The Demon felt a lot like a Marvel character to me, so it's not hard to imagine a story like this taking place in the first few years of The Fantastic Four. It would have been a thing of beauty to see Kirby illustrate and co-plot such a tale with Stan Lee providing dialogue for Etrigan!
Beautiful mash-up cover!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I like how it turned out!
ReplyDeleteIn all the meetings you have required
ReplyDeleteThere is one a miss that is needed most dire
King Kirby would not have sulked
Given the chance for The Demon to meet the early Hulk
I agree, Ross. A little artistic tweaking by the King, himself, and we'd have a revision of WHAT IF...? volume II/#22. But, co-starring Etrigan rather than the Silver Surfer!
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it; have you ever depicted Etrigan vs. Mephisto, here?
Fantastic cover - really want to read this issue!
ReplyDeleteThere are Marvel characters who feel more like DC, and vice versa. I think there may have even been a cover on this blog somewhere featuring one of each. I'd like to see more of that, though -- especially if, as with this cover, they can be single-artist works!
ReplyDeleteHulk and Mephisto would both be good matches for The Demon, I agree.
ReplyDeleteA quick search revealed that you've never used Felix Faust
ReplyDelete@Emsley and Anonymous: actually, Ross has used him twice, already. Check the left-hand column of search parameters under "F."
ReplyDeleteMaking things a bit easier, Felix was the foe of the Human Torch and Hawkman in #1251, and part of the Secret Society of Super-Villains when Spider-Man set out to join them in #3272. But I do think he should be used more; Dr. Strange seems like an obvious choice of foe, and perhaps the Thunderbolts or Hellboy.
ReplyDeleteBanner's bloody banter. Mephisto's magical mayhem. Tis not Hulk but She-Hulk you might want Demon to meet. Much more mileage.
ReplyDeleteI’d suggest Felix Faust vs. Donald Duck
ReplyDeleteA related team-up possibility?
ReplyDelete"The Demon, Hellcat,
and the Cat in the Hat;
And that's that."
Or Ben Grimm meets Thing 1 & Thing 2 in....
ReplyDelete"The Three Things Who Hate Ambush Bug."
Guest-starring the annoying green guy-who-shan't-be-named.
I stand corrected.
ReplyDeleteFelix Faust vs. Donald Duck sounds like a wonderfully odd pairing; so would Felix Faust versus his namesake cat.
ReplyDeleteAs for that "Three Things" cover, I don't think I'd use Thing 1 and Thing 2, but rather let Ben be joined by John Carpenter's classic creature and the Addams Family's handservant.
Another thought: as I was scrolling through the main page just now, my eyes flitted over the phrase "Stan Lee providing dialogue for Etrigan" and thought, "What if it wasn't Stan, but Dr. Seuss?"
ReplyDelete"Greetings, mighty Etrigan!
Do you like green eggs and ham?"
@Carycomic, Benjy shared a cover with #1 & #2 Way back in July 5, 2011 - #163.
ReplyDeleteBen has over 100 covers so research does take a minute.
Regarding Felix... Ross, you can go for fully lopsided connections so Felix and/vs
Dormammu. A deal gone bad or being a screw up. Either way, Felix is forked.
Say, for that matter, The Demon vs Dormammu??
And a surprise visit from Agatha Harkness in this scenario might be welcome too.
ReplyDelete@Bob Greenwade: Tobor's right, BG. And Carpenter's version was there, too.
ReplyDelete@Tobor & Cary: I was referring to who'd be more appropriate for the suggested story. I don't get the feeling that T1&T2 would be much for a "hating" story.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if we put all five together, Ross could have a group called "The Things"! (If nothing else, they could all get together to enjoy the music of a certain Scandanavian jazz trio.)
Bob Greenwade said...
ReplyDelete"On the other hand, if we put all five together, Ross could have a group called "The Things"!"
________________________________
Remember the old D&D magic item called the 'Deck of Many Things'? For inclusion in a scenario that I ran I designed & placed a variation on this concept that the players' characters (perhaps fortunately) never found. Each card in it had a 'Thing' aspect of some kind:
Several versions of Ben Grimm, the suit of powered armour that Reed built for his use during a period when he had been reverted to human form, the 'She-Thing', the 'Thing' from another of Marvel's Earths who was actually Reed Richards instead (Only he & Ben were on that fateful space-light, Ben got all three of the other power-sets involved and got Sue as his wife...), Man-Thing, Swamp-Thing, a [weaker] version of John W. Campbell's 'Thing', "[Love is] A many-splendored Thing" (all that I remember about this one was that it had a peacock-like train...), "[Happiness is just] A Thing Called Joe" (details now forgotten), and maybe a few more...
On the other hand, Ross could also depict a rock group composed of cavemen who are dedicated to Joan Crawford.
ReplyDeleteThe "Trogs!"
Some Things Wicked this way comes.
ReplyDeleteSome Things are better left alone.
Some times some things just don't go together.
Some times some things are best left unsaid.
Witch of these Things are not the same?
@Bob Greenwade: unless, of course, it's the Thing 1 and Thing 2 of Earth-3 (brought to Earth-STF by Mopee) who irreversibly hate green eggs and ham!
ReplyDelete@Anon & Bob: I second that emotion. Case closed!
ReplyDeleteDemon with the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
ReplyDelete@Delete Ed: S'mores to come!
ReplyDelete