Etrigan the Demon


Etrigan the Demon is a fictional superhero and antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, Etrigan is a demon from Hell who, despite his violent tendencies, usually finds himself allied with the forces of good, mainly because of the alliance between the heroic characters of the DC Universe and Jason Blood, a human to whom Etrigan is bound. Etrigan is a muscular humanoid creature with orange or yellow skin, horns, red eyes, and pointed, webbed ears. The character was originally based in Gotham City, leading to numerous team-ups with Batman.
Etrigan was inspired by a comic strip of Prince Valiant in which the eponymous character dressed as a demon. Kirby gave his creation the same appearance as Valiant's mask.

Publication history

Etrigan the Demon first appeared in The Demon #1 and was created by Jack Kirby. He created the Demon when his Fourth World titles were cancelled. According to Mark Evanier, Kirby had no interest in horror comics, but created Etrigan in response to a demand from DC for a horror character. Kirby was annoyed that the first issue sold so well that DC required him to do sixteen issues and abandon the Fourth World titles before he was done with them.
Etrigan returned for a four-issue miniseries in 1987, written and illustrated by Grendel creator Matt Wagner. Alan Grant followed this with an Etrigan feature in Action Comics Weekly #636-641 and a second ongoing title in 1990. The 1990 series lasted 58 issues, two Annuals and one #0 issue. Garth Ennis took over the title beginning with issue #40. Ennis' run included the first appearance of his character, Hitman. This series was followed by a miniseries, Driven Out. Following this, John Byrne's Blood of the Demon lasted 17 issues, and ignored much of the continuity that took place after Kirby's initial run.
While his first monthly comic book series was short-lived, and his second was canceled after five years, Etrigan remains a popular supporting character with occasional additional miniseries. Popular series in which Etrigan has appeared include Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, Kevin Smith's Green Arrow and , Garth Ennis's Hitman, and Cosmic Odyssey by Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola.

''The New 52''

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, DC Comics launched a new series featuring Etrigan titled Demon Knights, with issue #1 on September 14, 2011. It was written by Paul Cornell and drawn by Diógenes Neves.

Fictional character biography

Pre/Post-''Crisis''

