Art by John McCrea Profile written by Scott Beatty

What do you think of this trio? 

The rat is making me think of Mouse Guard with his lil sword! I dunno what the earthy guy is, specifically, is he like an earth elemental? In any case, they’re all charming. I liked the part where they’re helping Jason, drawing the sigils to send the hoard of demons back to Hell. 

Also very cute that Jason has little birds following him and perching on him. I love the contrast of his demonic situation and the “friend to all living things” trope. He is whimsymaxxing and fairytaling at levels we’ve never seen and, personally, I love it. 

It's cool to see Jason outfitting the Watchtower with magical wards, though I think this iteration of the Watchtower gets destroyed later during Infinite Crisis.

Those magic energy tattoos are very cool, and look great. Hawkgirl is me here, haha.

What do you think of the dynamic between Blood and Nightwing? The context of this story is that the Justice League has disappeared and these are the back up team that Batman had prepped for Nightwing in just such a situation. I like that this scene shows a perhaps unexpected parallel in vulnerability between the two characters and their efforts to conceal how hard they work to keep things together and meet expectations.

[Art by Yvel Guichet, Mark Propst and David Baron | Letters by Ken Lopez from JLA #71 (2002) by Joe Kelly]

 

This guide is every media appearance of Klarion & Teekl. I've included a few canon comic tie-ins that supplement the on screen story, and one story that is canon only to the comic version of that story but not canon to the animated version and so is differentiated.

Let me know if you think I need to make any corrections, or missed anything, I’m happy to make edits!

 

——

 

🔥Television Series:

 

The Batman Adventures Annual #2 (1995) by Paul Dini (does not have an appearance for Klarion, but is notably a direct canon prequel to Klarion’s debut on screen appearance:)

The New Batman Adventures (1998) S1 E10 “The Demon Within" [22 mins] [on screen debut, uses Morgaine Le Fey’s branding iron to unbind Jason Blood and control Etrigan]

 

Justice League Beyond 2.0 #11–#15 (2013) by Christos Gage [Not canon to the Batman Beyond animated series, but canon to Earth-12 in the mainline comics]

 

All New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 (2011) by Sholly Fisch [Canon to Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series]

 

Young Justice (2011) S1 E7 “Denial” [25 mins] [Tries to steal Doctor Fates helmet along with Abra Kadabra]

Young Justice (2011) S1 E14 “Revelations” [25 mins] [silent cameo around 10:45minutes in as the bus (see S4 E12) and at he end standing with The Light]

Young Justice (2012) S1 E19 “Misplaced” [25 mins] [Separates children and adults from the same dimension. Silent cameo as bus around 6:50 minutes in (see S4 E12)]

Young Justice (2011) S1 E26 “Auld Acquaintance” [25 mins] [controls some members of the Justice League to fight the Justice League]

Young Justice: Invasion (2012) S2 E19 “Summit” [25 mins] [creates a flaming serpent to fight the YJ team]

Young Justice: Outsiders (2019) S3 E18 “Early Warning” [25 mins] [Project Rutabaga]

Young Justice: Phantoms (2021) S4 E9 “Odnu!” [25 mins] [Lords of Order and Chaos/ Child plot begins]

Young Justice: Phantoms (2021) S4 E10 “Nomed Esir!” [25 mins] [Phantom Stranger recruits Jason Blood/Etrigan to help Klarion fight Child/the Lords of Chaos]

Young Justice: Phantoms (2021) S4 E11 “Teg Ydaer!” [25 mins] [around 22:50 Teekl is killed and Klarion decorporalized]

Young Justice: Phantoms (2021) S4 E12 “Og Htrof Dna Reuqnoc!” [25 mins] [Klarion commandeers/becomes a bus and travels through time]

Young Justice: Phantoms (2021) S4 E13 “Kaerb Ym Traeh!” [26 mins] [Looks for Teekl, the team and Dr Fate help fight Child/the Lords of Chaos]

Young Justice: Phantoms (2021) S4 E22 “Rescue and Search” [23 mins] [The team summons Klarion to the Tower of Fate to get him to access the Phantom Zone, a fight ensues with Klarion showing some (new?) hand to hand combat skill]

 

Justice League Action (2017) S1 E13 “Trick or Threat” [12 mins] [Halloween Hijinks in the House of Mystery]

