ONCE UPON A WEIRDNESS MAGNET – BLUE DEVIL #7!
Our coverage of the classic 1980s BLUE DEVIL comic series continues with BLUE DEVIL #7 from December 1984! Diabolu Frank and The Irredeemable Shag find their joy as Dan Cassidy’s first date with Sharon goes sideways thanks to Bolt vs. the Trickster! It’s romance meets mayhem! Finally, we wrap up with YOUR listener feedback and we fan-cast The Trickster!
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Life is short. Focus on the positive. Find Your Joy.
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Great episode, guys. You’re right – Gil Kane is a legend, but an odd fit on Blue Devil. As for a fan casting for Bolt? I’d go with Jason Statham. He’s a good utility action star who presents enough of a threat to be taken seriously, but is beatable.
I miss the Jesse James trickster. The new kid is just annoying. I wouldn’t mind him getting Scourged.
Let’s see I’ve casted norm as Robin Williams
My trickster is Andy Kaufman
So bolt is …. ?
Let’s see who would be a good villain
I got it a pro wrestler.
For Bolt is the heel pro wrestler wild bill Irwin
He has experience working under a mask or in this case helmet so he can use body language to convey emotion, and can work can do different characters really well if you’ve never heard the name you actually have just didn’t realize it was him an early WWF play a wrestling character called the goon. In WCCW he two different wrestling personas himself and part of the super destroyers mass tag team.
And as bonus my blue devil : is Tony danza (the younger version from taxi (he was a a legit boxer so with some extra training and Hollywood magic I think you could pull off the blue devil)
Wow. I thought I was the only one who remembered Wild Bill Irwin.
Typo should be he
Not gonna lie, the moment I saw the mention of the classic car in “perfect” condition on the cover, I was expecting it to be trashed by the end of the issue. What a bait and switch! They only trashed a “mere” Porsche before the classic car even appeared….
Thanks for the kind words (well, Frank, at least. Shag knows what he said…). I look forward to future collaborations.
Fan cast Bolt you say? Generic Merc who is called up whenever you need someone at short notice? Well if this was the 80s i’d go with generic Wrestler from WWF Era. I have no idea who any of those ones are I’ll be honest.
But these days ? Well obviously you need a … generic Wrestler …. Cory Rhodes I guess ? He’s been in Arrow a few times as a generic metahuman villain. Seems Rhodes is a big name these days so maybe not easy to cast but the generic wrestler option remains.
As for the issue in question I sure miss Paris Cullen’s pencils but Gil Kane brings something different and I don’t mind him at all. The comedy of the issue still carries the book however and it’s a great story where things happen to a superhero rather than superhero looking for trouble – those are always the best. Dan doesn’t even consider himself a Superhero otherwise why would he even hear out The Trickster ?
While I’m here… Marla > Sharon not that we are worried about these things but Gil Kane sure makes Marla look fantastic.
First off, fun episode and it sounds like a great issue. So cool that you got to meet Cullins at the con Shag! And agree with Frank that Kane feels off-brand. But what I have seen on-line looks like he did better than I thought he would!
Richard Pryor doing Saturday morning cartoons makes me think he had higher coke bills than even he could manage and needed cash any way he could. Muppet Babies, Spidey/Amazing Friends/ D&D were all faves.
Thought for sure that I had fancast the Trickster. I think Anthony Edwards in the ‘Gotcha’, ‘Sure Thing’ era. Goofy blond hero, unlikely action hero. Young and goofy.
As for Bolt, I think a young Tim Robbins has the right look and feel. He can be subtly malevolent in feel, thinking the slick guy in The Player.
Really loving the deep dive and love the you and Frank banter.
I really enjoyed this episode, Shag and Frank. To be honest, comics that are fun for fun’s sake are needed now more than ever. I was a fan of the Blue Devil series when it originally came out, but it’s nice to reminded how good it was. Shag, thanks for being this Network’s Weirdness Magnet and waving that Flag of Joy proudly!
I’m already missing Parris on the interior pages, but when I think on it, Gil Kane was a good fit for Bolt somehow. His costume has an aesthetic that would fit right into a Green Lantern story, so maybe that helped him get this assignment. Still, I’d much rather have someone who’s style captured the fun of Blue Devil.
I really appreciate the addition of James to the cast. He’s not truly a reformed villain, so he can be unpredictable, as we’ll see next issue. I’m trying to think of another villain that became a recurring supporting cast member in a comic before this, but all I get are things like Hawkeye in the Avengers which I’d call a “main character” role, or Catwoman in Batman’s comics as mostly “love interest” which has a specific dynamic. James and Danny have a very specific “frenemy” dynamic, and I can’t place anything else like it.
Oh, one quick note on Pryor’s Place. I never watched it, but it’s the same formula as Bill Cosby hosting Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Before that gig, Cosby’s standup routine wasn’t as family friendly as it became later, so going with Pryor isn’t as crazy as it may sound.
Gil Kane just was not a great fit for Blue Devil. Kevin Maguire or Joe Staton would have been a better fit.