Blue Devil Creation

 

Dan Cassidy was a stuntman, working with a super suit of his creation...but, how did this working man in Hollywood turn himself into the Blue Devil?

Here is that story, with a few facts on his creation, as well as those who created the comic, as we take a look at that wonder of the 1980s in conjunction with the Super-Blog Team-Up, as a member of the Creator team (all will be explained as you read on....so dive on in!).

Blue Devil Preview

Beginning with the beginning...

...as Blue Devil premiered in a special preview insert within the pages of Fury Of Firestorm #24 (June, 1984) by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, Paris Cullins and Pablo Marcos.

  

Here readers learn of the "super stunt suit" Dan Cassidy created, with special servo-motors that give him the strength of over 20 men, enhance his natural agility, make him nearly indestructible, along with other stuff like infrared vision, blinding flares, voice modulator, radio controlled rocket trident!  An interesting build just for a movie, thrilling young Gopher (Eddie Bloomberg, nephew of movie producer, Marla Bloom), and enticing Flash villain, the Trickster, to want to steal it.  

As Marla arrives to deal with the leak of info on the suit, she tries to get Dan to put the suit on to do promotional pictures for the upcoming movie....yet, Dan is too busy to do it, so they get actor Wayne Tarrant to put on the non-powered mock-up suit to do promotional pictures with the lead actress, Sharon Scott (with Sharon having a thing for Dan, yet Wayne having a thing for Sharon).  While taking the pictures on the backlot of Vernor Brothers Studios, rival studio stuntman James Jesse arrives....and breaks in as the Trickster so he can steal the suit.  

The Trickster makes off with Wayne in the Blue Devil suit, eventually becoming aware that he has the wrong Blue Devil, as Gopher gets Dan to suit up and play the hero.  Blue Devil runs through his various built in abilities (making Trickster want the suit more) before BD beats the Trickster enough so that he takes off, with Dan thinking the suit needs improvement after this unintentional field test.

All this gets readers introduced to the Blue Devil and his cast (including cameraman Norm Paxton), getting you ready for the debut of the Blue Devil magazine, thinking you know how things will go, but, this is Hollywood, so there is always a twist!

How To Trap A Devil

Now, onto Blue Devil #1 (June, 1984) by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, Paris Cullins and Pablo Marcos, with the Blue Devil movie in production at an island location, with Dan in the suit filming a scene of the Blue Devil.  

Special effects wizard Dan Cassidy is an impressive figure as Blue Devil, but is insecure, as stars Wayne Tarrant and Sharon Scott are not on the set....having wandered off on the island to some ruins, where Sharon finds the key to unlock a dimensional portal, freeing the demon, Nebiros.  Nebiros was happy to be released, and planned to "thank" Sharon.  Wayne and Sharon flee back to the set, where Nebiros tangles with folks on the set, as Sharon is looking for Dan to protect her.  

Marla convinces Dan he can do it using the Blue Devil suit, and Nebiros and Blue Devil tussle for a while, as Norm films the battle.  Nebiros thinks of Blue Devil as one of his demon brothers, as Gopher thinks of Dan as a hero, all while Dan battles to stay alive.  

During their battle, Nebiros hits Dan with a blast of mystic energy, nearly killing him (and Nebiros is shocked that Blue Devil returns after getting hit with that blast), as Blue Devil and the crew force Nebiros back through the portal, closing it off.  Marla adapts, planning to use the footage filmed turning Blue Devil from villain to hero of the movie (fighting Nebiros), as Gopher encourages Dan to become a real super-hero.  Dan is considering Gopher's idea....when he discovers the results of Nebiros' mystic blast...that he is now truly Blue Devil, having had his super suit fused with his own body!

This was the beginning of the adventures of the "weirdness magnet" that was Blue Devil....an odd combination of science and sorcery (with a dash of whimsy) that lasted 31 issues and one Annual (along with a Crisis crossover; meetings with Zatanna, Etrigan, Man-Bat, Madame Xanadu, Phantom Stranger; a Fury of Firestorm crossover and an appearance in DC Comics Presents with Superman).