Justice League Action (2017) S1 E30 “Supernatural Adventures in Babysitting” [12 mins] [Steals a magic book and Constantine tries to get it back]

 

🔥Videogames:

 

DCU Online (2011) [PC/Console] [NPC Boss fight in “Witching Hour” Halloween event, JLD: Pub Crawl, and JLD: Fellowship of the Arcane campainges]

 

Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure (2013) [PC/Console] [Summonable]

 

Young Justice: Legacy (2013) [PC/Console] [NPC Boss] [Is a bridge story between Season 1 & 2 of Young Justice animated series]

 

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year 3 chapters 3–17  (2013) by Tom Taylor [Makes no appearance in the game itself for reasons shown in the comic tie-in]

 

Lego DC Super-villains (2018) [PC/Console] [NPC/Unlockable]

 

We've had some posts about this in the past but finally here is a reading guide in chronological timeline order. I recently made one for Jason Blood/Etrigan so I wanted to do the same for Klarion & Teekl. This guide is just for the mainline comics and doesn’t include Multiverses, Elseworlds or Black Label titles for which I want to do a separate post (both for clarity and just to help limit it being a wall of text.)

If you think I need to make any corrections, or missed anything crucial, I’m happy to make edits so let me know!

——

🔥Core Backstory & Essential Lore Connections:

✨Seven Soldiers: Klarion #1–4 (2005) by Grant Morrison (Not Klarion's debut appearance, but functions as his issue #0 origin story from Limbo Town/“Witch World”)

✨Seven Soldiers of Victory #1 (2005) by Grant Morrison (Necessary epilogue for Klarion before he goes onto his debut appearance in:)

⭐️The Demon #7 (1972) by Jack Kirby (Klarion & Teekl’s original debut!)

⭐️The Demon #14–17 (1973) by Jack Kirby (He really said, “Then I’ll make my own Uncle Jason and Demon…you bore me now you’re a tree” classic lol )

⭐️Wonder Woman v1 #280, #281, #282 (1981)  by Gerry Conway (Klarion making Faustian deals, just classic Trickster goodness. It’s perhaps the earliest seeds of the Lord of Chaos designation as both Baal-Satyr and Etrigan heavily imply he is an ancient infernal immortal or some kind of peer to them/the demons of the Netherworld). 

[ Still in print!: ✨= Can be found in Seven Soldiers by Grant Morrison Omnibus New Edition ; ⭐️= can be found in DC’s Finest: The Demon: Birth of the Demon by Jack Kirby ]

[ For a dedicated reading guide for Etrigan/Jason Blood please see r/etrigan’s highlighted post ]

An addtional recommendation for lore sake... Klarion & Teekl don’t make an appearance in this work but it’s personally my favorite Doctor Fate story and I think is so good at exploring the importance of balance in the cosmic battle between Order and Chaos and how both serve purpose:

Doctor Fate v2 #25– #41 (1991–92) by William Messner-Loebs (Also connects to the War of Gods Event (in issue #32 and #33) along with Alan Grant’s The Demon (in issue #17 with the scene involving Circe and Wonder Woman.)

🔥Alan Grant Era:

The Demon #3–15, #17, (#21 but as a silent cameo/mental illusion) (1990) by Alan Grant ( The writing for Klarion here is fantastic and very fun, some of his best stuff imo! He feels powerful and sinister and with personal purpose for his chaos.) 

The Demon Annual #1 (1992) by Alan Grant (Literally, my favorite because it feels like Klarion’s running on all cylinders here, possessed by Eclipso who is compelled, by his former role as God’s Wrath, to want to give Klarion and Teekl vengeance. I get the impression it’s another early seed to the Lord of Chaos designation, as Eclipso has been classified as one of their agents. This issue is to kick off for the Eclipso: The Darkness Within event but it’s also can be read as a self-contained story.)

War of the Gods #1 (1991) Written by George Perez (Debated including this just because it’s so brief of an appearance but decided to as it’s a nice scene for mischievous characterization Klarion and Teekl. They’re shown looking for what kind of shenanigans they can amuse themselves with in Hell, happening sometime between issues #15 and #17 of Grant’s The Demon. Klarion’s actual role in the wrap up of this event is shown in issue #17 of The Demon.)

