Hell (DC Comics) - Publication History

Publication History

Because of the multiplicity of imprints and acquisitions under the DC Comics umbrella, there have been many versions of "Satan" and "Hell".

At Quality Comics in 1942, the hero known as Midnight encountered the Devil and his domineering Wife after his untimely death. At Fawcett Comics in 1942, Ibis the Invincible confronted a demonic entity who inexplicably named itself "Satan". From DC Comics, The pages of Showcase #60 (January 1966) featured the first appearance of Azmodus. And Justice League of America #49 (November 1966) introduced the demon Abaddon, who possesses a farmer named Hiram Spiezel. From DC Comics, Lucifer debuted in a dream sequence in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #65 (December 1962), and eventually for real in DC Special Series #8 (1977). The latter appearance depicted Lucifer in Hell with an advisory board consisting of Guy Fawkes, Benedict Arnold, Adolf Hitler, Jack the Ripper, Nero, and Bluebeard, and controlling a human operative named Edward Dirkes. Jason Blood has a nightmare of Hell in Jack Kirby's The Demon (vol. 1) #14 (November 1973), but otherwise, the concept is in absentia other than through retcon. Etrigan the Demon debuted in the first issue of the series, but Hell was never actually mentioned in a concrete manner in Demon stories until Swamp Thing (vol. 2) #27, in which Alan Moore made the first canonical claim for Etrigan being a denizen of Hell, referring to his promotion to a Rhyming Demon, and having him speak consistently in rhyme, which he did not do during the Kirby series. Many stories in DC's various mystery titles featured "Satan," and at least one, in Weird Mystery Tales #4, featured Lucifer, but those stories may or may not be in continuity. Satan did appear, along with an angelic pre-fall Etrigan, in one of the four possible origins of The Phantom Stranger (three of which are Judeo-Christian inspired, a fourth, science fiction) in Secret Origins (vol. 3) #10 (January 1987).

Aside from DC Special Series #8, which was ignored in subsequent continuity, Hell made its actual first appearance in Swamp Thing (vol. 2) Anunual #2. Subsequently it would appear in issues #49-#50, in which there is a war going on in Hell, and Etrigan is there. The Spectre's failure in his intervention in this conflict leads to a reduction of his power as described in The Spectre (vol. 2) #1 (April 1987). While Hell appeared in issues of that series, we never saw any but characters from the stories condemned to go there and the occasional demon tormenting them, such as in issue #21. Hell subsequently appeared in issues of Blue Devil. In The Sandman #4 (April 1989), we are introduced to the leaders of Hell, a trinity consisting of Lucifer, an angel drawn to resemble David Bowie; Beelzebub, a large fly, and Azazael, a shadowy, many-eyed creature (Azazel had previously appeared as an incubus in the Madame Xanadu story in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2 and The Unexpected #190 (March/April 1978)). In April 1990, this trinity (albeit with Beelzebub referred to as Belial) appeared in Secret Origins #48, presenting the never-before-told origin of Stanley and His Monster, in which the trinity expels a monster to Earth for being too nice, where he is discovered by Stanley Dover, who names him Spot. This version of Hell continued to appear in issues of The Demon (vol. 3), and The Books of Magic.

In the second Swamp Thing annual, Hell was said to be a place that beings went to only because they believed that they belonged there. During the fourth Sandman story arc, Season of Mists, in issues 21-28 (January–July 1991), Lucifer decides to abandon Hell, and forces all of these beings to leave. He gives the key to Dream, who does not want it, and has many divine beings, such as Odin, Bast, and Shivering Jemmy, a Lord of Chaos, attempt to persuade him to give the key to them. Odin attempts to bribe Dream with the Twilight Dimension of Ragnarok from The Last Days of the Justice Society of America Special, specifically because it contains his successor's grandfather, Hawkman (Carter Hall), and his protégé, Sandman (Wesley Dodds), but this fails. Eventually, Dream gives Hell to the angels Remiel and Duma, who, denied reentry into the Silver City, reinstate Hell as a place of spiritual rehabilitation rather than punishment. This version of Hell is also depicted in the Stanley and His Monster 1993 limited series, an October 1993 Phantom Stranger one shot under the Vertigo imprint by Alisa Kwitney and Guy Davis, the 1993-1994 Kid Eternity series by Ann Nocenti and Sean Phillips, also under the Vertigo imprint, albeit with Beelzebub having taken human form, and Batman #544 (July 1997), which guest-starred Etrigan.

Hellblazer under Garth Ennis would have its own Satan, and to avoid clashes with Sandman this was turned in Hellblazer #59 into the First of the Fallen: the first being in Hell, predating Lucifer and the failed uprising in Heaven. The First and two other demons ruled Hell once Lucifer had quit, with the two angels said to be only nominally in charge, and in a fourth wall moment the First complained about "those endless, bloody triumverates". John Constantine, to save himself, set up the First to be taken out and the succubus Chantinelle took control, but the First retook power shortly after.

The Master Baytor was nominally the ruler of Hell for a brief period, but spent the whole time rambling incoherently. (Hitman #17)

In the Lucifer series, which ran from 1999–2006, A human is eventually placed in charge of Hell while the title character roams Earth and owns a piano bar as depicted in the Sandman story arc The Kindly Ones (#57-69, February 1994-July 1995).

The Human Defense Corps mini-series in 2003 detailed the US Military designation for Demonic entities as "Hostile Species NHH-014". The Human Defense Corps were able to defeat a minor Lord of the Damned named Scarmaglione, and Sergeant Montgomery Kelly assumed his powers and claimed his clan and seat for the United States of America, his status as minor ruler was confirmed by Neron, who was then the First Seated of Hell.

Superman briefly became lord of Hell in Superman #666 (October 2007).

The 2008-2009 limited series Reign in Hell created by Keith Giffen and Tom Derenick introduces a new status quo for the DC Comics version of Hell; it also gave readers specific geographical references, and defined a codex of rules that govern the damned. Two years after Reign in Hell, DC decided to remove all DC Universe characters from the Vertigo imprint, though Vertigo would have its own version of Constantine. Rumors are flying that Justice League Dark wil be Constantine's only title when Peter Milligan leaves Hellblazer, both of which he writes.