"Old Haunts" |
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| Writers/Co-Creators: | Gary Cohn & Dan Mishkin |
| Penciller: | Alan Kupperberg |
| Inker: | Bill Collins |
| Letterer: | Bob Lappan |
| Colorist: | Michele Wolfman |
| Editor: | Alan Gold |
While showing a furry creature a spare room in the House of Weirdness, Cain accidentally allows it to escape through a closet which leads to another dimension. That dimension belongs to Dan Cassidy and the rest of the BLUE DEVIL cast. That's bad. Turns out this cute, furry creature is in fact a being known as the Hairy Devourer (I kid you not). Unless caught, it could wreak unspeakable havok upon the world. Just another day in the life of Dan Cassidy.
So even though Dan and Sharon have a date to go to the come-back concert of a 60's rock star named Blackjack McCullough, Dan and Cain set out to find the Hairy Devourer and return him to his rightful dimension. In the meantime, Blackjack is a demon of sorts who, after spending the last twelve years dead, has returned to claim the souls of his audience. Funny thing is, he intends to do so through the aid of the Hairy Devourer.
The concert starts and Blackjack summons Sharon to the stage and he straps her down. The devourer shows up, tries to eat her, but Blue Devil comes busin' in and throws fuzzy through a pentagram to his home dimension. But what about Blackjack? Well, Cain does a very cute little trick with his pocketwatch and the rock star crumbles to dust at the Witching Hour.
The BLUE DEVIL series, much like the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League comics, was known for...I hesitate to call it lampooning...so let's call it merely looking at the silly side of what had traditionally been serious characters. With "Old Haunts", Cohn & Mishkin introduce Cain and Abel, two old school horror anthology hosts, to the series. I love the creative reimagining of the characters demonstrated here, as sort of perpectually frazzled inn-keepers for whom Dan Cassidy was always causing some sort of trouble. The two brothers and Dan would become something like buddies over the course of the series, though as I've said, Cain would continue to be somewhat critical of Dan's irresponsibility regarding the use of the House of Weirdness.
This is an absolute classic issue to my mind. Several laugh out loud moments, and a just plain ingenius team-up with Blue Devil and Cain. The notion to make Dan, in a way, a tenant of the House of Weirdness was a great premise for a lot of future laughs, and it only seems appropriate besides, seeing as how Dan is a weirdness magnet. A definite high point in a series marked by clever ideas. It also sports one of my favorite Paris Cullins covers.
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