u/Particular_Gap_8141

Let’s not pretend these two aren’t Super Saiyans with magic occult vibes.  

Is Etrigan Broly? Temperamentally I can see Vegeta too, though including Jason Blood probably makes him more Majin Buu as far as duality goes? Tbh, I think Klarion only works as Goku though equating his powers to Super Saiyans, personality-wise maybe he is more Kid Buu?

This Demon issue predates this movie scene by two years, but the Super Saiyan concept was in the manga the same time that The Demon was releasing. Goku first transformed into Super Saiyan that same year (1991). Was Alan Grant a DBZ manga fan?!

I also think theres something to be said about Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti, they even have the uncle/nephew-who-aren't-really-uncle/nephew thing! Why is it so funny to imagine Klarion saying: “That’s the guy, Teekl. My Uncle Jason. The guy I'm goin to Hell for.” 

Ok, the dynamic is admittedly a stretch, Jason, even with his flaws considered, isn’t a Tony, lol. But I feel like Christopher and Klarion definitely at least have that same, didn’t know his father, fixation on a dangerous paternal figure that’s ultimately pretty tragic. 

Thoughts on Demon Ball Z, lol? Or, any other rivals or complicated pairs that remind you of the Etrigan/Klarion dynamic? 

——

[Image from Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993) ]

[ Art by Val Semeiks, Bob Smith and Robbie Busch | Letters by Todd Klein from The Demon #14 (1991) by Alan Grant ]

This scene is actually so funny to me. 

Enchantress is playing it off as Klarion just being a child who doesn’t get it, very “the adults are talking now” vibes. I mean, she is a mentor figure for him here, so that dynamic works, but if I imagine this scenario it really would be like, “ok, wtf am i looking at?!” 

IRL, this would literally probably just look like a skelly and ghost were having a staring contest or glitching out? 

Klarion is being very rational here lol.

Do you think that for Klarion moments like these are a comfortable script for him to lean into? I think about his backstory as a character from a strict society, a younger brother whose mother and sister took care of things that were only for witch women to have knowledge of and bother with… do you think he ever gets tired of this role or only if it feels like it's a role he is being forced into?

——

[ Art by Scot Eaton, Robert Robinson, Wayne Faucher and Guy Major | Letters by Pat Brosseau from Suicide Squad: Black Files #6 (2018) “Rota Fortuna” by Jai Nitz]

In the 1996 DC vs Marvel there's this panel showing these two fighting, though we don't see anymore than this. How do you think this fight actually resolves? I know some will say "Penance Stare." BUT! Etrigan is a sadomasochist, so would the Penance Stare do anything to him? Or would it actually invigorate him?

Also, let's talk about Hellfire and its differences in Marvel's universe compared to DC's. Marvel's Hellfire can spiritually burn the soul, and DC's Hellfire is more about physical destruction. Would these characters actually be able to burn each other?

Would these two actually be more likely to be pals since they mirror each other? What do you think is their dynamic?

Also, are there any Marvel characters that you think are more interesting for interaction with Etrigan?

——

Image 1: [ Art by Claudio Castellini, Paul Neary and Gregory Wright | Letters by Bill Oakley from DC Vs Marvel #1 (1996) by Ron Marz & Peter David ]

Images 2 &3 [ Art by John McCrea and David Lloyd | Letters by Todd Klein from The Demon #40 (1993) by Garth Ennis ]

Are you thinking of picking this book up next week? (Releases on the 19th)

From the solicit: PLAY BALL! Superman, Batman, and their fellow Justice Leaguers are forced to compete in Hell for the souls of all humanity — in the wildest baseball game of all time! Billions of lives depend on an impossible victory against a team of the vilest, most gruesome demons in the entire underworld!

Sounds fun, personally I'm in!

I wonder if Etrigan will be the only demon of note or if there will be any other known demon characters? Purely a prediction but I could easily see:

• Etrigan as catcher, since the cover implies this
• Belial as pitcher
• Ruskoff and Suge being first and second
• Baytor as third (he is eating the ball though, i just know it)
• Beezlebub as shortstop
• and then, in the field, maybe characters like Red Devil and Lady Blaze
• Neron, Blue Devil and Borax as hitters?

What infernal baseball team would you assemble for Etrigan?

