Post #666 - Disney Princess & Prince Edition

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?)

Vamping Without The Vamp

For today's Blue Monday post in our adult content back room, we've got a trio of tales from Vampirella magazine back in the '70s. We've got some folks you might not be used to seeing work together - like Jim Starlin & Alex Nino, and some you might not be used to seeing do 'blue' material at all - like Carmine Infantino (with inks by Alfredo Alcala). Those old Warren magazines hid a lot of odd little treasures like that for those who ventured off the path of the mainstream colour comics in those days.

To view the artwork, please follow the link to the full post on The Other Voice Of ODD!

Brother Hawk by Nicola Cuti, Carmine Infantino & Alex Nino for Vampirella #61, Wolf Hunt by Joe Wehrle & Esteban Maroto for Vampirella #74, The Service by Bruce Jones, Jim Starlin & Alfredo Alcala for Vampirella #78

Blue Monday - Climax

 Welcome back.
How'd you like that lovely Beauty & The Beast piece at the top of Maroto's blog page?
You did go look, right?

Okay, you were promised another story, so let's start there. This tale, like the previous trio, comes from Vampirella, because - Blue Monday. Previously we had a tale in the "tradition of Scheherazade" by Bill Dubay & Esteban Maroto. I believe the same team brings us this tale, but the writer goes uncredited, so it's hard to be certain. The other big question: Is this Maroto's colours?


NOTE: Most of the images for this post contain nudity and have been moved to our back room for adult content. The text remains that you may make a fair guess as to whether or not you wish to look at the pics.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post to view the artwork.


...or until the next writer decided otherwise.
Finally, for today, we have another half-dozen images by our esteemed subject. We'll start with a bit of black & white line work, and climb up the ladder to full paintings:

If i wasn't already an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan, this might get me to buy Tarzan's books:

We've seen Maroto drawing other famous characters, but he also is prone to creating tributes to other artists, such as this piece honoring/homaging Milo Manara:

...and these two paintings in tribute to Jose Segrelles:

This last piece is a little special for a sad reason. The original has been damaged; the canvas scraped and flecked to white in places. Here is a semi-restored version. (No reference of the undamaged version available for full restoration)

*sigh*
A fitting end to this piece.

all art by Maroto. Pages from Vampirella #72 (1978)

Welcome to part 2 of our Blue Monday celebration of Esteban Maroto.

It was mentioned last time that he designed Red Sonja's metal bikini. Here's a couple of model sheets for reference:

One thing to note here - most of today's images, like those above, are photographs rather than scans of the originals. As you can see quite easily if you look at the red border lines, things can get a little distorted that way. But, moving right along...
Not surprisingly, Maroto also drew a bit of Conan while passing through at Marvel. This Conan drawing came a bit later-

NOTE: Most of the images for this post contain nudity and have been moved to our back room for adult content. The text remains that you may make a fair guess as to whether or not you wish to look at the pics.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post to view the artwork.

If you prefer your fantasy a bit more up-to-date, you can follow the evolution of everybody's favorite Khaleesi through some of his artworks...

...or perhaps more classic fantasy, such as Alice...

...or Dracula...

...or even simply nameless faeries...

You can also find him rendering characters from other comics and media, such as Barbarella...

...Drunna...

...and Valentina...

...and, all sorts of beautiful renderings...

Oh! But, i haven't told you the best part.
Señor Maroto maintains an online contact point where you can not only see all of the above images, at larger size, and Many more - but you can also request custom commissioned artwork from the man! It doesn't update too frequently, but it is still active, and just up the digital street from here:

Esteban Maroto's Blog

We'll be back once more today with another story or two, and more artwork (that isn't from his blog, so go ahead a peruse the lovely works there while you're waiting)

all art by Esteban Maroto

Odd how things work. I decided to push my planned subject back a week due to the amount of work required to try to cover things a tad more than her costume. So i pulled some pages that were in the pile and decided this would be good. And then things started spiraling...
In the end, i suspect it would have been less effort to go with my original plan. The only way this is going to work is if we make this a multi-part

You see, my plan was just to run a few ... sort of fairy tale interpretations, illustrated by Esteban Maroto. But then there was that fourth colour tale. And when digging for a few biographical notes, all these damn beautiful pictures kept getting in the way. So, forget it. I'm not going to agonize over what to not use, i'm just going to spread things out into 3 posts over the day.

Anybody who was a fan of Warren's main magazines back in the 70s and 80s knows who Esteban Maroto is. But, while he produced a goodly amount of work in this country (over 100 stories for Warren alone), he only worked with DC and Marvel briefly, usually on a mini-series here and there. So many fans may not be familiar with his beautifully rendered work. Which isn't to say he didn't leave lasting marks while briefly passing through. For example, he designed her iconic outfit-

NOTE: Most of the images for this post contain nudity and have been moved to our back room for adult content. The text remains that you may make a fair guess as to whether or not you wish to look at the pics.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post to view the artwork.

