At the dawn of the 1970’s, comic titles with jarring words such as “strange,” “mystery,” “weird,” “forbidden,” and more were becoming increasingly common. The trend of horror comics popularized in the 1950’s was making a swift return, and DC was ready to profit from it. Through a bittersweet process of ups and downs, the King of Comics, Jack Kirby, brought to the page Etrigan, the rhyming, fight-first-ask-questions-later demon from Camelot. Etrigan has since been included in team adventures with the Justice League, Batman & Robin, and Justice League Dark with John Constantine.
From 1970-1973 when Etrigan debuted, Jack Kirby had already been hard at work on his other large projects. The New Gods and The Forever People were a part of his Fourth World publication, which eventually became a part of DC as it was adjacent to their character universe (notably, the fact that the New Gods are connected heavily to DC’s Darkseid). Kirby was working very intently on expanding the Fourth World comics, but the publication was not yet profitable, so when DC asked him to create The Demon, they weren’t exactly asking. As horror titles grew in demand, Kirby was called off of his more favorable projects to begin work on The Demon. After coming up with the characteristics and story, Jack Kirby’s intention was to pass the character off to other DC workers to write and draw so that he could continue working on Fourth World. However, he was convinced by DC editor Carmine Infantino to work on the character full time, which was finalized by Infantino’s suspension of Fourth World as a publication (which led to DC taking it over as it is today). From there, The Demon became a regular DC character in his own series, as well as various crossovers with other characters.
Despite it being the reason for his creation, Etrigan’s only real “horror” aspect is the fact that he is a demon. The idea was just to make him monstrous and have strange origins. As a character, he really is more of a hero. He fights evildoers from various times and places and works to aid the wizard Merlin, who has the interest of the people in mind. Even more so, his human companion, Jason Blood, was a knight in Camelot and now works for good in modern day Gotham City. Jason and Etrigan’s relationship has varied slightly throughout the years, but it always ping-pongs between brotherly love and brotherly rivalry. Often, Jason (being a demonologist) despises Etrigan’s presence in his soul, along with the immortality that comes with it. However, he sometimes recognizes that Etrigan is a necessary force to fight off his foes.
The origin of the character has changed slightly from The Demon #1, due partly to the fact that Kirby had a change of ideas, but ultimately, the change is minimal. The origin that is more well-known was set in stone by the New 52 reboot of the character. It goes as such: In the medieval age, Jason Blood is a knight in Camelot, the land of King Arthur, in which Merlin the great wizard is an influential power. When Camelot is attacked by the ancient enchantress Morgaine Le Fey, Merlin calls upon a warrior demon from Hell, Etrigan, to defend the land. He does this by calling Jason Blood to his domain where he reads an ancient script that binds him to Etrigan and transforms him on the spot. Merlin watches as Jason Blood recites the incantation and becomes more than human:
Change! Change! O form of man!
Free the might from fleshy mire!
Boil the blood in heart of fire!
Gone! Gone! O form of man,
Arise the demon Etrigan!
When Etrigan arrives, he slays the forces of evil and saves Camelot. In the original story from 1973, Etrigan is already present as the right hand of Merlin, but then after defeating Morgaine Le Fey, he abandons the land and slowly turns into a man (in the form of Jason Blood). Jason lives in modern Gotham with amnesia until he is called to Merlin’s tomb and recites the rhyme there, which calls back Etrigan and binds them together once more, as two distinct individuals.
No matter his exact origin, Etrigan is one of the most fun DC characters. He is definitely a fan favorite for Justice League Dark readers. The Demon is humorous, fierce, and very passionate about destroying evil and the enemies of Merlin. One would not presume a figure of Hellspawn to be a hero, but as other comics like Hellboy, Spawn, and Ghost Rider have shown us, the dedication to good is what makes a hero– not their birthplace.
In February, DC released Etrigan’s own DC’s Finest title (a collection of stories involving the character), which contains roughly 20 issues of the original The Demon story line, as well as some other adventures. Although he has been unfortunately destitute of any live-action adaptations, Etrigan appears in the Justice League Dark animated movies, as well as many comics, both solo and on a team. I wouldn’t call him underrated or unknown by any means, but the fantastic and fun potential of Etrigan The Demon is definitely something that deserves more publicity. Even though Jack Kirby didn’t want to embark on this journey, he ended up making an absolutely amazing character that will forever be one of DC’s greatest heroes.
