The Demon #1 (October 2026)

The Demon #1 (October 7th, 2026)
By James Harren, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles
Cover by James Harren
Edited By Sabrina Futch, Andrew Marino, and Brittany Holzherr

Comics love to begin with a big splash page to get the reader excited for all the super powered action within. A big garish example of the testosterone fueled madness and tight spandex bodies that'll enrich the gender-neutral boners of all the hormone-flooded teens (and arrestedly developed non-teens) picking up the book. It's a way to prove to the discriminating comic book buyer that their dime or quarter or, fucking hell, five dollar bill is worth the story within!

I'm not sure James Herran got the memo about all of that because this is how he starts his comic book about a Demon from Hell.

Oh my god baby Jason Blood is fucking adorable!

To be fair, being that I'm a dude who fell in love with Sailor Moon as a senior in college when it first aired in the US, this is exactly the way you get my attention in a comic book. But for those of you who need action and titties, you might be thinking, "Is that fair? You scanned one panel! What's the context? Surely the baby is set upon by hellhounds or something, right?!" No! Not at all! In fact, nothing at all happens in the opening scene except this! The first page begins, "Centuries ago. Camelot." Then it shows a cabin in an idyllic setting. Then it shows the interior of the cabin where Baby Blood burbles away. Then you turn the page and the comic book is all, "Gotham City. Today."

I am not shitting you! Spend four dollars and pick up the book yourself, you cynical asshole! The book begins with a baby in a quiet woodland setting and not with Etrigan slapping his dick across Batman's face.

Sorry! I just pitched the only opening page that would have bested this opening page by trying to play up how the baby opening page was a great choice! I'm a Goddamned failure at the only thing I've ever spent 10,000 hours doing!

Oh, and also fuck Malcolm Gladwell. Why'd I even use his 10,000 hours thing?! The guy never met a paid sponsor he didn't blow enthusiastically while shoving his full fist up their asshole and declaring that what he was doing was unbiased reporting.

Okay, so the transition to Gotham City was really just a transition to Jason Blood's adult years. Idyllic baby, meet your future self!

I know, baby. It's not great. But take consolation in the reality that every baby in the world would ask about the procedure of being shoved back up in the womb if they could get a glimpse of who they'd wind up being as an adult.

This story is only two pages in and I'm getting the feeling it's just retelling that time I lost my ego on mushrooms while in the parking lot of a strip club in San Jose and believed that my entire life was a hallucination I was having to make my actual life of a houseless itinerant more palatable.

Jason Blood wanders the poverty-stricken streets of Gotham, barefoot, filthy, and arguing with the voices in his head. He's got a trench coat full of garbage treasures. His memories of his life are fuzzy and indistinct. Don't worry! It's not an allegory where magic represents money and how it allows a terrible few capitalist to hoard all the resources for themselves, using their scads of magic/money to drain the life and wealth of the masses! Um, no, wait! I meant, "Don't worry! It's absolutely that! Jason Blood gonna take down them rich bastards!"

Why am I suddenly reminded of Matt Wagner?

Jason Blood beats a demon to death with a sacred pinecone recovered from the grave of a Pope Vampire Slayer. Then he runs into some cell phone scooter demons like the ones you see in all the major cities now. All the while, he ignores Etrigan's demands to be set free. So in that regard, he's still the same old Jason Blood. He's got a demon trapped in his head and he's reticent to let it out on the world, no matter how its voice tempts him with its power. At least for now, Jason Blood seems to understand that you don't bring in a more troublesome creature to help solve the problem of a bunch of other troublesome creatures. Sort of like cats in Australia and, um, cops in urban environments.

After the introduction of Jason Blood, Etrigan, and their current circumstances, it's time to get to the real hero: the villain!

Morgaine le Fey and her coven of weirdo malcontents!

Before we get to see Morgaine dons her magnificent Disney villain outfit to hide her decripit old lady body, we're given her whole reason for being. It boils down to everything absorbs, expands, and excretes but only humans do it while also containing the divine spark of Monad (who I guess is like the pre-Christian version of the Christian God. Or Stephen King's Turtle from It?). The page with Morgaine's thesis also shows some ball of the entire human condition that lives in her apartment. At least I think it does and that wasn't just an image of the state of mankind. It reminded me of a single page version of Gravity's Rainbow in that it was all, "Mankind exists to do all this shitty stuff when it really shouldn't be doing all this shitty stuff but, well, what can you do when the shittiest people have the shittiest whims and control practically everything?"

After Morgaine crashes the comic book like the biggest diva at the drag show, we get an introduction to the rest of the coven.

That guy's cell phone full of buttholes is seriously making me rethink not owning a smart phone!

Their plan to take over the world and suck all the marrow from the souls of the people involves cell phones, pets, drugs, and home schooling. Morgaine wants to add marriage to the demonic realm but they're a little bit cold on that idea. Mostly because their plans are working and they aren't dying of old age or lung cancer or whatever other disease you can only cure by tricking demons into curing it for you.

While sleeping rough in the park, Jason Blood meets up with some fairy folk and gnomes. He helps them against a shit demon and they declare that they will help him. Is that better than asking Etrigan for help? An army of gnomes, frogs, and winged fairies?

You might be wondering, "Where's Merlin?" Don't worry! He shows up later in an otherworldly oubliette where Morgaine has him trapped.

Not as adorable as Jason Blood.

Morgaine steals Merlin's power, summons a bunch of demon princes from Hell, and then falls apart. Literally. She might have just died. Why not? Jason and Etrigan have new monsters to fight in this new world. Also the demon princes that have just been set free. But after them, they'll probably have to deal with Morgaine's coven.

Oh yeah, and Jason finally has to let Etrigan loose because he almost dies. But after Etrigan kills Blood's enemies, he shows surprising kindness to the gnomes, fairies, and talking mice. Does Blood have some control? Or does Etrigan just have a soft spot for talking mice?

The Ranking!
What a great looking book. And a cool modernization of Jason Blood's magical battle in modern times. Unlike Nocenti's modern take on fucking Klarion! Why couldn't she have invented the cell phone where every screen is a butthole?! Maybe I would have been kinder to her in my reviews! While it did remind me a hell of a lot of Wagner's Mage, that might just be a superficial thing because hell if I remember much of Wagner's Mage! So glad to see, at least in the first issues, DC has not disappointed with my babies, Jonah Hex, Etrigan, Lobo, and The Doom Patrol. While I liked Lobo and Doom Patrol, I think I'm in love with Jonah Hex and The Demon. So weird to be having DC bring out new series in one year of what amounts to all of my favorite DC characters. I suppose all I need now is a series starring Halo and Ambush Bug! Separate series. Although? Maybe a little romantic tale?! With back-up stories featuring Cheeks and Tiger?!