Blue Devil's creators were:

Gary Cohn

The man who had the initial idea of the Blue Devil, when approached by editor Dave Manak to create something for Steve Ditko, and came up with idea of a hero that combined the suit of Iron Man, tragic story of the Thing, fun of Spider-Man, with Green Goblin look.  Gary also co-created Amethyst Princess of Gemworld, as well as worked on issues of House of Mystery and DC Comics Presents with his Blue Devil co-creator, as well as writing and creating the Barren Earth series as a Warlord back-up (and mini-series).  Gary has recently retired from teaching.

Dan Mishkin

The other half of the writing team for Blue Devil, Dan brought the name to the character (as his wife was from North Carolina), and also co-created Amethyst Princess of Gemworld, as Dan and Gary had worked mostly as a writing team for DC Comics.  Dan did have a run on Wonder Woman as a solo writer at the same time as Blue Devil was going on as a series, and more recently has been keeping busy with the idea that "Kids Read Comics", conventions and thoughts that try to keep comics for kids alive.

Paris Cullins

While Gary had come up with the basic costume design, Paris added the belt and dynamic personality to the Blue Devil, as well coming up with the name of the letter column, Circuits & Sorcery.  Having worked on a few issues of Green Lantern and House of Mystery before, Paris was only able to draw the first six issues, later working on the earliest issues of DC's Blue Beetle and New Gods, and then Clive Barker's Hyperkind for Marvel, and being a publisher for Maximum Overdrive Media.

(Thanks to Dan Johnson for his Pro2Pro interview with Dan and Gary from Twomorrow's Back Issue #21 of March, 2007 for the Blue Devil creation facts). 

Continuing with the creation theme, the many other creators of the Super-Blog Team-Up have come up with their own various looks at creators and here is where to find what they have done on the red group of SBTU!

Super-Blog Team-Up 

Between The Pages Blog - Scrooge McDuck Tales Woo-Hoo!

Doc Strange - Comic Book's Unsung Heroes!  Steve Gerber!

In My Not So Humble Opinion - Kurt Schaffenberger, The Definite Lois Lane Artist Of The Silver Age

JJ - Sergio Argones - It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World

But, wait, there's more!

Some additional work by more SBTU folks, good as gold, as they look at possible other scenarios with a series of "What If" themed work!

Pop Culture Retroama - What If The Sinister Dr. Phibes Had Been Produced! 

Source Material - What If Captain Confederacy

Comic Reviews By Walt - What If The Ultraverse Had Continued? 

Charlton Hero - What If Peter Parker Became Speedball Instead Of Spider-Man?

The Telltale Mind - Arak, Son Of Thunder A Lost Adventure 

Blue Devil has found new life on screen, appearing in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon, and much more recently, in live action, played by Ian Ziering in the Swamp Thing TV series as well as multiple castings in plastic as action figures, hopefully preparing viewers for the day when a Blue Devil movie won't be a "What If".

Crisis Out Of Time

One of the main pieces of the Crisis On Infinite Earths, was that heroes from different times and places were able to meet up and work together.

Only a few of the crossovers took advantage of that revolutionary idea by using heroes from history, and here are the two of them, as they teamed up with some fiery super heroines of the 1980s!

The Crisis Comes To 1942

There was a little pre-crossover set up in All-Star Squadron #54 (February, 1986) by Roy Thomas, Danette Thomas, Mike Clark, Alfredo Alcala, Arvell Jones and Vince Colletta, all under a cover by Mike Clark, with the honorary members of the JSA (in 1942, including Flash, Batman, Green Lantern and Hourman) all coming back to put the final touches on Mr. Mind's early Monster Society of Evil, including Oom, who you can see attacking the Perisphere, the headquarters of the All-Star Squadron.

All that so that Firebrand (Danette Reilly, the second Firebrand, a heroine who was related to the original Firebrand who later joined the Freedom Fighters, but she also had flame powers which she had gotten during the formation of the All-Star Squadron) could go on a mission to Cape Canaveral.

Speaking with Nuklon and the 1985 version of the Golden Age Atom, Firebrand got assigned to check out Cape Canaveral, home of the Space Shuttle program at the time (as well as Terri Rothstein, who was Nuklon's mom and Firebrand's goddaughter).