——

[ Art by Bruno Frenda and Luis Querrero (Cover art by Dan Mora) |  Letters by Steve Wands from Batman/Superman: World's Finest #54 (2026) by Mark Waid ]

From top Left to Right:

⭐️ Cheetah’s Heist Crew [Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League #2–6 (2025)]

Team members:

• Klarion
• Teekl
• Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah
• Jade Nguyen/Cheshire Cat 
• Lian Harper
• Alya Raatko/ Featherweight
• Becky Sharpe/Hazard

⭐️ Night Force [Raven: Daughter of Darkness #8–12 (2018)]

Team members*: 

• Klarion
• Teekl
• Raven
• Zachary Zatara
• Traci-13
• Black Alice

*Technically also includes Skye, and Robert Diaz but for their individual reasons they don't remain on team.

⭐️ Seven Soldiers with or without Sideways [ Seven Soldiers: Klarion (2005); Seven Soldiers of Victory #1 (2005); Sideways  #7, 8 & Annual (2018)]

Team members:

• Klarion
• Teekl
• Zatanna Zatara
• Frankenstein
• Ystin/ Shining Knight
• Bombshell
• Mister Miracle
• Manhattan Guardian
• Sideways

From bottom Left to Right:

⭐️ Suicide Squad Black [Suicide Squad Black Files “Rota Fortuna” (2018)]

Team members*:

• Klarion
• June Moone/ Enchantress
• Gentleman Ghost
• Azucar
• Juniper
• El Diablo

*I know there's a number of other characters, including Dr. Thaumatuage, who get added that he is also working with, but I’m just listing the most consistent throughout the book.

⭐️ Klarion’s Gang [The Demon #3–15, 17 (1990)]

Team members: 

• Klarion
• Teekl
• Pillow Harry Matthews
• Tenzyn Wyatt/Tulpa
• C’th the Undying

⭐️ Injustice League Dark [Justice League Dark #14–19 (2019)]

• Klarion 
• Teekl
• Circe
• Papa Midnite
• Solomon Grundy
• Floronic Man
• Eclipso

Which of these groups did you like the most, and did you dislike or want to change anything about any of them?

Do you think Klarion's teams always share any specific qualities? Is there a common theme to the teammates?

——

1. [ Art by Nicola Scott and Annette Kwok | Letters by Troy Peteri from Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #5 (2026) by Greg Rucka ]
2. [ Art by Pop Mhan and Lovern Kindzierski from Raven: Daughter of Darkness #11 (2018) by Marv Wolfman ]
3. [ Art by Max Reynor and Trevor Scott and Daniel Brown | Letters by Travis Lanham from Sideways #8 (2018) by Dan Didio ]
4. [ Art by Scot Eaton, Wayne Faucher and Guy Major | Letters by Pat Brosseau from Suicide Squad: Black Files #2 (2018) “Rota Fortuna” by Jai Nitz ]
5. [ Art by Val Semeiks, Denis Rodier and Robbie Busch | Letters by Todd Klein from The Demon #11 (1991) by Alan Grant ]
6. [ Art by Alvaro Martinez Bueno, Raul Fernandez and Brad Anderson | Letters by Rob Leigh from Justice League Dark #14 (2019) by James Tynion IV ]

This version of the Demon just wants to hang out and foosh! with friends (Hotspot/Joto, Kid/Red Devil, Beast Boy and Terra) while slamming glizzies in the Earth's core. He even sometimes makes the classic Your/You're and possessive/plural typo ("You're head's on fire.") Let's not judge him for this, he's doin' his best! Adorable and relatable king.

——

[ Art by Art Baltazar | Letters by Art Baltazar from Tiny Titans #36 (2011) by Art Baltazar & Franco ]

Did you think that Option 4 (using the bots to get more powerful) was the most in character choice for him?

Do you feel any of the other three options fit his personality better, or do you think they could have led to a much more interesting storyline? Did you hate any of the choices?

What are your thoughts on this page?

——

[ Art by Fabrizio Fiorentino, Szymon Kudranski and Guy Major | Letters by Pat Brosseau from Klarion #4 (2014) by Ann Nocenti ]

This story is a flashback to 1944 and examines the intersection of science and magic, showing how the difference between them is sometimes just semiotics and perspective.

I love this splash page with the visual mirroring of Ted's smoking lab equipment and Jason's smoking candles. I also love the consistent motif of billowing smoke in the panels throughout the issue, whether from candle, cigarette or street vents, which haunt and invoke Etrigan's foreshadowed "mighty mushroom cloud".

Right at the beginning of the story, we see Jason stumbling in an alleyway, coming to in the aftermath of a transformation. It heavily evokes Jekyll and Hyde: a man with a similar sort of curse but who used science and a lab to unleash his inner monster.

