Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Still More (Really) Weird Heroes: El Diablo

AYO-AY-HU-AYYY-AYNOHEEE-AYONAY-HUHHKAYAYYY... — A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty AYO-AY-HU-AYYY-AYNOHEEE-AYONAY-HUHHKAYAYYY … El Diablo!
With his faithful Indian shaman, Wise Owl, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in Puerta del Sol, California. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. El Diablo rides again as we see what the Old West has in store for the latest installment of...Created by Robert Kanigher and Gray Morrow for All-Star Western #2 (July, 1970), El Diablo was (visually, at least) DC's answer to Zorro. Besides our hero taking the name El Diablo, which means "The Devil", he's a charter member of the Pantheon of the Weird because he's actually a comatose bank teller who is magically brought to consciousness by a shaman. During the Groovy Age, El Diablo didn't have any supernatural powers, but his stories had an air of creepiness about them that set it apart from DC's usual Western fare. Another unusual twist (especially for a DC comic) was that El Diablo's debut in All-Star Western #2 didn't give us our hero's origin. That came in All-Star Western #3 (September, 1970). And you, you lucky diablo, get to read that fateful origin right here, right now! Take it away, Bob and Gray!

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2 comments:

  1. Scott MOctober 15, 2008 at 5:04 PM

    I love Diablo. Well, I love anything with Gray Morrow art.

    I really wish he'd have been included in the Jonah Hex Showcase.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Groovy AgentOctober 15, 2008 at 7:46 PM

    Agreed, Scott. Maybe they'll put El Diablo in the next Jonah Hex Showcase (and there'd better be another, DC!)

    ReplyDelete

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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