Blue Devil: King of the grade-C superheroes. I love this guy. Cool name, awesome comic booky costume AND he’s Irish. That brings the Irish superhero count to five (four if Banshee is Scottish, but he should count anyway). On with the show…
First time I laid eyes on Blue Devil was his debut in the backup story of Fury of Firestorm #24. While that hooked me into collecting his series (FUN FACT: it wasn’t very good), it was the ad on the inside front cover of Firestorm that made me fall off the bed: Kenner’s Super Powers collection. DC action figures?!? My underpants immediately became a boom tube.
I was gonna pool my money and buy ‘em all, but then something occurred to just-turned-into-a-teenager me: I’d look stupid buying toys. Couldn’t let that happen, so I admired them from afar, giving ’em a thorough once-over whenever I’d see them on the shelf but never—for fear of ridicule—buying them. Not even when I saw Mister Miracle (a personal favorite) dangling from a supermarket peg. Years later—when I stopped caring what people thought—I’d buy that Mister Miracle figure at the San Diego Comic Con. For eighty bucks. Lesson learned: screw what people think. Buy toys.
I just checked my closet and I’m happy to report I don’t own any shortpants with yellow trim.
Ingredients: All figures used on this mod came from HeroClix figures. His body is Hawkman (Hypertime), his melon was lopped off Professor X (Infinity Challenge) and his horns were swiped from a Hellboy (IndyClix). Costume trimmings are all index card paper hardened with Krazy Glue and, finally, his trident is originally from…uh…Jack Knight Starman? No, that aint it. Stargirl? No…maybe a Parademon? That’s not right either. I built this sucker about three, four years ago and for the life of me can’t eyeball where that pig-poker came from. I might have nicked it from a Mage Knight figure. If you know what it is, drop a line in the comments below. Acrylic paint and a quick spritz of matte took it home. Custom Blue Devil dial here.
EDIT: Blue Devil’s trident is from a Fatality (Cosmic Justice). Thanks to Vine and Mr. Pilkington over at HCRealms for the heads up.
Seriously…how would the rest of your day go if you looked out the window and a wizard was battling a demon in a onesie? Even if you weren’t religious, how do you explain it away in a fashion that doesn’t make you question your existence? “Eh, they’re probably just aliens. Or magic.” Life in a superhero universe would lead to crazy.
Blue Devil from around the web
A custom Blue Devil MiniMate that’s so cute I want to eat it. Here’s another mod, a Blue Devil DCUC fig, one of the best custom anythings in the history of ever. Celebrate “Blue Devil Week” over at OnceUponaGeek.com, then check out a fan site devoted to Blue Devil (yes, really) and kill some time with a Blue Devil cover gallery. Finally, a neat piece of fan art featuring Blue Devil pulling a Superman.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: blue devil, dc, figures, shadowpact |
ToyChop 
Blue Devil’s staff was originally Fatality’s weapon (Cosmic Justice).
Thanks to Vine and Mr. Pilkington over at HCRealms.com for the heads-up.
Monty Python, the new Dr. Who and…mmm, nope, just those two. Every other British show just makes me scratch my head and wish I could read.
Blue Devil is cool, but he always makes me think of college basketball. And I really don’t want to think about that.
Depicting the Devil in blue color goes back to medieval times.
Satan was considered completely separated and distanced from God, in the depths of the earth and darkness, so he would be cold and blue. Dante’s Inferno’s last level where Satan is contained is actually a frozen Hell. So some medieval art would picture Satan in blue, instead of the usual red.
The goat appearance comes from some pagan gods that were denounced and discredited by Christianity. Most pagan gods had something to do with either fertility or nature, both of which were represented by the goat. The best example is Pan, the god of the earth and all nature, worshiped in various forms throughout the world in ancient times.
The horned appearance has also something to do with the sign of Capricorn, which is an earth sign, again symbolizing Satan’s association with anything worldly and nature related. Notice how this plays in stark comparison with God’s heavenly and supernatural characteristics in Christianity. It goes on and on like this, btw…
I could teach a class in this stuff…
I’d attend.
I’d wait for you to finish your presentation on Dante’s Inferno and raise my hand.
“Professor Shoyket…? I watched a documentary on A&E that said you couldn’t truly appreciate Dante’s Inferno unless you’ve taken into account–*snicker*–unless you take into account the ‘dickfor’.”
Then I’d stare at you, you’d stare back with a look of pity, I’d stare back, yell “A dickfor’s f*cking!”, then sweep my books off the desk–“WOOHOO!”–run down the steps of the auditorium slapping other students on the back of the head, trip, slide down the remaining stairs face-first, my sweatpants catching–and being rolled down–by the edge of a random seat. I’d come to rest at the bottom of the stairs unconscious and pantless but would awaken hours later in a deserted classroom with a supreme sense of accomplishment.
Well, teaching is just a way to pay the bills until I finish my novel. 😀
As you stepped over my body at end of class a student would point at me and ask “What about the special needs kid?”
You’d shrug and be like “Eh, leave it for the janitor.”