DC Relaunch: Demon Knights

Jack Kirby, often referred to as "The King of Comics," who assisted or single-handledly created most of Marvel's staple characters, came in and left the DC universe with a wonderful smattering of characters during a time that many consider to be him at his peak. One of these odd little characters was the Demon, Etrigan. An odd little turn around on a Jekyl and Hyde scenario, the Demon was actually a cruel meddling of the wizard Merlin in a last ditch effort at Camelot. And the he leaped into the present day. The DC Universe has had many other characters running around the Medieval times, and so its appropriate that someone would want to put a band together...

Enter the Demon Knights. Cause who best to save the world in dark times such as those? Along with Madame Xanadu (who has managed to sneak her way into two books, kudos m'lady), the Shining Knight, and whoever else might be around (no doubt we'll be surprised), the curiosity may lay less with its members and more with its missions. Because what exactly would you be doing if you're being led by a demon (and one that rhymes at that).

An aspect of the character that I've always liked is the other side to the coin. I mentioned Jekyl and Hyde earlier, and while Etrigan may represent the Hyde side, the Jekyl, Jason Blood, is no slouch. A childhood friend of Merlin's, he is an immortal mage, forever tied to his destiny of chains with the demon. He is often ruthless, which may be the influence on his back. But the modern Blood is less active, he is reclusive, resigned to his position (most often, anyway). So I am interested to see how this plays with the demon being a more recent inhabitant.

DC Relaunch: Justice League Dark

The DC Universe has had its share of supernatural heroes, and but a few supernatural or magic based teams. The previous magic go-to-guys was Shadowpact, and more often than not they were kind of considered a joke (at least until things got way out of hand and you needed to fix it quick). But with more emphasis on the magic/mystic/peculiar side of the DC universe, it's time to take these guys seriously again. And this time, they've brought out the big guns.

Will they actually be called Justice League Dark? I don't know, but the fact that they're finally regarded as Justice League worthy is important, I think. These folks have certainly saved the world enough times over. Deadman? Oh yeah, and you never knew because you couldn't see him! John Constantine? Buy him a beer and a pack of silk cuts and he'll tell you a tale or two, and how he got snubbed every time (though that last time was with good reason). Zatanna has been on the Justice League (or she was in the last continuity), and Madame Xanadu has been knocking around so long that I'm gonna be talking about her and the Demon hanging out tomorrow back in just post-Camelot days. What has Shade done? Good question. He's the least magical of all of them, being an alien being projecting into unused identity (read:dead) and wearing an M-vest that does a number of things, and depending on the day, the M can stand for damn near anything.

So here they all are, purveyors of weird, ready to take on whatever is thrown at them, which alot of that is going to be the biggest hurdle: they have to get along the whole time. Constantine more tolerates Deadman than anything, and him and Shade get along okay, though everything goes weird. Xanadu has seen every Constantine, Zatara, and avatar of Nanda Parat (Deadman), and she's likely not that impressed. And Constantine and Zatanna dated once (awkwaaaard). And thrown into all of this is the Enchantress, who just can't seem to figure out if she wants to be bad or good. It's a toss up.