So, Firebrand ended up leading a team composed of heroes from history including Don Caballero (a man from Spain who welded his blade, El Captain), the Roving Ranger (Jeff Graham, a Texas Ranger), the Trigger Twins (Walt and Wayne, two men who pretended to be one sheriff - this batch all premiered in All-Star Western #58 of April-May, 1951); the Silent Knight (Brian Kent, apprentice knight who fought villainy in secret), the Golden Gladiator (Marcus, a former Roman shepherd and slave who became a warrior after winning a bout and getting a golden helmet) and the Viking Prince (Jon, a Scandinavian hero of the 10th Century, these three all premiering in Brave and the Bold #1 of August-September, 1955); the Black Pirate (Jon Valor of 16th Century Europe, who premiered in Action Comics #23 of April 1940, and his son, Justin Valor), Miss Liberty (Bess Lynn who nursed soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and first appeared in Tomahawk #81 of July-August, 1962), and Valda (the iron maiden of Frankland in the 8th Century, who premiered in Arak Son Of Thunder #3 in November, 1981).


This group approached Cape Canaveral in Florida in 1985, to find it besieged by American Indians of old...including Super-Chief (Flying Stag, also known as Saganowhana, leader of the Wolf Clan who gets super powers from a meteor in All-Star Western #117 of February-March 1961 and used them for the next two issues as well, to be later pulled out for massive team-ups, more on which in later columns....).   For now, to the next issue and more guests!

Crisis At Canaveral

All that set up for All-Star Squadron #55 (March, 1986) by Roy Thomas, Danette Thomas, Arvell Jones, Vince Colletta and Tim Burgard (with cover by Arvell Jones and Tony DeZuniga)!

Firebrand and history's heroes battle the displaces native Americans (including a few more comic related ones, including Strong Bow of the Misty Mountains from an America before Columbus had landed who had premiered in All-Star Western #58 of April-May, 1951 - the issue that took over the numbering from the Golden Age JSA home of All-Star Comics) and Arak Red-Hand (shaman of the Quontauka tribe of the 8th Century who premiered in Warlord #48 in August, 1981, and had 50 issues of his own written by Roy Thomas).

All these time tossed characters (including Cyclotron, who was Terri Rothstein's now deceased father) had been gathered to fight the Ultra-Humanite (a foe of the Golden Age Superman... ....now in the body of a giant mutated white ape).

The heroes were eventually successful stopping the Ultra-Humanite, left wondering how the greater Crisis would go (all the while the Golden Age Sandman had his adventure on an alternate Uranus).

A Long Night's Journey Into Day

A much simpler adventure happened in Fury Of Firestorm #42 (December, 1985) by Gerry Conway, Rafael Kayanan, Ian Akin and Brian Garvey (with a cover by Rafael Kayanan and Dick Giordano, featuring the stars of the issue, Firehawk/Lorraine Reilly and Wonder Girl/Donna Troy, as Firestorm was busy during the Crisis).

A little later in the Crisis On Infinite Earths (if time has any meaning), New York found itself split into multiple time zones, in which were lost Terry Long (Wonder Girl's husband) and former Senator Walter Reilly (Firehawk's dad).

Lorraine Reilly was a young woman who was helping her father, when she was taken by the 2000 Committee, and subjected to tests that turned her into an approximation of Firestorm (without an attached other person) in Fury of Firestorm #17 (October, 1983).


Still new to the hero game, and giving herself a new costume in Crisis On Infinite Earths #9 (December, 1985), she and Wonder Girl went off to check on their relatives in Manhattan, to find it a time tossed city.

Wonder Girl got injured fighting an octopus and being hit by a cannonball (it really wasn't Donna's day), so Lorraine had taken her to the locals to get aid, finding themselves in the Revolutionary War, and getting help from Tomahawk (frontiersman who worked with General Washington...

....Tom Hawk had his adventures from Star-Spangled Comics #69 of June, 1947 to Star-Spangled Comics #130 of July, 1952, and some issues of World's Finest Comics, as well as 130 issues of Tomahawk from 1950 to 1970, before the title became his sons for 10 issues, but he was there as his older self).

The ladies helped Tomahawk and his assistant, Dan Hunter, fight the British forces, but had no luck finding the men they were looking for.

