For this weekend’s escapist superhero post Balladeer’s Blog will go with a Halloween theme and examine the Marvel Comics character Gabriel, often called an exorcist and demon or devil hunter. Agatha Harkness shows up in his adventures.
HAUNT OF HORROR Vol 2 #2 (July 1974)
Title: Gabriel: Devil-Hunter
Villain: The demoness Catherine
Synopsis: At Saint Benedict’s Cathedral in Manhattan, Father Lazar realizes that his fellow priest Father Artemis has become possessed and has vandalized the site. When the invading spirit causes Father Artemis to spout blasphemies during his sermon and leap from a height sufficient to break both his legs, Father Lazar (I like to think his first name is Rem) seeks help from an enigmatic, unaffiliated exorcist called Gabriel.
Father Lazar goes to the Empire State Building and pushes the button for the 13th Floor, which does not really exist but IS the way to enter Gabriel’s other-dimensional office. That office is cluttered with occult tomes on exorcism and once Lazar enters, he is greeted by Gabriel’s sultry assistant Desadia.
She psychically sensed him coming and ushers him in to see Gabriel. Expository dialogue between Father Lazar and our main character makes it clear that Gabriel was once a priest under Lazar’s authority. Father Lazar hires Gabriel to exorcise Father Artemis despite some implied hostility between the pair in the past.
Gabriel and the priest arrive at the chamber where the broken-legged Father Artemis is being confined to his bed, like Regan in The Exorcist. Amid the usual hostile and taunting exchanges between the possessed and the exorcist, Gabriel learns that the invading spirit is Catherine, an old foe of our hero. She is the spirit of a woman burned as a witch in Europe centuries ago. Continue reading
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog marks the start of Halloween Month with a retrospective on Marvel Comics’ 1970s horror figures like Ghost Rider, Satana the Devil’s Daughter, Werewolf by Night, Blade the Vampire Slayer, Son of Satan, Golem, the Living Mummy and the Simon Garth Zombie. 
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT – Since Marvel has a Werewolf by Night production coming out soon, we’ll start with this character. Moon Knight made his very first appearance in Werewolf by Night #32 (August 1975) but beat the werewolf to the screen this year. 
ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #428 (August 1973) 
Ms. Linden sought shelter with her old school boyfriend from years earlier – brilliant scientist Philip Sylvian, an expert at botanical science. Carl Thorne’s thugs tracked Susan to Sylvian’s place and mortally wounded her. 
MARVEL TEAM-UP Vol 1 #1 (March 1972)
MARVEL TEAM-UP Vol 1 #2 (May 1972) 
The escaped Sandman reunites with his teammates in the Frightful Four (as you could guess, the supervillain version of the Fantastic Four) – the Wizard and the Trapster. Originally, the Inhumans member Medusa had been their 4th member back when she was a misunderstood villain. 
SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL Vol 1 #1 (December 1972) 
She disarms and subdues the poachers, then she and her two leopards – Ina the Spotted and Biri the Dark – escort the hunting party to the border of the reserve. She orders them to leave the area, then resumes her professional care for the animals of the jungle. 
SHOWCASE Vol 1 #73 (April 1968) 
Jack gets tipped off about the abduction of Vincent Yatz, a scientific genius who recently defected from the Soviet Union to the United States. 
Our hero learns that Devlin will be covertly turning the captured Yatz over to Major Smej that night using a costume party attended by the rich and powerful as cover. Jack Ryder throws together a costume from leftovers he buys at a costume shop – the yellow, green and red sheepskin cape/stole ensemble that will become his Creeper outfit going forward. 
DETECTIVE COMICS Vol 1 #27 (May 1939) 
The Lambert son (no first name is ever given for him and his father) insists he’s innocent and that his father was receiving threats from a criminal syndicate muscling in on the family’s firm, Apex Chemical Corporation. The dead man’s partner Steve Crane starts getting threats now and wants police protection. 
SAVAGE SHE-HULK Vol 1 #1 (February 1980) 
Jennifer is bleeding out and will die before any ambulance can arrive, so Bruce breaks into a nearby doctor’s office and uses some of the equipment inside to donate some of his own blood to Jen to save her life. An ambulance gets Jennifer and Bruce to a hospital and she stabilizes. 
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here’s a look at another Marvel Comics character that never became a hit for some reason.
MARVEL PRESENTS Vol 1 #1 (October 1975) 
That man’s thoughts tell us he is Ulysses Bloodstone and that the fragment of an alien gem in his chest unerringly leads him around the globe whenever monstrous creatures are about to strike. While television news crews and the police look on, Bloodstone battles the enormous beast. 
TALES OF SUSPENSE Vol 1 #14 (February 1961) 
The sole occupant of the alien vessel was a member of the Kigor race, large crab-like creatures of great intelligence who walked erect. Outnumbered on a hostile planet, the Kigor used its alien technology/ powers to transfer its mind into the enormous statue to try surviving. 
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