Chase #5 (1998) by D. Curtis Johnson

🔥Peter David Era:

Young Justice: Sins of Youth #1 by Peter David (Klarion gets roped into The Countess’s schemes and combining his magic with tech to turn all of the adult heroes and villains into kids and the teens to adults)

Superboy #74 (2000) by Karl Kesel

Sins of Youth: Secret Files & Origins #1 “Klarion and Kitty Cat” (2000) by Jim Alexander

Sins of Youth: Aquaboy and Lagoon Man #1 (2000) by Ben Raab

Sins of Youth: Batboy and Robin #1 (2000) by Chuck Dixon

Sins of Youth: JLA, Jr #1 (2000) by D. Curtis Johnson

Sins of Youth: Kid Flash and Impulse #1 (2000) by Dwayne McDuffie

Sins of Youth: Starwoman and the JSA, Jr #1 (2000) by Geoff Johns

Sins of Youth: Superman, Jr. and Superboy, Sr. #1 (2000) by Karl Kesel

Sins of Youth: Wonder Girls #1 (2000) by Brian K Vaughan

Sins of Youth: Secret and Deadboy #1 (2000) by Todd Dezago

Young Justice: Sins of Youth #2 (2000) by Peter David (The appearance of: Klarion…Bum Bum BUM… the WitchMAN and conclusion to the event)

Young Justice #20, #21 (2000) by Peter David (Epilogue to the Sins of Youth Event)

🔥Post-Seven Soldiers:

Infinite Crisis #6–7 (2006) by Geoff Johns (very small cameo, basically just established that he was there and willing to help)

Countdown #32, #33, #34 (2007) by Paul Dini

Robin #157, #158 (2007)  by Adam Beechen 

Justice League of America #46, #47 (2010) by James Robinson

Batgirl #18 (2011)  by Bryan Q. Miller

Superman/Batman #82–84 (2011) by Cullen Bunn (The Sorcerer King's arc, right before New52, this story depicts a dark future where Klarion and Jason Blood are actually on the same team, with Jason even defending his character to a future Batman)

🔥New52:

Klarion #1–5 (2014) by Ann Nocenti  (New52 reboot Klarion. Polarizing for being a bit confusing, almost no Teekl (!), and making Klarion feel too much like an average street-tier teen rather than a cosmic force of nature from a different dimension. This has a lot of homages to his previous major stories in The Demon, Seven Soldiers: Klarion and Sins of Youth. It also has gorgeous detailed art, and interesting ideas. Klarion pushing back at tech, utilizing it with his primal magic to dismantle it, feels even more poignant today.)

🔥Cooperative (?) Era:

Secret Six #7, #8 (2015) by Gail Simone 

Sideways #7, #8 (2018) by Kenneth Rocafort and Dan Didio

Sideways Annual #1 (2018) Will Conrad, Cliff Richards, Dan Didio and Grant Morrison 

Suicide Squad: Black Files #1—6 (2018) by Mike W. Barr 

Raven: Daughter of Darkness #8–12 (2018) by Marv Wolfman 

Justice League Dark #14–19 (2018) by James Tynion IV (Part of the Witching War Event)

Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League #2–6 (2025) by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott

🔥Lord of Chaos Activities:

The Flash #786 (2022) by Jeremy Adams (makes an appearance to actually state himself to be a Lord of Chaos, or at least working as an agent of one. This is a tie-in issue to the Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths event) 

Outsiders #5, #9 (2024)  by Jason Lansing and Collin Kelly (feels very ancient trickster here)

🔥Fun Short Stories:

DCU Halloween Special “Medusa Non Grata” (2010) by Bryan Q. Miller

Gotham Academy #17 “A Familiar Story” (2016)  by Michael Dialynas

DC’s Doomed and the Damned "Beast Boys to Men” (2020) by Travis Moore

Wonder Woman : Black and Gold #6 "Attack of the 50ft Wonder Woman" (2021) by Christos Gage

Personally, I think I prefer Etrigan being more reptilian or even having a lion looking face (like in Alan Moore’s depiction) but I think this is still an interesting way to visualize him.

This choice is very fitting in this context as monkeys in art often represent satirizing human foolishness and vice. It’s also fitting since Etrigan himself sort of “apes” humanity in his forced bond with Jason Blood.