Etrigan, son of the demon Belial, is summoned by the wizard Merlin, his half-brother. Unable to gain the creature's secrets, he bonds the demon with Jason Blood, a knight in King Arthur's Camelot. This renders Jason immortal, which he alternately considers either a penance or a curse.
In modern times, Jason Blood resurfaces as a prominent demonologist in Gotham City. Jason is called to the crypt of Merlin and discovers a poem that changes him into Etrigan. Unfortunately, he is followed by the long-lived Morgaine le Fey, who lusts for Merlin's secrets. That leads to Etrigan's first major battle. Over the years, Etrigan both clashes with and occasionally aids Earth's heroes, guided by his own whims and Jason's attempts to turn his infernal power to good use.
Some time after his first appearance, Etrigan begins speaking in rhyme due to a promotion in Hell, though he is not limited to rhyme. He leads the forces of Hell in the great battle against the Great Evil Beast and is in brief contact with the entity in its questions about its nature - he barely survives the attempt. His high rank would also see him guide Dream of the Endless from Hell's gates to Lucifer.
Some time after this, Jason Blood and Glenda Mark attempt to separate Blood and Etrigan, an event which leads to Blood's ally, Harry Matthews, being devoured, and later turned into a pillow, by Belial. At the end of these events, Etrigan and Blood are separated. Both began to age and during the event known as Cosmic Odyssey, Blood and Etrigan were merged once again.
After the remerging, the relationship between Blood and Etrigan becomes even more contentious. Drawn to Hell by the Archfiend Asteroth, Etrigan stops Asteroth's attempt to sacrifice Glenda Mark, Randu Singh, Merlin and Blood himself. Etrigan followed these events by overthrowing the triumvirate of leaders in Hell and taking the symbol of authority in Hell, the Crown of Horns, for himself. Separated from Blood via the Crown's power and about to destroy him, Merlin reminded Blood of his own power. Jason Blood spoke the incantation and remerged with Etrigan and they were drawn back to Earth. There, he fought Lobo, Klarion the Witch Boy and his gang and was drawn into the Realm Beyond, where he met the Thing-That-Cannot-Die and was reunited with his older brother, Lord Scapegoat.
Upon escape from the Realm Beyond, Etrigan and Blood agreed to work together and teamed with Batman and Robin against the Howler. Soon after, Etrigan was chosen as a political candidate for President of the United States and nearly succeeded in securing the Republican nomination from George H. W. Bush. During his political run, he attempted to gain Superman's endorsement, but was denied it.
When Jason Blood's daughter was born, he decided to destroy Etrigan and hired metahuman hitman Tommy Monaghan to help him. After a battle against both Merlin and Etrigan, the two of them rescued the baby and Blood was able to steal the Demon's heart, essentially neutralizing the demon and binding him to Jason's will. However, at the end of the battle to gain the Demon's heart, Jason Blood left the child, Kathryn Mark, with her mother, Glenda Mark. Jason told Glenda before he had left, "Take care of our daughter, Glenda. I think it would be best if she never knew about her father." Blood then skipped out on paying Monaghan the $2,000,000 he had promised. Etrigran became listless and ceased to rhyme. However, when Monaghan needed an edge against the demon Mawzir, he conned Blood into returning to Gotham and using Etrigan to retrieve the Ace of Winchesters, an anti-demon rifle, from Hell, all while preparing to force the demonologist to let the monster onto Earth again. Despite the real risk that Etrigan would kill him in vengeance, Monahgan traded Etrigan his heart for the Ace of Winchesters, once more forcing Blood to have the full burden of their merging and returning Etrigan to his full strength.
Despite Blood's own doubts about himself, when the Justice League vanished during their attempt to rescue Aquaman from the past, Batman's emergency program — designed to assemble a substitute Justice League in the event that the originals were ever killed — selected Blood as the team's magic expert, a pre-recorded message Batman had left for Blood assuring the sorcerer that he would not give Etrigan the keys to the Watchtower unless he was certain that he could be controlled. While working with the team, Jason spent some time reinforcing the Watchtower's magical defences. During the subsequent fight with Gamemnae, Jason sacrificed himself to free Zatanna from her control, although he later escaped Gamemnae's quagmire spell thanks to the Martian Manhunter telepathically prompting his transformation into Etrigan. The crisis resolved, Jason handed his duties as the League's magic expert over to Manitou Raven, newly arrived in the present, before departing.
The series Blood of the Demon, plotted and drawn by John Byrne and scripted by Will Pfeifer, began in May 2005. Etrigan apparently loses the restrictions imposed upon him by the wizard Merlin which turned him from evil, caused by his "murder" at the exact moment he was transforming from his human self, Jason Blood, into his demon self. It turns out that the incident has resulted in Jason Blood being able to exert some will over Etrigan's violent nature, whereas previously the two remained separate, only one existing at a time. Blood of the Demon ended with issue #17 in July 2006.
Etrigan later attempts to use the Trident of Lucifer to take control of Hell. A makeshift Shadowpact team successfully takes the Trident from him and flees to the supernatural Oblivion Bar. Etrigan follows and battles the team inside the bar. He is turned into stone via magical pistols and is used as a hat rack. The pistols' magic would return Etrigan to normal at sunrise, which never happens within the bar.
Etrigan takes part in the war for control of Hell on behalf of Neron, duelling Blue Devil. Later, due to the effects of a magical drug Satanus had infested Hell with, he was transformed into a soulless physical human, a perfect duplicate of Jason Blood. Blood, meanwhile, has taken steps as to interfere with any possible attempts of Etrigan's to re-merge.
During the Blackest Night event, Blood's body is possessed by Deadman, who invokes Etrigan's transformation, using his flames to hold back the Black Lanterns.
Etrigan briefly appears in the prelude to the JLA/JSA crossover during the Brightest Day event. Etrigan travels to Germany in order to find a crashed meteorite that contains an unconscious Jade and is drawn into a confrontation with the Justice League after attacking a squad of German superheroes. He mocks the League by claiming they are an inferior team of substitutes, but is ultimately defeated when Donna Troy uses her Lasso of Persuasion to force him back into his Jason Blood form. Jason apologizes for the trouble he caused and departs from the scene, but not before warning Batman and his teammates that the meteorite possesses supernatural qualities. The meteor is later revealed to be the Starheart, a legendary entity that has the power to possess metahumans with magical or elemental abilities.
Etrigan is shown aiding the JLA during their mission into Hell, where he helps Hawkman defeat a demonic beast. He also was the guide to the Secret Six in their trip to Hell and led Catman to see the fate of his father, all the while amused by the confusion and pain they were suffering as a result of their visit.

