The Demon #1
The Demon #1 introduced Etrigan and his human host Jason Blood — a dual-identity concept rooted in Arthurian myth rather than science, which distinguished the character from virtually every other superhero of the Bronze Age. Kirby's choice to set the origin at the fall of Camelot and carry it forward to modern-day Gotham City established a template of immortality-as-curse that writers from Alan Moore to Neil Gaiman and Garth Ennis would mine for decades. The issue also launched DC's most durable practitioner of supernatural horror during a period when both DC and Marvel were actively expanding into that genre under the relaxed Comics Code, making it a foundational text of Bronze Age occult comics. Etrigan's rhyming speech, present from the first issue, became one of the most distinctive voices in the DC Universe and a persistent creative challenge — and pleasure — for every writer who subsequently took on the character.
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DC publisher Carmine Infantino asked Kirby to create a monster-hero to complement the company's then-popular horror anthologies; Kirby's longtime assistant Mark Evanier recounted that Kirby conceived the entire premise — name, backstory, and supporting cast — spontaneously at a Howard Johnson's dinner, just days after receiving the assignment. Kirby had planned to hand the character to other creators after developing the concept, but Infantino insisted Kirby remain on the book himself, and then made the arrangement final by cancelling Kirby's Fourth World titles (New Gods and Forever People ended with their respective issue #11s in 1972), redirecting his full attention to The Demon and Kamandi. The first issue was penciled and written by Kirby and inked by Mike Royer, with Kirby also contributing a back-matter editorial piece discussing his new characters and the forthcoming Kamandi series. DC's confidence in the launch was such that, after just one issue, it escalated the title from bi-monthly to monthly scheduling — before any reliable sales data could even have been returned.
Trivia · 7 facts
- First appearance and origin of Etrigan the Demon, a demon from Hell bound to a mortal host by the wizard Merlin at the fall of Camelot.
- First appearance of Jason Blood, the immortal demonologist and human alter ego of Etrigan, set in modern Gotham City.
- First appearances of the entire supporting cast: Glenda Mark (Blood's love interest), Harry Matthews (Blood's rough-around-the-edges companion), Randu Singh (Blood's ally with ESP), Inspector Stavic, and the sorcerer Theophilus Warly.
- First appearance of Morgaine le Fey as an ongoing antagonist, established here as a centuries-old sorceress seeking Merlin's 'Eternity Book' to restore her youth.
- Etrigan's distinctive design was inspired by a Hal Foster image from the Prince Valiant newspaper strip, in which Prince Valiant wears a demon-like mask — an homage Kirby worked out the same evening he conceived the character.
- A four-panel page was cut from the original printed issue; it was restored and published for the first time in the 2008 trade collection Jack Kirby's The Demon.
- The issue was reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5, and the complete original 16-issue Kirby run has since been collected in multiple editions including the Jack Kirby's The Demon Omnibus (DC, 2017) and the DC Universe: The Bronze Age Omnibus by Jack Kirby (DC, 2019).