It also just looks fun! I love when artists draw him peeping over his cloak and he looks kinda smooshed. I think this playfulness in style also matches how Spurrier is writing Etrigan here, tormenting Constantine with zingers, like a cat with a mouse, rather than like a grave unmoved judge. 

How do you feel about this rare form: Apetrigan?

Image 1: [ Art by Aaron Campbell and Jordie Bellaire | Letters by Steve Wands from Hellblazer: Dead in America #7 (2024) by Simon Spurrier]

Image 2: [Art by Lisandro Estherren and Patricio Delpeche | Letters by Steve Wands from Hellblazer: Dead in America #8 (2024) by Simon Spurrier]

I didn't expect Etrigan to make an appearance here but I'm glad he did! I love the idea of him as a poetry professor, I feel like he would handle all the lectures and then have Jason Blood deal with making the syllabus, going to meetings and basically any other part of the job thats boring or annoying (Not sure that Jason exists in this universe though, as he never makes an appearance) I wonder what Professor Etrigan would have felt about Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey film?

The plot here is that his professorial colleague, June Moone/Enchantress, in an effort to throw him a birthday party, unknowingly reveals his whereabouts to bounty hunters. Who's looking for him? His former boss: Trigon. Why? Because poetry turned this demon's life of crime and heists around! Etrigan does what anyone would do in this situation: dons a pink wig and tries to leave town, but is ultimately taken prisoner. Raven makes an appearance here too, though she doesn't interact with Etrigan, just points the heroes in the right direction to help him out.

This story is cute and fun, and I'm glad younger female audiences have a story that can introduce them to Etrigan. I remember in the "The Hell You Say!" letters to the editor section, in Alan Grant's run of The Demon, there was a comment about that, that they were surprised with how many fans who wrote in implied a bigger female audience for The Demon than one might assume. I wonder if that's still true by DC's metrics, but honestly it makes sense: the domestic drama, a handsome tortured man, rhyming and magic, I think that has a lot of appeal.

[Art by Yancey Labat and Monica Kubina | Letters by Janice Chiang from DC Super Hero Girls: Hits and Myths (2016) by Shea Fontana]

This issue has it all: Halloween mystery👏 shapeshifting into Cain, sabertooths and toads👏 arborification👏 demon and ghost fights👏... Spectre showing up seems a bit hilariously extreme for a Halloween prank but honestly, hell yeah we got the God's wrath too! Very metal 🤘

This is actually a canon tie-in to the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008) which unfortunately didn't have any Klarion & Teekl appearances. However, for those interested, there are three literary and gothic themed episodes with the Demon/Jason Blood: "Day of the Dark Knight!" [S1 E5] a classic Arthurian quest with Merlin and a dragon battle; "Trials of the Demon!"[S1 E15] which features Sherlock Holmes and Gentleman Ghost; and "Shadow of the Bat!" [S3 E3] a fun homage to Dracula that takes place on the Justice League Watchtower!

[Art by Ethen Beavers and Guy Major  | Letters by Dezi Sienty from All New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 (2011) by Sholly Fisch]

Also Constantine, Timothy Hunter, and Baron Winters (and his leopard familiar, also named Merlin!). At the time this was made Madame Xanadu hadn't been established yet as Nimue Inwudu (This happened in Matt Wagner's Madame Xanadu (2008)), but I think it still works fine to imagine Merlin is referring to her here with how it's written. In some versions of Arthurian lore Merlin is also caught in a tree rather than a cave, and sometimes the reason given isn't malicious but just about keeping Merlin and his magic bound to the forest and Lady of the Lake (who is now Madame Xanadu's sister, Vivienne). Either way, pretty ironic destiny for him in the context of DC's lore.

I like how this book also touches on the loss of memory that Jason experiences as someone who has lived so long and as we later learn, suggested in Grant's The Demon but more fully explored in Ennis's run, because Merlin and Etrigan have been suppressing his memories.

[Art by Scott Hampton and Paul Johnson (Image 6) | Letters by Todd Klein from The Books of Magic #2, #4 (Image 6) (1990) by Neil Gaiman]

They took a vow of silence but that didn’t stop them from being the original power scalers for infernal baddies.

I’m choosing to believe these monks agree that Etrigan should have worn his baller living creature armor from Saga of Swamp Thing (1986) for ascending the throne of Hell.

