Editing Daimon Hellstrom (section)

==Publication history==
[[File:Daimon Hellstrom.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Daimon Hellstrom in the cover of ''[[Marvel Spotlight]]'' #13 (January 1974), art by [[John Romita Sr.]]]]
Encouraged by the success of the titles ''[[Ghost Rider (comic book)|Ghost Rider]]'' (vol. 2) and ''[[The Tomb of Dracula]]'', both of which starred occult characters, [[Stan Lee]] proposed a series starring [[Satan]], to be titled ''The Mark of Satan''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sacks |first1=Jason |last2=Dallas |first2=Keith |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s |date=2014 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490564 |page=102}}</ref> Editor [[Roy Thomas]] had reservations about this idea and suggested a series focusing on the son of Satan instead<ref name="Back21">{{cite journal|last= Aushenker|first= Michael|author-link= Michael Aushenker|date= April 2007|title= The Son of Satan: A Trident True Devil Hero|journal= [[Back Issue!]]|issue= 21| pages= 6–13|publisher= [[TwoMorrows Publishing]]}}</ref> (due to an oversight, "The Mark of Satan" is mentioned in a blurb in ''Ghost Rider'' (vol. 2) #1).<ref name="Back21"/><ref>{{cite news| title= Marvel News | author-link= Jim Steranko | editor-first=Jim | editor-last=Steranko| work=Comixscene|date=April 1973| page=15| quote=Marvel's runaway hit 'The Ghost Rider' gets his own book soon, leaving the ''Marvel Spotlight'' slot open...The monster-hero trend continues with a replacement series entitled 'The Mark of Satan', featuring the Devil himself as the lead character.}}</ref> According to Thomas, Lee approved of the idea, and [[Gary Friedrich]] and [[Herb Trimpe]] were assigned the task of designing the character. However, Trimpe denies this, claiming Friedrich alone designed Daimon Hellstrom and only brought him in as artist after the character was fully realized. Thomas has said he later realized that a 1960s fanzine character created by his friend Biljo White had looked very similar.<ref name="Back21"/> Thomas recalled in 2001:

{{Blockquote|"... I realized that name and basic concept had been a fanzine comic by a friend of mine, Biljo White, back in the early '60s! He wound up looking even looking a lot like Biljo's character, by sheer coincidence, because I don't think Herb Trimpe and Gary Friedrich, who did the actual story, ever saw him and I don't think I described it much. The branded chest, a trident, and so forth... I think it just came out looking almost identical. I explained it to Biljo, and he understood, but it was really weird, because if you look at his old fanzine, it's almost the same character!"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/13thomas.html |title=Son of Stan: Roy's Years of Horror |publisher=(Roy Thomas interview) Comic Book Artist |issue=#13 |date=May 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526101323/http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/13thomas.html |archive-date=May 26, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

The character Daimon Hellstrom first appeared in ''[[Ghost Rider (comic book)|Ghost Rider]]'' (vol. 2) #1–2 (Sept. 1973 – Oct. 1973), then was spun off into a feature, "The Son of Satan", in ''[[Marvel Spotlight]]'' #12–24 (Oct. 1973 – Oct. 1975).<ref>{{cite book |last1=DeFalco |first1=Tom |last2=Sanderson |first2=Peter |last3=Brevoort |first3=Tom |last4=Teitelbaum |first4=Michael |last5=Wallace |first5=Daniel |last6=Darling |first6=Andrew |last7=Forbeck |first7=Matt |last8=Cowsill |first8=Alan |last9=Bray |first9=Adam |title=The Marvel Encyclopedia |date=2019 |publisher=DK Publishing |isbn=978-1-4654-7890-0 |page=168}}</ref><ref name=gcd-marvelspotlight>{{gcdb series|id=1992|title=''Marvel Spotlight''}}</ref> During the "Son of Satan" run, ''Marvel Spotlight'' was a controversial series, with numerous readers writing to object to the depictions of [[Theistic Satanism|Satanism]] and [[Wicca]] as being either inaccurate or furthering the cause of evil. Nonetheless, sales were strong, prompting Marvel to launch the character into his own series, ''The Son of Satan'', written by [[John Warner (comics)|John Warner]].<ref name="Back21"/> The character's success faded soon after the series launch, and ''The Son of Satan'' was cancelled with issue #7, though an unused fill-in was published as ''The Son of Satan'' #8 (Feb. 1977).<ref name="Back21"/><ref name=gcd-sonofsatan>{{gcdb series|id=2268|title=''Son of Satan''}}</ref>

Hellstrom then became a recurring character in ''[[The Defenders (comic book)|The Defenders]]'', [[Steve Gerber]] having added the character to the team during the time he was writing the "Son of Satan" feature in ''Marvel Spotlight'', and Hellstrom continued to appear in ''Defenders'' following the cancellation of ''Marvel Spotlight''. One of the later writers on ''Defenders'', [[J. M. DeMatteis]], featured a number of subplots focused on Daimon Hellstrom, commenting that he "was absolutely my favorite character. Characters like Son of Satan are a wonderful metaphor for what we all contain, good and evil, high and low aspirations. He's literally the son of the Devil, trying not to be what his father is. For a writer like me, how can you not feast on that?"<ref name="Back21"/> Hellstrom's story reaches a resolution of sorts in ''The Defenders'' #120–121 (June–July 1983), as Hellstrom is freed from his Satanic heritage and marries his teammate the [[Patsy Walker|Hellcat]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=DeAngelo|first=Daniel |date=July 2013|title=The Not-Ready-For-Super-Team Players: A History of the Defenders|journal=[[Back Issue!]]|issue=#65|page=14 |publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]]}}</ref>

In 1993, he received his own series once more with ''Hellstorm: Prince of Lies''. As suggested by the title, his surname was spelled "Hellstorm" during this series, the character explicitly choosing to change it from "Hellstrom" in issues #1 and 2. Rafael Nieves wrote the first four issues, Len Kaminski took over as scripter until issue #11, and [[Warren Ellis]] then took over as writer until the series' cancellation with issue #21.<ref>{{gcdb series|id=9831|title=''Hellstorm: Prince of Lies''.}}</ref><ref>{{gcdb series|id=20225|title=''Hellstorm: Son of Satan''}}</ref> In 2019, the character joined a team consisting of [[Blade (character)|Blade the Vampire Slayer]], [[Angela (character)|Angela]], the [[Bucky Barnes|Winter Soldier]], [[Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)|Spider-Woman]], [[Wiccan (character)|Wiccan]] and [[Monica Rambeau]] in ''Strikeforce''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gamesradar.com/newsarama/|title=Newsarama &#124; GamesRadar+|website=Newsarama|date=27 February 2024 }}</ref>