Like it or love it, it's hard to deny the impact her chainmail bikini had on designs in the decades to follow.

But we'll talk more extensively about Señor Maroto later in the day. For now, let's start with those first three tales to which i referred previously. Two tales written by Bill Dubay, and a third by Timothy Moriarity.

First up, a tale in the tradition of Scheherazade, of a bold adventurer by the name of Ali Addan...



From Arabian tales, we travel to the classic Greek myths, and Perseus-



 Continuing on, we travel to the Danish coast and the story of a Little Mermaid-



All three of these tales appeared in Her magazine-

Here are the covers for those who enjoy them, or want a visual reference for hunting down the issues:

Join us later today for a colour tale, and more about the man and his lovely artwork. After all, you wouldn't want to bypass a man who still remembers Rima, The Jungle Girl, would you?

I know i wouldn't.

all art by Esteban Maroto, story pages for Vampirella #s 60, 68, & 102 (1977, 1978, 1982)

Strange Things Are Afoot In Wyldwood Cemetary

cover by Sanjulian

On Sunday i teased a faded image beyond the mists of time showing an encounter most odd. Plainly visible in the first page splash is our heroine, the scantily clad Vampirella and the headstone of Denny Colt - the Spirit! And to dispel any suspicions of mere name similarity, the gate of Wildwood Cemetery is plainly visible in the background.

But, perhaps you exclaim, how could this be possible? Could they get the rights to use the Spirit?
You betch'um, Red Rider. At this point in time, Warren was not only publishing reprints of The Spirit, but Will Eisner himself was editing the book for them. Many things were possible.

I'll be honest, i'd completely forgotten this strange little story from the 50th issue of Vampirella. Add in a Pantha girl or two, ancient Egyptians, the mystery of the pyramids and a blackmarket baby operation run by Granny Goose, and you've got a packed full 50th issue extravaganza.
And it's a big one, so unbuckle-up and here we go!

Our story opens with the previously teased splash page-

NOTE: Due to restructuring of this blog,

pages containing (mild) nudity have been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

After that first chapter to set the tale, we shift to find Conrad Van Helsing suffering bloody visions in the night:

NOTE: Due to restructuring of this blog,

pages containing (mild) nudity have been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

Note that in the tradition of the classic tales like early Justice Society Of America adventures, each chapter is drawn by a different artist, and frequently features different members of the cast. After Conrad shares his premonitions with Vampi and his son, Adam, the pair head off to seek information from Nubia El Marna - yet another in his global web of informants and mystics. Specifically, they need to learn more about the amulet she acquired as Conrad feels it is at the center of things...

NOTE: Due to restructuring of this blog,

pages containing (mild) nudity have been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

She tells them of how the Pharaoh Khufu one day rescued a mysterious stranger, to whom he gave the name Khafra. Kahfra was a shapeshifter from the stars and original owner of the amulet. He constructed the great pyramid of Khufu, and his own, as well and began construction on a third for his successor. "Khafra wished the three pyramids placed in a line, so, he claimed, the great gods could see that the people of Egypt had not forgotten them!"

That night, after all have settled to bed and sleep...

NOTE: Due to restructuring of this blog,

pages containing (mild) nudity have been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

Meanwhile, in New York City, our next chapter begins...

While the opening circumstances may seem to have little bearing on our tale, the conversations turn back to Wildwood...

While Conrad seeks the Spirit of Denny Colt, Vampir & Adam arrive just in time to see their contact kidnapped and quickly pursue. Tracking the kidnappers to their lair, they find the hostages about to be shot. Adam uses the amulet to join with Vampi as...

"For as long as there has been recorded time, this amulet has graced the throats of a noble family. A family that was spawned by Khafra, Pharaoh, Healer, and Star-Traveler."
She explains that the power to shift to panther form is bread into their genetics, but the amulet is required to assuage the shock, preventing mental damage and insanity. Tracing the vibrations, she determines that the last descendant is a girl in Egypt, and sends the pair off again on her trail.
The next chapter had no credits on the splash page, so we'll jump straight into the action as Vampi seeks our missing girl. But first, let's meet her next contacts:

Vampi arrives soon after, and the meeting proceeds as a typical courteous brush-off until...

Not at all suspicious behaviour, eh? Unsurprisingly, Vampi returns surreptitiously in aerial rodent form to find-

After the messy bits, the amulet is returned and her memory restored - including her recollection of having been sold by Granny Goose! With the shock and horror of all that has happened to her, Pantha decides to leave this miserable world and return to her own. It turns out she was found with her own craft, which is still accessible...

With Pantha's mystery solved, we break tradition from those old JSA stories - the entire team does not reunite for the final chapter, at last delving into the question of

And, so, in the end - no Spirit in this world. But a delightfully odd intersection between two realities.

story by Bill Dubay, art by Jose Gonzales, Esteban Maroto, Ramon Torrents, and Jose Ortiz for  Vampirella #50 (1976)