Ted Knight starts as a rigid skeptic whose perspective starts to crack when his path collides with Jason's, as both are working independently to stop a Nazi ritual. When he finally meets Etrigan, he gets a profound reality check. He isn't just shocked by not being able to explain what Etrigan even is. He is deeply shaken because the Demon possesses enough sentience to analyze the situation, compare their power, suspect Starman of working with the Nazis, and state it all in rhyming verse.

The story draws a brilliant parallel between Jason's curse and Ted's future guilt over the Manhattan Project. Etrigan delivers a chilling premonition and nuclear truth: Ted will use the very science he lives by to help unleash an atomic "demon," creating a version of Hell on Earth and this will cost him his sanity.

As the book notes, discovering that the universe didn't live by the rules of science alone made Ted's world feel fragile, prompting his "sad descent from the heavens." Ultimately, both forces, magic or science, can carry a devastating cost.

——

[ Art by Matt Smith, Wade von Grawbadger, and Greg Wright | Letters by Bill Oakley from Starman #42 (1998) by James Robinson ]

Let’s look at Klarion’s other origin story, the one Alan Grant has Klarion recount, with spiced up half-truths, to Harry Matthews in The Demon #10 (1991).

I like that when we look at Klarion holistically, regardless of “the math” of the canon, this story can still work along with Grant Morrison’s definitive origin for him in Seven Soldiers: Klarion (2005) when we read it as Klarion just spicing things up for drama’s sake. Even a reader who hasn’t read his 2005 mini will strongly suspect he isn’t being fully truthful here. 

We can easily read this as him as hyperbolizing what he believes makes for a more exciting story, likely trying to make himself feel more intimidating and in control than he actually is, and Teekl as just a companion rather than a vulnerability for him. I think this makes the scene funnier too, that Klarion feels the need to flex on a guy who is now stuck in pillow form. 

Here are the specific contradictions, character insights, and mysteries that stick out:

• The Rejection of an Outsider: Looking closely at Kirby's original The Demon #7, we know he isn't entirely fabricating a sob story here though. Jason Blood genuinely offers him shelter and states wanting to help him with the submissionairies, who do in fact hunt Klarion down, before Etrigan's brutal demon nature shatters that dynamic. Klarion is a creature of chaos who embraces his weirdness, his magic, and his outsider status. “I like it here, it’s very… liberal.” He sees Jason and Etrigan, a man tied to a literal demon, and likely thinks, "Finally, someone like me. Someone who understands the dark, chaotic margins of the world." He wants a deeply personal, validating connection. But Jason could not form a healthy connection with an outsider like Klarion because Jason had not yet made peace with the monster inside his own skin. For Jason to truly accept Klarion he must accept himself, and the demon, first. This is what Klarion feels deep resentment about, I think.
• The Teekl Contradiction: In this version, Klarion still comes from a different dimension with stringent, punitive witch-people who punish him for going against their laws. For this he is sentenced to be entombed. He states that this is how he became acquainted with Teekl, a ancient entity who has been trapped as well and living off of the bodies of witches abandoned and imprisoned. Interestingly, he also implies Teekl was originally a different witches familiar, a witch that Teekl presumably ate!
• The Future State Parallel: I find this interesting because in Future State: Suicide Squad #1 (2021), we learn that Teekl consumes Klarion. They become one of the Lord of Chaos retinue of The Unkindness (the form Raven becomes when her Soul-Self consumes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Shazam’s power, and consequently her own humanity). It is an interesting parallel with this witch-eater version of Teekl stuck in prison.
• The Mechanics of the Horigal: I also like how this version of Klarion’s origin also shows Klarion calling on the power of the Horigal. Thinking about this and the way the Horigal is portrayed in Kirby’s The Demon #7 (1973) as a mysterious shadow entity that Klarion is capable of blocking using utensilery. I feel like it suggests something interesting about the mechanics of the Horigal.  It’s something a witch-person and their familiar form with, so could it have another true form to it when it isn’t fused with the witch and their familiar? Is it a demon? Is it an inter-dimensional creature, where the ritual helps it cross through a portal?  Is that the meaning of the map that Klarion notes seeing as he summons the Horigal entity in the Seven Soldiers mini? Is the map something the witch uses to “find” the Horigal or for the Horigal to find the witch? There’s still a mystery there, along with the compelling spin on possession mixed with werecat transformation.

What do you make of this origin story, witch-eater Teekl, the psychological fallout with Jason Blood, or the true nature and mystery of the Horigal?

