The period of Marvel Comics history known as the Bronze Age is probably the weirdest and most inventive in the entire lifespan of the company itself. In the 1970’s, the company became less of a ‘House of Ideas’ as it had been called in the 1960’s and more of a corporate institution. This lead to many of the mainstays of the company becoming less exciting and wild than they had been in their creation, perhaps because images Hulk, Spider-Man and Captain America were appearing all over the place from action figures to party plates.
This is not to undermine any of those comics as being ‘less good,’ but it always felt to me that the spark that had inspired the Marvel Age of Comics born in the 1960’s was hard to find in their flagship titles of the era of Disco and more commonly discovered in lesser known comics such as the ones I will be looking at this week.
Whatever the case, the Bronze Age saw more insanely creative and ‘risky’ comic books born than any other era. This was the period that birthed Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, Deathlok, Werewolf by Night and many more. In short, it was the era of horror.
Daimon Hellstorm (AKA Son of Satan) was a man of conflict. The offspring of a mixing of demonic and human blood, he studied all of the strengths and mysteries of the dark arts at his father’s side, but ultimately used that knowledge to undermine and fight Satan on Earth. Setting himself up as an ‘occult detective,’ (hard to come by nowadays) Daimon cast aside his wing collar to reveal his long flowing robes and bare chest (emblazoned with a pentagram) whenever he fought evil.
As a client, you either went for this or not.
Son of Satan starred in the Marvel Comics Spotlight series and was also seen in the oddball sister comic to the Avengers, the Defenders, but he never really found a home in the sales charts at Marvel. He wasn’t much of a mystic and rarely fought big super villains, making him neither a Doctor Strange type, nor a Spider-Man type.
In many ways, Son of Satan epitomizes the Bronze Age character. He was an attempt by Marvel to strike out and create a new mythology. Drawing on the popularity of black magic and the occult found in youth culture of the time, Son of Satan was basically a poor man’s Ghost Rider.
Nonetheless, Son of Satan is a fun read and a time capsule of the 70’s.
The film The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys taps into the general post-1960’s malaise that is embraced by the comics of that time. The movie also features animation sequences by Todd McFarlane (who apparently still lives in that time period). It’s also a great film that my buddy Greg turned me into.
Recently a sampling of his comics was released in Marvel Horror, which belongs on your shelf and bedside table this Halloween season.
Suggested reading/viewing:
Essential Marvel Horror, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
