Welcome to the 13th hour
(locally) as we celebrate the 666th post with a quick look at
Disney's under-celebrated Princess & Prince. Brother and sister - the children of
Satan, the King of Hell -
Damien Helstrom and
Santana - Prince & Princess of Hell. When Disney bought
Marvel, they ascended to Disney Princess & Prince status
(just like Thor and Loki).
Though the
Son Of Satan was teased the month before, both really first appeared in July of 1973
(Sell dates, not cover dates), Satana in
Vampire Tales #2 and Damien in
Ghost Rider #2. Damien also got his first cover that month, taking over Ghost Rider's old slot in
Marvel Spotlight -
Satana didn't get her own first cover until over a year later, but finally she got a painted cover for one of Marvel's b&w newsstand magazines -
Haunt Of Horror #5, where she had been appearing since, once again, issue #2.
Not that the Son Of Satan didn't get some nice covers of his own along the way...
...but though far fewer, Satana did covers better, either with old masters like
Gil Kane (as above)...
...or with those painted covers...
Of course, like most brothers and sisters, they didn't always get along...
Both of them were known to get together with the other heroes in the Marvel universe, too...
More recently, the Marvel universe has gone 'dark' and they have seen a resurgence in the 90s and this century. So the Disney Princess & Prince are still active players, even Avengers
(!), ready for their toy line. Not surprisingly, we're not going there. We're just looking at some older appearances here.
Also not surprisingly, there was fun imagery in the Son Of Satan's comics at times...
...and long before
Spider-Man, Damien did...
Personally, i was always more fond of Satana's appearances in the old b&w mags...
Here's the original model sheet from
Esteban Maroto that accompanied the article on her creation appearing in Vampire Tales #3 -
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Satana* (*But were too awestruck to ask)...
Let's close out for today with Satana's original short introduction from Vampire Tales #2 -
art by various for the titles shown (what?! it's the devil's post. Did you expect actual credits?)