——

Images 1— 4: [ Art by Val Semeiks, Denis Rodier and Robbie Busch | Letters by Todd Klein from The Demon #10 (1991) by Alan Grant ]

Images 5: [ Art by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer | Letters by Mike Royer from The Demon #7 (1973) by Jack Kirby ]

Image 6: [ Art by Frazer Irving | Letters by Pat Brosseau from Seven Soldiers: Klarion #4 (2005) by Grant Morrison ] 

Image 7: [ Art by Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert and Jeromy Cox  | Letters by Wes Abbott from Future State: Suicide Squad (2021) #1 “Future State: Black Adam” by Jeremy Adams ]

In Secret Origins #10 (1986) Alan Moore suggests an origin for Etrigan as one of the original fallen angels and followers of Lucifer Morningstar’s rebellion (along with Phantom Stranger who is more of an indecisive angel). This version is neat because it makes him an active player in the drama of the angelic schism and creation of Hell.

Later, in The Demon #19 (1992), Alan Grant has Etrigan's half-brother, Lord Scapegoat, reveal that Etrigan was actually born in Hell, "on the 13th day of the 13th month", a second generation demon, to Belial and the demoness Ran Va Daath. In this version, Etrigan is a little trickster scamp, who loves chaos and is out for revenge on his father for keeping him from his mother (which is interesting! I like that theres more motivation for their being at odds that goes beyond just their nature as demons, plus, personally, I sympathize with Etrigan here: He’s demonic, but he needs his mama! 🥲). He is such a handful that he even kicks Lucifer and parade’s around in the Crown of Horns. This version adds more character development for Etrigan, with the domestic dysfunction, and, imo, makes his story a bit less Abrahamic and more of a fun monster story.

Which version do you prefer? 

——

[Art by Joe Orlando | Letters by Bob Lappan from Secret Origins #10, “Footsteps” (1986) by Alan Moore ]

[Art by Val Semeiks, Randy Elliot and Robbie Busch | Letters by Todd Klein from The Demon #19 (1992) by Alan Grant ]

I had this thought and made a somewhat longer post on r/etrigan, looking at the idea of The Demon and its cast being read as a kind of metaphor for creative labor. Here is just a section of that which is only in regards to Klarion:

Klarion the Witch Boy and Teekl are like fandom and audience as consumer and participant: 

We first meet them trying to ingratiate themselves with Jason, seeking protection from the Submissionaries and possibly also genuine connection (Though going about it in a clumsy way. He is, after all, from a different dimension, an isolated cult, whose ways are not those of Jason’s/Etrigan’s Earth) Klarion gets rejected by an annoyed Etrigan and cast out, though later he returns, feeling betrayed and invalidated by Jason in particular. 

His solution to his disappointment? He will make his own Jason and Etrigan, out of a summoned spirit, a small horde of corpses and dark magic, who will have no choice but to submit to his expectations! 

While I never made the connection the first time I read this, it strikes me how well one could read the interaction between Klarion and his doppelgänger Blood as the weaponization of the concept of “Death of the Author.” It doesn’t matter to Klarion, in that moment, that he is stressing Jason out. All he sees is his own feelings about what he thinks the story should be, despite everything Jason has to sacrifice. 

While Klarion is a character with nuance in his overall history, within the metaphorical lens I’m considering his actions could be read as the kind of entitlement fandoms can fall into when things get a bit too emotionally invested. His behavior here is manifesting as a toxic fanboy. Klarion is ultimately taking things way too far and harassing and punishing the author (Jason) for not doing things as he envisions, becoming the villain to someone he seemed to want to both champion and be protected by. 

Personally, I kind of read Klarion, noted lover of chaos, as Etrigan’s jilted #1 fan. I mean, later comics even outright state Etrigan to love chaos, and acknowledges Klarion’s similar chaotic power. Makes sense to me that Klarion likely identified with Jason and Etrigan, and truly wanted their acceptance, but was immaturely projecting and enforcing something parasocial.

Grant Morrison seemed to maybe lean into this idea too when Klarion meets Ebenezzer Badde (in issue #2 of Seven Soldiers: Klarion) and states that if there is no witch-god then he can make his own gods, "I can write! 'The Adventures of Ebeneezer Badde in the Worlds Above'..."