Left: [ from The Demon #7 (1991) ]

Right: [ Demon from Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur (c. 1450–1470) Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Douce 134, fol. 98r. ]

I always think of the spell as being something that takes away Etrigan’s freedom to cause trouble on Earth but really it has cost him far more in regards to his own identity and social standing as depicted here in The Demon: Hell is Earth (2018).

I like that in this convo between Merlin and Etrigan, it shows how even demons within DC’s universe might need a sense of belonging and, by extension, purpose. 

This scene reminds me of Grant’s run where Etrigan is just hanging with The Dudes, getting into mischief around hell, being king of the hill and seemingly Mr. Popularity amongst the goofball demons around him. 

Like Jason, whatever positive social supporting cast Etrigan had seems to have been gutted, and it does shows the stakes of their situation (which was always shaky at best), even if it doesn't exactly feel good to watch them this isolated.

What also strikes me here is how the comic emphasizes their soul bleed. While they may have started as completely separate individuals (in the canon’s timeline, not Kirby’s book), the spell forces their souls to bleed into one another over time, darkening Jason’s goodness and pulling him further from his humanity, while humanizing Etrigan.

I think this actually honors Kirby’s original vision though because this bleed and centuries of lived reality makes the idea of them as one and the same more true through the reality of their lived experience together. This soul bleed really makes the lines of identity blurred and both character’s carry the burden of this in their respective worlds leaving both spiritually homeless.

[Art by Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy and Chris Sotomayor  | Letters by Tom Napolitano from The Demon: Hell is Earth #4 (2018) by Andrew Constant]

Alright, we got a real team of rascals here, ready to trick and treat (well, mostly trick) with impunity! We got:

• [Top Left] Blanche (Shiro), the evil cat spirit from Hausu (1977): Lures and eats schoolgirls and brings real creative trick ideas. Making sure the necessary camp aesthetic stays on pointe. 
• [Top right] Alexia/Adrien (plus her car) from Titane (2021): Unpredictable, complex killer and gender fluid transhuman. They are biologically bonded to cars and driven by instinct. Would, I imagine, be a fearless getaway driver. 
• [Bottom Left] May Canady from May (2002): Lonely modern take on Frankenstein, creating her own Frankenstein’s monster doll from her favorite parts of those she loves but mistreat her. Maybe she stitches them together and Klarion can bring them to life with his necromatic power making some army of tricksters?
• [Bottom right] Archibald Leland Sutter, the Still Life entity from Backrooms (2026): Something charming about this entity that’s just a memory of some old timey man in a wheelchair with a lamp. He seems chill and responds to light. Could he use the lamp for silent communication? Like, he might be an excellent tactical lookout, who might also disarm targets with his enigmatic charisma.

Okay, so what do you think of this team? Would you swap out anyone, or would you suggest an entirely different team of horror film/book/tv characters that might resonate with Klarion?

The origin of their wealth? It’s literal blood money from Etrigan making a Faustian deal in the Holy Wars. This feels very fitting and I like it much better than imagining that he just saved up his pennies these thousand years like a good citizen. I really like that Etrigan raises an army of the dead to fight in this, very metal, I would expect no less of a demon prince 😈

——

[Art by Kevin Altieri and Stuart Chaipetz | Letters by Bob Lappan from The Demon #41 (1993) by Kevin Altieri]

With how Merlin describes his crypt in Castle Branek as, “the border where man’s world ends! where time and space and matter bend!”, is it possible that this is where Klarion lands when he goes back in time after leaving Castle Revolving and the Sheeda Throne?

In the very first issue of The Demon Jason Blood is summoned to Castle Branek by Merlin. There, he reads the Yarva Daemonicus spell that is scrawled on Merlin's tomb and this releases Etrigan to protect the tomb from Morgaine Le Fey.

Later, in issue #7, Klarion claims to know all about Jason/Etrigan, the spell and how to use it. 

So do you think Klarion just witnesses all that goes down at Castle Branek then follows Jason back to Gotham, perhaps observing him until he finally makes his introduction in issue #7?

Or do you think it’s more likely that the reason Klarion knows about Jason/Etrigan is he encountered some mysterious future version of them and that’s how he knew of all this? 

Grant Morrison stated that he imagined Klarion went back to issue #6 after the Sheeda events so I think this makes the 2nd option more likely. 