These three 1980s tales (and more) were reprinted in the Crisis On Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Volume 1 of 2018, and serve as a nice introduction of past heroes (some of whom had been seen before in JLA/JSA crossovers as well, tales which had occurred in the past, but will be covered in the future!).

Crisis Recruits

The Crisis On Infinite Earths started in Crisis On Infinite Earths #1 (April, 1985 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez), with the Monitor transforming his assistant, Lyla, into the Harbinger, and sending her off to recruit various heroes (and villains)  to help save the Multiverse.

While that first issue showed some of the recruitment meetings, others were handled in the individual titles of characters.

Here is where Harbinger reached out past the Crisis title.....

Firebrand

In "Crisis Point" for All-Star Squadron #50 (October, 1985) by Roy Thomas, Mike Clark, Vince Colletta, Arvell Jones and Tony DeZuniga (with cover by Jerry Ordway), Harbinger echoed her retrieval of the second Firebrand (Danette Reilly) from a War Bonds rally on Earth-2, April 1, 1942....

...but so much more happened as well.

The current JSA was "Shanghaied Into Space" in an adventure based on their appearance in All-Star Comics #13 (October-November, 1942 - but, instead of going to the eight other planets of their own solar system, they were sent through hyper-space to other dimensional versions of Sol's planets, that were inhabited).

The rest of the Quality heroes (including Plastic Man and Phantom Lady) followed Uncle Sam to Earth-X (an unfortunate world where, at the time, the Nazis were winning World War II).

Commander Steel, behind enemy lines, defeated his enemy, but was thrown into another Earth (Earth-1) that had no super heroes during World War II, and there he remained (having a grandson, who would be Steel in the JLA).

Johnny Chambers and Libby Lawrence (Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle) got married, and headed to their honeymoon, except for the red skies, which had Green Lantern (Alan Scott) come for their help, and then ended them up on Earth-S for a time.

The All-Star Squadron as a whole was a part of the Crisis from All-Star Squadron #50 to #60, and these issues were reprinted in the Crisis On Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Volume 1 of 2018.

Obsidian

In "Helix Goes To Hollywood" from Infinity, Inc. #18 (September, 1985) by Roy and Danette Thomas, Todd McFarlane and Pablo Marcos, the members of Infinity, Inc. were facing their foes, the super villain team Helix, when Harbinger arrived to take Obsidian (Todd Rice) away.

The rest of the team soldiered on, getting involved in the Crisis up to Infinity, Inc. #25, as well as their first annual and being part of the last JLA/JSA team up in Justice League of America #244 (with these issues all being reprinted in the Crisis On Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Volume 2 of 2019.

Firestorm

Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein were trying to settle into their new life at college in Pittsburgh in "Storm Warning" from Fury Of Firestorm #41 (November, 1985) by Gerry Conway, Rafael Kayanan and Ian Akin (cover by Rafael Kayanan and Dick Giordano).

Harbinger, bring along Psycho-Pirate, came to retrieve Firestorm (and Psycho-Pirate's emotion manipulation powers caused a little bit of a problem first, as he induced fright in Martin Stein, the "thinking" half of Firestorm).

This issue and the next of Fury of Firestorm were this titles Crisis crossovers, and were reprinted in the Crisis On Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Volume 1 of 2018.

Cyborg

Cyborg (Victor Stone) was Harbinger's recruit from New Teen Titans #13 (October, 1985) by Marv Wolfman, Eduardo Barreto and Romeo Tanghal, in "Crisis".

This issue showed that some time had passed between Harbinger taking Cyborg to the Monitor's satellite and the effects of Crisis hitting Earth...

...as shown when the Titans, Outsiders and Superman dealt with some Crisis problems (mirroring issue #3 of the main Crisis series), as well as the Titans involvement in Crisis #4-#9, and Wonder Girl getting help from Firehawk in Fury of Firestorm #42, while Nightwing, Starfire and Jericho go back to Starfire's homeworld of Tamaran (which unfolds over the next few issues of New Teen Titans, also involving the Omega Men).

New Teen Titans #13 and #14 are reprinted in the Crisis On Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Volume 2 of 2019.