I want to be clear I don’t wish to vilify fan-fiction or fans, nor do I think that was ever Kirby’s intention. I think, in a purely literary thesis way, these characters can be stand-ins for some of the trials and tribulations of comic creators as they take on the perilous act of artistic creation/storytelling and, like Jason, release “the demon.” These demons (the art) ultimately take on lives of their own, once out in the world, becoming subject to exploitation and many different interpretations that may go against the author’s intent, especially in such a unique medium as monthly comics. The creators inevitably sacrifice control over fan and corporate reception.

What do you think of this, am I being fair here or is this a total stretch of a take on Klarion’s depiction within The Demon?

——

[ Art by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer |  Letters by Mike Royer from The Demon issues #15 (1972) by Jack Kirby ]

[ Art by Frazer Irving |  Letters by Pat Brousseau from Seven Soldiers: Klarion #2 (2005) by Grant Morrison ]

Something that I’ve been thinking about lately, regarding this work, and wanted to share: let's consider The Demon as metaphor for creative labor. 

While this obviously wasn’t Kirby’s explicit, literal, intention for the book, I think if we take into account the way in which Kirby himself often spoke about his own struggles with feeling exploited by the comics industry, it starts to feel like maybe those feelings subconsciously channelled themselves within this creation.

For example this quote from Kirby from an interview with Gary Groth for The Comics Journal #134 (1990): 

>“Comics has a caste system— an editor has to act in a certain way, an artist has to be humble, right? An artist has to be humble, an editor must be officious, and a publisher must be somewhere out in the galaxy enjoying godhood [...] nobody thought of contracts, nobody thought of insisting on better deals.”  

As has been pointed out before, Kirby also wasn’t terribly interested in the horror genre though it was popping off at the time. With this popularity in mind, Kirby was asked to create a horror story despite his real passion being in writing his Fourth world/New Gods series. This feeling of having to mentally grapple with an artistic beast that he had become tasked with, while his heart was in a different project, in my opinion bears some semblance to Jason Blood’s burden: tasked against his will, by an indifferent mage, with being the prison and portal for a dangerous demon. 

Let’s consider Merlin, “out in the galaxy enjoying godhood”:

While later writers of the Demon, such as Matt Wagner and Alan Grant, would call out and further explore the indifferent cruelty of Merlin in his control over Etrigan and Jason’s life, Kirby treats Merlin more like an untouchable narrative force. Witness to the action from afar, “Merlin watches. Merlin Knows.” (from issue #2) interjecting to work the machinery of the story. Merlin doesn’t obviously act out of malice but commands an obedient Jason and Etrigan as tools for when the circumstances and story need it, regardless of their active consent. The reader isn’t really asked to be bothered with Merlin’s direct role in Jason’s suffering that we are shown, rather it’s treated as unquestionably good and necessary. Jason carries all the personal risk, but Etrigan is the valuable asset for Merlin alone to control.

So many of the characters in this story (excepting Harry, Randhir and Glenda) act out of a need for control, in some way, over our protagonists.

Morgaine Le Fey, the corporate ownership stand-in:  

She is a character explicitly stated to be out for self interest, wanting to never fade in beauty, and to always maintain the same status quo of power. She marks the forehead of Jason/Etrigan to control them, branding them with “M” as her personal IP. Her goal is to obtain the Philosophers Stone, a raw object of intense creative power that even a non-magic practitioner, such as Glenda, is able to wield with tangible results. Le Fey wants ownership over that creative spark. 

Camelot, which burns from her ambition, here could represent an idealistic kingdom of freely made creative dreams, before they become “conquered” and commodified. Perhaps Arthur represents the pioneers with noble cause but who don’t properly (legally) fortify and protect these artistic visions.

Klarion the Witch Boy and Teekl are like fandom and audience as consumer and participant: 

We first meet them trying to ingratiate themselves with Jason, seeking protection from the Submissionaries and possibly also genuine connection (Though going about it in a clumsy way. He is, after all, from a different dimension, an isolated cult, whose ways are not those of Jason’s/Etrigan’s Earth) Klarion gets rejected by an annoyed Etrigan and cast out, though later he returns, feeling betrayed and invalidated by Jason in particular. 

His solution to his disappointment? He will make his own Jason and Etrigan, out of a summoned spirit, a small horde of corpses and dark magic, who will have no choice but to submit to his expectations! 

While I never made the connection the first time I read this, it strikes me how well one could read the interaction between Klarion and his doppelgänger Blood as the weaponization of the concept of “Death of the Author.” It doesn’t matter to Klarion, in that moment, that he is stressing Jason out. All he sees is his own feelings about what he thinks the story should be, despite everything Jason has to sacrifice.

