Curiously Familiar #7: Demon-Hunter and Devil-Slayer and Bloodwing

Welcome back to "Curiously Familiar," a series of posts where I'm examining various comic book characters who turned up at at least two different publishers, but wore a different name at each one. This is not the same as characters who were created in homage - in this instances, the two characters were actually intended to be the same entities. Today we have three for the price of one!

Former mobster Gideon Cross became Demon-Hunter after joining the Cult of the Harvester of Eyes. Although benefiting from his new psychic powers and mystical shadow-cloak which opens a portal to an endless supply of weapons, Demon-Hunter turned against the cult and sought to prevent Xenogenesis, the demonic invasion of Earth.

Former mobster Eric Simon Payne became Devil-Slayer after joining the Cult of the Harvester of Eyes. Although benefiting from his new psychic powers and mystical shadow-cloak which opens a portal to an endless supply of weapons, Devil-Slayer turned against the cult and sought to prevent Xenogenesis, the demonic invasion of Earth.

Former mobster Gideon Cross became Bloodwing after joining the Crimson Cult. Although benefiting from his new psychic powers, Bloodwing turned against the cult and... [story incomplete]

The Story Behind the Story: To comic book fans of a certain age, Rich Buckler was their Rob Liefeld; an artist whose tracings (usually from Jack Kirby or Jim Steranko) frustrated some, and who would never let a decent concept die, no matter how many times it had to be restaged. The story began with Atlas Comics in 1975, where David Kraft & Rich Buckler introduced Demon-Hunter. Like yesterday's feature on Howard Victor Chaykin's Scorpion, Buckler was a hungry and dynamic artist who could have helped Atlas win over Marvel Comics fans. However, the book didn't last beyond a single issue; Atlas' loss proved to be Marvel's gain. Just like Chaykin, they continued their story at Marvel, bringing him into (of all things) a story starring Buckler's Deathlok, who time traveled to the present-day Marvel Universe in Marvel Spotlight #33 (1977) for the sole purpose of meeting the renamed Demon-Hunter, who bore the same powers and origin, simply wearing a redesigned costume.

Although Kraft continued to use Devil-Slayer in the Defenders, Buckler's involvement ended there; perhaps he regretted losing control of his co-creation, because in his self-published 1981 magazine Galaxia he revisited the concept again, this time using the name Bloodwing (but again with the same costume, powers and origin and restoring Demon-Hunter's real name). Unfortunately, Galaxia didn't take off and whatever hope Buckler had for continuing Bloodwing (or completing his origin) was scuttled.

Devil-Slayer is still out there, showing up when (and where) you least expect it.