When DC Universe announced that Ian Ziering would be playing Daniel Cassidy on the upcoming James Wan ‘Swamp Thing’ program, I thought: “Wow, Blue Devil will appear on a live action show”.

A product of the DC 1980s creative explosion that brought us characters like: Booster Gold, a revamped Blue Beetle, Ambush Bug, Captain Carrot, and others, Blue Devil was probably most similar to Booster Gold in that the protagonist was a borderline anti-hero and his adventures were an off-beat and goofy exploration of the superhero genre. But whereas the Booster Gold comic featured time travel and future-tech, Blue Devil tended to mix action/adventure and magic as the main ingredients underlying its stories.

I can remember buying the Blue Devil comic off the rack and reading his adventures back in the 1980s. The comic always had the right mixture of action, humor and imaginative story lines to make me want to come back every month. All that and, at thirteen, I thought the Blue Devil suit Dan was forced to wear looked pretty cool.

Created by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and Paris Cullins the origins of Blue Devil begin with an unfortunate accident. Filming a movie called ‘Blue Devil’ Cassidy, a special effects wizard and stuntman, creates a special outfit to portray the titular character.

While filming on the mysterious 'Ile Du Diable,' the production is disrupted when an accident releases a demon, called Nebiros, from an alien dimension.

Having outfitted his Devil costume with a special exo-skeleton and pyrotechnic effects devices activated through a specially designed trident, Cassidy barely manages to drive the demonic entity back to its home dimension before he realizes that a blast of demonic energy he sustained during the battle with Nebiros has permanently grafted his costume to his body.

So, in effect, Cassidy becomes stuck in the costume he designed. Thereafter, he has to make the best of it. Unfortunately, as Dan’s friend Norm Paxton explains, the blast that left him permanently bonded to his Devil outfit also made him a ‘magnet’ for freakish and extra-dimensional entities.

As the plot developed, the magical side of the stories allowed the writers to introduce guest appearances from the more magic-centered characters in the DC universe, including: Zatanna, Madame Xanadu and the Demon Etrigan. In later stories Dan actually became a real demon and not merely a human in a special suit.

It will be interesting to see how they introduce the character in ‘Swamp Thing’. Also unknown is whether any of the other above noted characters will appear. If they do, it’s possible DC might be trying to set up a live action ‘Justice League Dark’ show; not that that’s a bad thing in the least. Given that Blue Devil’s small screen debut might work to draw attention to the character and his comic catalogue, which books should you seek out or dig up out of your long boxes?

Fury of Firestorm #24 (June 1984) – First Blue Devil in Preview

Issue #24 of the second volume and sequel to the Bronze Age, short lived original, Firestorm comic is the very first appearance of the Blue Devil. There are 107 of these on the CGC census. The 1980s Firestorm comics had large print runs and until recently could be found in dollar bins on a regular basis. This comic is starting to rise in price likely because of the Blue Devil preview. If you want a 9.8 certified copy you can probably still find it for under $100.00 but you better hurry. Otherwise, try your luck on a raw copy but the last few eBay sales ranged from $20.00-$40.00 as attention has already started to drive prices up. GoCollect currently has returns at negative but that may also change soon.

Blue Devil #1 (June 1984) – First Issue of Solo Series

It wasn’t long before Cassidy got his own comic. This comic is even less widely represented than FF #24 on the CGC census. Currently there are only 97 copies listed. Of the 97, 63 are 9.8 in grade and there’s even a 9.9 listed. Although presently cheaper than Firestorm #24, you can probably find a 9.8 certified copy for under $70.00 already slabbed. If you want a raw mint or near mint copy to slab for yourself, you can also still find them for under $20.00. However this may soon change: Happy Hunting!