While Klarion is a character with nuance in his overall history, within the metaphorical lens I’m considering his actions could be read as the kind of entitlement fandoms can fall into when things get a bit too emotionally invested. His behavior here is manifesting as a toxic fanboy. Klarion is ultimately taking things way too far and harassing and punishing the author (Jason) for not doing things as he envisions, becoming the villain to someone he seemed to want to both champion and be protected by.

Personally, I kind of read Klarion, noted lover of chaos, as Etrigan’s jilted #1 fan. I mean, later comics even outright state Etrigan to love chaos, and acknowledges Klarion’s similar chaotic power. Makes sense to me that Klarion likely identified with Jason and Etrigan, and truly wanted their acceptance, but was immaturely projecting and enforcing something parasocial.

Grant Morrison seemed to maybe lean into this idea too when Klarion meets Ebenezzer Badde (in issue #2 of Seven Soldiers: Klarion) and states that if there is no witch-god then he can make his own gods, "I can write! 'The Adventures of Ebeneezer Badde in the Worlds Above'..."

I want to be clear I don’t wish to vilify fan-fiction or fans, nor do I think that was ever Kirby’s intention. I think, in a purely literary thesis way, these characters can be stand-ins for some of the trials and tribulations of comic creators as they take on the perilous act of artistic creation/storytelling and, like Jason, release “the demon.” These demons (the art) ultimately take on lives of their own, once out in the world, becoming subject to exploitation and many different interpretations that may go against the author’s intent, especially in such a unique medium as monthly comics. The creators inevitably sacrifice control over fan and corporate reception.

It’s not lost on me that I myself, in writing this, am a fan engaging in my own “death of the author” moment by suggesting this reading of Jason and Etrigan’s story. I love that this work and these characters are so rich that we can find different ways of analyzing it and enjoying it beyond its pure monster storytelling. I also think this highlights what an incredible talent Jack Kirby was, that even a work that, comparatively, was maybe a red-headed stepchild, still has so much layer and strengths going for it.

Anyway, thoughts on this? Am I stretching things too much here or is it fair to read The Demon as a sort of take on artistic labor and creation?

——

[ Art by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer |  Letters by Mike Royer from The Demon issues #4, 15 & 16 (1972) by Jack Kirby ]

[ Art by Frazer Irving |  Letters by Pat Brousseau from Seven Soldiers: Klarion #2 (2005) by Grant Morrison ]

Ok, I love this! I love seeing Jason putting that martial arts practice with Randhir to good use!

Also, thoughts on this new look? I'm so used to Jason's sophisticated vibe, this unshaven-chic look is a departure and I'm intrigued! The wooden domino mask is great, he is giving elder mystic (Merlin vibes?) I'm here for it!

[ Art by James Harren from The Demon (2026)]

I really liked this story for Etrigan, in Arkham Asylum: Living Hell (2003). We see Jason in full demonologist action, using compulsion magic and enjoying it. Plus we learn of some history for Etrigan with his former involvement with the main demonic villains, the Skarva. 

I especially liked how this story employs Etrigan’s rhyming in a satisfying way. The Skarva are using their newly restored tongues to try and appeal to a higher ranked demon. However this demon lord completely dismisses them because they’re just low-ranking chuds for their lack of any rhyming ability, so they have no meaningful command over him.

I like how this subverts what the audience possibly expects to happen. Instead of some massive demonic team up we get a kind of hellish bureaucratic turn, showing how with dc's cosmology demons have no loyalty to their kind except to their social ranking.

I like the parallel, too, of Jason using magic to force obedience but meanwhile these demons whose whole existence is basically magic, have this whole system that they are dominated by regardless of their power over humans.

——

[ Art by Ryan Sook, Wade Von Grawbadger and Lee Loughridge | Letters by Mike Heisler from Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #5 & 6 (2003) by Dan Slott ]

Left: [ Art by Val Semeiks, Bob Smith and Robbie Busch | Letters by Todd Klein from The Demon #14 (1991) by Alan Grant ]

Right: [ Art by anonymous ancient Roman/ line drawing of the Alexamenos Graffito, inscription: “Alexamenos worships [his] god” (1st—3rd c. AD) ] 

I really loved this pay off for Klarion, really on his Lord of Chaos behavior here! Thoughts on more deity hi-jinks for our duo?

[ Art by Nicola Scott and Annette Kwok | Letters by Troy Peteri from Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #6 (2026) by Greg Rucka ]