''The New 52''

In The New 52, the 2011 reboot of the DC Comics universe, his past and origins are largely changed. Before the Dark Ages, Etrigan was a Rhyming Demon in Lucifer's service and after too many indignities, he led a rebellion. Lucifer waited until the last moment before handing him over to Merlin: the two had struck a deal. Jason of Norwich had been sent to Camelot as a scribe to Merlin and was growing frustrated with life, believing he was meant for greater things and suffering from rages. A prophecy showed that if Jason did not have some sort of quest to force him to heal himself, his rage would grow and cause him to kill his love, Madame Xanadu; at the Fall of Camelot, Merlin bonded Etrigan to Jason in an attempt to provide this quest.
Now immortal, Jason and Etrigan came to an agreement and shared their existence. Madame Xanadu began traveling with Jason, only to find Etrigan had now begun falling for her as well and would slaughter innocents if he thought she and Jason were happy together. In order to placate the demon, she pretended to be in love with him and cuckolding Jason.
Over the centuries, Jason became known as Jason o' the Blood and Etrigan continued to practice his rhymes. By the Dark Ages, he and Etrigan became the centre of a rag-tag team of adventurers, the "Demon Knights": Jason/Etrigan, Xanadu, Vandal Savage, Shining Knight, the Horsewoman, Saracen inventor Al Jabr and the Amazon Exoristos. They first fought Mordru and the Questing Queen's army to a standstill before being tasked by the city of Alba Sarum to return Merlin to life at Avalon. Etrigan plotted to betray his teammates' souls and Avalon itself to Lucifer, in order to curry his favour. While he successfully manipulated the Knights into letting Hell invade Avalon, he was himself captured and used by the Questing Queen to gain access as well. Lucifer believed Etrigan had done this deliberately and condemned him; outraged, the demon refused to serve anyone again. At the end of the battle, Jason was tasked as a member of Avalon's Stormwatch, but neither he nor Xanadu wanted to serve Merlin after having Etrigan forced on them again. Jason vowed to not let the demon out so often.
In the present, Etrigan's body lies buried in London; it is explained that he was sealed there by his own friends because of his betrayal of them, but magic emanating from it is able to possess persons above, eventually freeing the demon, who promptly attacks Midnighter and Apollo. The entire Stormwatch then battles Etrigan, but even after being defeated, he is able to possess a host and flees.
During the "Trinity War" storyline, Etrigan the Demon is among the superheroes that feels the disturbance in the magical plane when Shazam picks up Pandora's Box. In the timeline of , Zatanna is romantically involved with Etrigan.

Powers and abilities

Etrigan

Even among demons, Etrigan is considered to be extremely powerful. He has mystically enhanced superhuman strength, to the degree that he can stand against other powerhouses such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Lobo. He has a high degree of resistance to injury and can project hellfire from his body, usually from his mouth. He has a very high command of magic. Other powers include mystically enhanced fangs and claws, enhanced senses, super speed, agility, telepathy, energy blasts, and precognition. His sadomasochistic nature allows him to enjoy pain as if it were pleasure, making him generally fearless in the face of combat and torture. His healing factor can handle an incredible amount of damage, allowing him to recover from wounds that have removed large sections of his body. He also has pyrokinesis and cryokinesis enabling him to manipulate fire and ice.
As seen in , it appears that he also has some matter manipulation power on a molecular level. His powers can be extended by other magical devices, such as the Crown of Horns. Etrigan is also provided with insight to religious aspects and other forbidden or secret knowledge.

Jason Blood

Jason Blood is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant, including mastery in swordsmanship. Jason is adept at magic, and is often called upon to act as an advisor or investigator in occultic matters. He has limited precognition and telepathy. Jason is technically immortal due to his connection to the demon Etrigan. He has the combined experiences of Etrigan since he was bonded to the demon. Jason Blood shares all of Etrigan's weaknesses.
In order to transform into Etrigan, Blood must recite the poem from Merlin's crypt :
To return to human form, this poem must be recited:
In the animated film Justice League Dark a different poem is used to return Etrigan to human form:
The poem does not have to be spoken for it to work. For instance, in one adventure, Blood is magically transformed into a fly. Unable to speak, Blood triggers the change by writing out the poem in the dust.

Limitations

Etrigan has all the limitations usually associated with a demon, including a weakness towards holy powers and iron. Additionally, when Green Arrow once shot a "fire extinguisher arrow" into his mouth, Batman told Etrigan that the only way to stop the pain was to change back to Jason Blood.
His command of magic is strong, but considered to be less than his father, Belial, and half-brother, Merlin the Magician. Additionally, Belial granted the "power of Etrigan" to both Merlin and another son, Lord Scapegoat.
He is also helpless against those with magical powers strong enough to control him, such as Morgaine le Fey.

Other versions

In other media

Television