Ghost Rider. But of course Marvel revived him years later.

First appearing in Savage Tales #1 in 1971,Man-thing is Marvel's version of a swamp monster. Ted Sallis was down in Florida working on recreating the Super Solider Serum. He is attacked by a group of rogue scientiets and barely manages to escape into the Florida Everglades with the only sample he had managed to create of the SSS. He gets shot and killed and the Super Soldier serum mixes with him and something in the swamp. And Ted is reborn as Man-Thing,a creature who's touch burns anyone who is full of fear. Now for years people have called Man-Thing a Swamp Thing ripoff. But after doing some research it seems they were both created almost at the same time. Man-Thing was a great series that was full of strange trippy stories. Shit Howard the Duck first appeared in an issue of Man-thing. Sadly most of the great Man-Thing stories were all written by the late Steve Gerber. And now that Mr Gerber is dead,I doubt we will get any good Man-Thing stories.

Thanks to the comics code authority relaxing its rules on horror comics in the 70's Marvel attempted to take 3 horror archtypes. They took the Frankenstein Monster and gave him his own short lived comic. But sadly besides the great artwork by Mike Ploog the series isn't that good. Then Marvel took the werewolf and created Werewolf by Night. Which was actually a decent comic. The main star was a man cursed to become a werewolf. This series actually lasted for almost 50 issues. And is mainly remembered now cause it is where Moon Knight first appeared. Then Marvel took the vampire archtype. And created what is now remembered as one of their best series of the 70s. This was Tomb of Dracula. From 1972 till 1979 this series ran for 70 issues. Most of the run was written by Marv Wolfman and the late Gene Colon doing the artwork. What stood out to me about this series is that Dracula while evil was in someways the hero of the comic.