In the fifteenth issue of Jack Kirby's The Demon we find Jason Blood and the Demon in a real pickle, put there by Klarion the Witch Boy.
The yarn begins with the doppleganger Demon appearing before his creator Klarion but seeking to assert his own power and authority.
Klarion will have none of it tormenting his creation by changing him into a tree of all things. Put in his place the evil Jason Blood agrees to serve Klarion and his familiar the "cat" Teekl.
Confident of their victory over the Demon, Klarion and Teekl celebrate and Teekl changes form becoming a weird woman-cat creature. The two dance and cavort and eat to their hearts' content, but then the police arrive at Jason Blood's apartment. They find only a frog, a cat, and a picture of Klarion, the Witch Boy having successfully hidden himself and his aides.
The police had been sent by Glenda Mark who despairs when they report back to her. She then wonders about the Philosopher's Stone which she had gotten from Jason, unaware that the Demon in his ghostly guise is in her apartment at that moment. Her wish holding the Stone that Jason return is enough to magically cause the Demon to come back from the ghastly shade condition Klarion had put upon him.
The Demon rushes back to confront Klarion but finds himself battling his own doppleganger again. Ultimately his magical might overcomes his duplicate and proves too powerful for Klarion's spells. Casting his own spell the Demon opens a window into the "Beyond Region" and Klarion, Teekl, and the doppleganger are all swept away into the mysterious realm. As the window closes the phone rings and the true Jason Blood answers the call from Glenda.
This one was a rouser. There is a bit of the problem with the Demon in that he's just as powerful as he needs to be at any given time, but it's enough to assume that Klarion got over on him earlier because he was caught off guard. Knowing his enemy the Demon is able to bring all his power to bare.
It's odd that we get no update on Harry Matthews and Randu Singh in this issue, as they've been in every one to this point. The last time we saw them, they had been assaulted by the evil Jason and might still believe their friend is not to be trusted. It's a loose thread.
One more issue to come.
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That's the most unnecessary space in a word bubble that I've ever seen on a cover. There must have been other text that they covered up, right?
ReplyDeleteChimeradave, this very question is addressed here:
Deletehttp://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/132/
It seems reasonable that the missing text was intended to be printed in color but was left out due to a production error. There are other covers where copy can be seen in, say, yellow against a white background -- very hard to read -- because the cyan and/or magenta were left out.
Another possibility is that the lettering was done on separate pieces of card stock and cemented onto the blank space of the word balloon, but the upper portion fell off and no one noticed it at the printing plant in Sparta, so it went to the presses that way.
Thanks for the very entertaining and informative link.
DeleteHmm. Interesting.
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The transformation of Teekl into a humanoid cat-woman is by a considerable margin one of the kinkiest and most suggestive moments to happen in a Jack Kirby comic. At least until the following issue.
ReplyDeleteThat is a bit scandalous. I was startled by the raw sexual nature of the very familiar were-cat.
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