Keep in mind that at this time in Kirby's book Jason largely isolates himself from the hero community and to what extent people know him it’s as a demonologist, scholar of the occult, and pretty mysterious rich guy. It is still a secret that he turns into Etrigan and they aren't really committed heroes. At this point, he hadn’t even met Batman, Wonder Woman or been involved with the Justice League.

Something more mundane, such as reading a book about him is also unlikely anywhere except in the Sheeda future. Jason is deeply well-read in the very same books that would have that kind of info, and the story basically eliminates this exact idea: we are told he has been scouring books for years struggling to find these exact answers about his situation, as Merlin was suppressing memories of Etrigan(so they'd only interact in Jason's subconscious, disconnecting him from his truth.)

I say all this just to clarify that it’s not common knowledge that Klarion would have casually picked up about them, or seen out and about somehow, before going to the Sheeda future. So, how does he know Jason Blood's secret before pretty much anyone else?

——

Left: [ Art by Frazer Irving from Seven Soldier: Klarion #4 (2005) ]

Right: [ Art by Jack Kirby from The Demon #1, #7 (1972) ]

If Jason just embraced what he is, and fully accepted Etrigan as a genuine part of his truth, rather than trying to sever the bond while cutting anyone who threatens his status quo, there would probably be a lot less collateral damage to those around him. Some thoughts:

The Klarion Logic:

I want to say this is a holistic overall reading of the characters, not just Kirby's take but making sense of Klarion's portrayal and nuances in general.

I think about the scene in The Demon #14 where Klarion returns after having been blasted to some other dimension by Etrigan. Here Klarion confronts Jason about why he is upset with him, for his “shabby treatment.” I feel like we could read Klarion’s line, “You mean The Demon used his powers to banish us!” as a pride thing for Klarion, not wanting to believe Jason had meaningful power over him, and i think theres an element of truth to that but i think it goes even further.

When we entertain the idea that Klarion truly did want connection on some level, as a lonely character, with someone who also has a similar duality and darkness as his own, then I read that line of his in a lowkey heartbreaking way. 

We could interpret it him as meaning, “The Jason part of you didn’t betray me, only the demon. Don’t admit your promise to help was a lie you needed to tell yourself."  

Consider this too: Klarion does have something that he can genuinely relate to Jason and Etrigan in with his parallel connection to Teekl, who is connected to Klarion psychically and also either a soul bond or physical extension of Klarion's soul. Just as with Jason and Etrigan, if one dies then the other's life is imminently threatened and severed from the Earthly plane in some manner. So Klarion does understand the true weight of Jason's circumstance, and what it's like to be a package deal.

It’s easy to take Jason and Etrigan’s side in this because they are our protags, so we have a bias for them in that, but the truth is Jason really does say “I'd prefer him to stay! I suspect he's come here for refuge!” And then when Klarion confronts him, in #14, Jason doesn’t even apologize, or try to make it up to Klarion or anything, just saying, "Y-you both meddled in my life Klarion. I I couldn't let you do that!“ So in other words: You upset my status quo of 1500 years of life and I didn’t like this so you had to go, even though I'd said I'd give you refuge. I think this reveals something self serving, or at least a deeply conflicted hypocrisy, in Jason. Klarion's only real crime in issue #7 is that he is being intrusive, bossy, and embarrasses Jason at the party by nearly revealing Etrigan through psychically calling out to him. It's chaotic, but ultimately he is shown to need Jason's help, casting doubt, imo, on whether Klarion truly was against them from the beginning or we're just taking this for granted because he admittedly isn't going about things in an accepted way, and disturbing our protagonists.

Etrigan's part in this:

On Etrigan’s end of things, while he may not love his situation, many writer’s have implied that over the centuries Jason and Etrigan have developed a twisted attachment, that one could even read them as a sort of bickering married couple, in a way.  Certainly, there’s an argument for the way Etrigan might have reason to not want anyone who might meaningfully influence Jason, or give Jason more reason to want to lock Etrigan away more frequently. Something worth pointing out is that Klarion, despite being an antagonist, is one of the only characters who knows the yarva demonicus frequently uses it to put Etrigan away, demanding to engage only with Jason, unlike the heroes who come to Jason asking him to bring out Etrigan. We see Jason's resentment about this very thing in John Ostrander's The Spectre #15, when Dr. Fate and Phantom Stranger show up and pull Etrigan out to ask him to prove his power over the Spectre.

