Monster of the Day #1630

This will be a short week for MotD (just as next week will start late, probably on Wednesday) because of the do in Texas. So I might as well stick with where we’ve been lately.

I knew Ghost Rider started in the pages of Marvel Spotlight, one of several anthology books (Marvel Premiere, etc.) where the publisher would try out new and more obscure characters. I didn’t realize it was generally used to try out supernatural-themed ones. This is presumably in reaction to the then weakened Comic Codes dropping their old rule against most supernatural creatures. Hence the Tomb of Dracula and many other monster-themed characters.

in any case, issue 2-4 of Marvel Spotlight introduced Werewolf by NIght, who quickly was shunted over to his own book. Issue 5 gave us Ghost Rider, who also quickly got his own title. (Sadly, while the covers of GR’s Spotlight adventures are great, they lack monsters, so they won’t be appearing here). Then as GR left the title was taken over by Son of Satan, an occult good guy character kind of along the line’s of DC’s far superior the Demon. I don’t think SoS ever rated his own title back in day, but he did headline Spotlight for 12 issues. After that he showed up occasionally as one of Marvel’s more minor occult characters.

Issue #26 introduced the supernatural Scarecrow, who I rather liked (I think he had two adventures under that name, I don’t remember where the other one was, but I read those issues a lot) but who didn’t get much support from fans. After that various normal superheroes got an issue or two (including a fun adventure for Thor’s supporting team the Warriors Three) until book was shuttered after issue #33.

That’s a great cover. For all I know Kragg was just a guy with a robot arm, but the cover is monster-y enough to rate an appearance.

  • According to Wikipedia, which is never wrong and always looking out for our best interests, Son of Satan did exist as a solo comic and ran for about seven issues. Which strikes me as about one issue too many for the character. Sorry, either end at 6 or go the full measure to issue 666.

  • Gamera977

    The whole thing looks kinda kinky to me.

  • sandra

    The Bride of Frankenstein hasn’t aged well.

  • bgbear_rnh

    “The Divorce of Frankenstein” was not a happy sequel.

  • Flangepart

    Werewolf by night…like, we’d expect anything else?
    Werewolf by night, accountant by day, poodle at noon.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I still love how the original WWbN series ended, with the werewolf and several other people getting trapped in Hell House. As in, the one from the Matheson novel. Main difference was in how they did ‘Belasco’ over as ‘Marcosa’ and had his ghost messing with everyone, only to learn that the werewolf was a bit much for him.

    Kind of makes me wish they had other of their horror character getting into similar classic tales. Dracula versus the Body Snatchers, Ghost Rider visits Innsmouth, etc.

  • Yahmule

    Any reason to post Mike Ploog’s art is acceptable.