Green Lantern

The last individual recruited was Green Lantern in Green Lantern #194 (November, 1985) by Steve Englehart, Joe Staton and Bruce D. Patterson in "5".  Green Lanterns Katma Tui and John Stewart were coming back from a space mission, when they see the red skies on Earth, and check in with Green Arrow and Black Canary in Star City to find out what is going on.

That is when Harbinger shows up to recruit John, but first a battle happens between Green Arrow, Black Canary and Katma against Harbinger.

Explaining her need, she takes John along (as soon as he "fixes" his costume).  Meanwhile, former Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner are taking steps to get their hands on a Power Ring, with the Guardians of the Universe providing an unexpected answer.

John Stewart goes through the same scenes he did in Crisis #1 and #2, fighting Shadow Demons and learning about the threat the worlds face.  This story, and the rest of the Green Lantern Crisis issues are reprinted in the Crisis On Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Volume 1 of 2018.

The other original recruits of the Monitor were King Solovar of Gorilla City, Dawnstar of the 30th Century Legion of Super-Heroes, Blue Beetle of Hub City, Psycho-Pirate (JSA foe), Arion (lord of ancient Atlantis), Psimon (of the Fearsome Five), Geo-Force (of the Outsiders), the Golden Age Superman, Green Lantern foe Dr. Polaris, and Firestorm foe Killer Frost (the second version of his original foe).

This group faced a breach of Monitor's satellite by the Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons, and then were dispatched through time and space to protect the Monitor's towering tuning forks in an attempt to stave off the Crisis.....

Watching The Monitor: Justice League of America

The Monitor and Lyla weren't just watching Green Lantern and the Titans.

His interests lie beyond...and that started to show has he watched rest of the Justice League of America as well.

Here are a few observations on those encounters.

Battleground

Justice League of America #232 (November, 1984) by Kurt Busiek and Alan Kupperberg, under a cover by Chuck Patton and Dick Giordano.  The Monitor is watching during the last of the JLA/JSA team-ups (with special guest, Supergirl), including being watched by the Commander, before the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Sadly, this story has yet to be reprinted.

The End Of His Rope

Fury Of Firestorm #28 (October, 1984) by Gerry Conway, Joey Cavalieri, Rafael Kayanan, Pablo Marcos and Rodin Rodriguez, has the Monitor and Lyla providing their services to Firestorm foes, the 2000 Committee, in capturing Firehawk, connecting them with the assassin, Slipknot (this being his first appearance).

This story has, sadly, not been reprinted as of yet.

The Revenge Of The Rogues

Flash #338 (October, 1984) by Cary Bates, Carmine Infantino and Frank McLaughlin, see Flash's foes, the Rogues (including Captain Cold, Mirror Master and Trickster), tired of being beaten by the Flash.  So, they get hi-tech armor from the Monitor (though he and Lyla don't appear physically in this issue) and provide to Dufus P. Ratchet (a victim of a health problem that saw his body grow, while his intelligence shrank) with the means to take on the Flash as Big Sir.

Sadly, this story has yet to be reprinted.

Warday

Flash #339 (November, 1984) by Cary Bates, Carmine Infantino and Frank McLaughlin, see the work Monitor put in behind the scenes pay off, as Big Sir attacks the Flash over confusion and a dead mouse.  Lyla questions the Monitor's choice, but he defends himself.

This story has, sadly, not been reprinted as of yet.

Claws

Justice League of America #234 (January, 1985) by Gerry Conway, Chuck Patton and Bill Anderson sees the Monitor and Lyla checking out the new Justice League of America, as Steel and Vibe follow Vixen through Detroit.  The Monitor checks on the formation of the Cadre of the Overmaster.

This story has been reprinted in the Justice League of America: The Detroit Era Omnibus.

Night Of Many Wonders

Wonder Woman #323 (February, 1985) by Dan Mishkin and Don Heck sees the Monitor and Lyla arrange a gathering of Wonder Woman foes (Dr. Psycho, Cheetah, Silver Swan and Angle Man) to fight "Wonder Etta" Candy as Wonder Woman's life gets more complicated before the Crisis.

Sadly, this tale has yet to be reprinted.

The Monitor watched more than these Justice Leaguers (including Green Lantern, previously covered), as will be shown, as future installments show his involvement with Superman, Batman (and the Outsiders), Blue Devil, Swamp Thing, Infinity Inc. and more!