Future possiblities on the matter:

Something I always wonder about, because we never have a dedicated story for it, is how in Morrison’s Seven Soldiers Klarion goes to the future and becomes King of Sheeda. Then when he goes back in time, to where issue #7 of The Demon takes place. So while one could read the King Sheeda plot as being where Klarion becomes definitively corrupted we never see this requires us to assume Klarion could only be lying in Kirby’s work. Since we're speculating, nobody ever asks if since Jason Blood is immortal through Etrigan, couldn’t he have been in that future, with Klarion having seen him then? Could Jason become a Sheeda supporter, if only out of self-interest? Klarion does, after all, tell Jason he knows all about him when they first meet. Maybe Klarion has reason to think Jason would be on his side?

Some writers have suggested reconciliation and partnership is possible for them in some futures, such as Cullen Bunn’s Sorcerer Kings arc in Superman/Batman # 82-84 (2011). In Cliff Chiang’s Catwoman: Lonely City (2022) we see, in the Epilogue, Jason Blood with a sleeping Teekl in his lap after his magic sword fight with a grown Klarion. Since Teekl is Klarion’s first line of physical defense and lifeline, imo this strongly implies Klarion is alive off panel, and finally reconciled with Jason hence Teekl’s apparent comfort with Jason.

Regarding Harry:

He is Jason’s most steadfast friend despite only offering a “maybe he [Jason] likes my sense of humor, maybe I like smoking his cigars!” (In Kirby's issue #2) for why they’re friends in the first place. Of all the original crew Harry is the only one that is still with Jason (although, becoming a Pillow ostensibly means he doesn’t really have a choice in the matter anymore) I think that in this scene with Belial, we assume the best of Jason but I get the impression that this is another situation where Jason’s knee jerk self-interest shows itself: When Belial tells him he is out of blood sacrifices, the pigeons, he looks back at Harry. One wonders if this is truly just a sudden concern for his friend or a moment where Jason is calculating in desperation, even if he does immediately feel guilt for doing so.

The Immortal aspect:
So maybe Jason Blood is a textbook example of learned helplessness on some level, not because he lacks the ability, he is a competent fighter/swordsman and acquired magic user, but because he understandably clings to comforts and familiarity (such as his penthouse with all its occult antiquities) He has the same detachment and desperate drive to maintain status quo, even when that means being less moral. It seems to be an issue that haunts immortals in their effort to retain what threads of their humanity they have left and the centuries pull them further from that.

——

Image 2: [Art by Kirby and Mike Royer ( and Letters) from The Demon #14 (1973) by Jack Kirby]

Images 3, 4: [Art by Matt Wagner, Art Nichols and Anthony Tollin | Letters by John Costanza from The Demon #3 (1986) by Matt Wagner]

Image 5: [Art by Val Semeiks, Denis Rodier and Robbie Busch | Letters by Todd Klein from The Demon #8 (1990) by Alan Grant]

Images 6,7: [Art by John McCrea and Stu Chaifetz | Letters by Todd Klein from The Demon #42 #43 (1994) by Garth Ennis]

Images 8-12: [Art by Christopher Mitten and Romulo Fajardo Jr. | Letters by Rob Leigh from Justice League Dark Annual #1 (2021) by Ram V]

Image 13, 14: [Art by Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy and Chris Sotomayor  | Letters by Tom Napolitano from The Demon: Hell is Earth #4 (2018) by Andrew Constant]

Image 15: [Art by John McCrea and Stu Chaifetz | Letters by Willie Schubert from The Demon #53 (1994) by Garth Ennis]

Image 16, 17: [Art by Tom Mandrake and Carla Feeny | Letters by Todd Klein from The Spectre #15 (1994) by John Ostrander]

What was Gargora's deal anyway, like they show up to just cause issues for either Etrigan/Jason Blood or Klarion... Like why do they want their heads? What's this baddie's malfunction? What's your headcanon? My instinct says it's some kind of guilt demon, but i wanna hear your theories!

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[Art by Kirby and Mike Royer from The Demon #14 (1973) ; Art by Trevor McCarthy, Szymon Kudranski and Guy Major from Klarion #5, #6 (2015) by Ann Nocenti ]