Demonic Monsters

I was gonna take a look at Big Bads today but realized that I might not have content appropriate to fully explore the concept, so instead, I was able to take what I had and look at demonic monsters.

First off, I take a look at Batman and his journey to Dark Nights: Metal, which from everything I’ve heard is a pretty good event in the DC world. But as with most events, and most superhero stuff, the origin of the story goes back quite a few years. AND…it involves some dark arts and demon summoning.

Then I take a look at a TV series I used to watch back in the ‘00s. Supernatural was a fun show back then until it supposedly was being taken off the air. Well, I kept seeing it every year at Comic-Con but never went back to watch it. Now that Comic-Con has been canceled for 2020, I figure it’s time to take a step back into the way back machine and give this series a rewatch and catch up on what I missed. This show is just jam-packed with demons though perhaps Buffy might have a few more.

The Demonic Bat?

One of the most significant happenings in recent DC Comics has been the Dark Nights: Metal event, and I think it’s about time I take some time to give a DC event some love.

But of course, I can’t just start with the trade paperback. Six issues, and I’m done. No, there’s tons of back story and lead up that I need to understand before I jump to that point.

So I’m gonna start where Dave over at Comic Book Herald suggests and begin reading the Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City story from the 90s.

This story starts with Batman #452 from 1990, written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Kieron Dwyer and Dennis Janke. And from my understanding, it introduces the big bad that sits at the center of the Metal event.

Hmm…well as far as I can tell from my first reading, the bad guy in this issue is the Riddler, and I’m pretty sure he’s not the central figure of Metal. I suppose we’ll eventually see where this fits in the event, but for now, this is a pretty well-written issue in which the Riddler leads Batman through a veritable maze of puzzles.

We also get some back story to the back story in which we see several pre-Revolutionary Americans, including Thomas Jefferson, performing a satanic ritual back in 1764. Called the ‘Ceremony of the Bat,’ the dark magic was performed to summon the daemon Barbathos and place him under the control of the cultists. That is, given that they performed the proper sacrifice.

What do you figure…the sacrifice was botched, and I’m wondering if this daemon, Barbathos, is the guy to look out for in Metal. We’ll see…

In any case, this was a good issue, and I’m looking forward to more.

A Demonic Rewatch

Almost 20 years or so ago, there was a little channel called The WB that aired some exciting shows. Shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls were fun programs that defined the network for years, and then as time went on and demographics changed, we started seeing programs like Angel and Smallville. Later in 2005, they aired a show that I was all on board for – Supernatural. Having been a huge fan of Buffy and the X-Files, I saw this show about two monster-hunting brothers as a nice mix of my must-watch TV. The show was excellent, and I followed them for five seasons, and even a network change as The WB fell apart, but even on the CW, the quality was on target for me. And then I. heard that the 5th season was gonna be their last…huh? I thought the show had plenty of legs, but networks being networks, they were gonna pull the plug.

Now you have to understand that back in that time, shows were getting canceled all over the place – even those that were critically acclaimed and fan favorites. Buffy was constantly threatened, and X-Files even had a few run-ins with cancellation possibilities.

So here was a show I enjoyed being threatened with cancellation. I was bummed, but I marched on and moved on to other programs. I finished off season 5 and didn’t look back.

Well, this little show that I enjoyed so much back in the 00s is now finishing off it’s 15th and ‘final’ season. That’s quite a few more than the five seasons I was told it was going to have. And now I realize I’ve missed more than twice as many episodes as I’ve watched.

So, as I am doing with Star Trek: The Original Series, I’m gonna go back to the beginnings of Supernatural and rewatch the show. What were the things I enjoyed about it way back when? What interesting twists were thrown in over the ten seasons I haven’t watched? We’re they able to keep up with the cool music? What interesting monsters and demons have they had to fight with throughout the years I missed? And most importantly, do they still have the Impala?

Anyway, to carry forward with my theme today of demonic monsters, I thought it would be a good time to get started with my rewatch and cold-watch of 15 seasons of Supernatural.

It’s a Wrap

So the theme of my ramble for today was demon and monsters, and I think both segments cover them in a pretty good way. In Batman we are basically introduced to the demon that is gonna be the main antagonist years down the road and in Supernatural I know we’re gonna see plenty of demons once I start rewatching it.

Demons hold an interesting place in media. They are practically everywhere and are an easy foil for our heroes. We’ve even seen them become heroes in shows like Angel, Underworld and Blade.

It’s easy to blame some sort of demonic possession for all the bad things a person does (The Exorcist) or highlight the good things someone does by fighting against their inner demons (Lucifer), so I think they have a definite place in today’s culture.

I just wonder if they’re used too much since I think there’s plenty of evil that humans do to each other that doesn’t need a supernatural entity as the instigator.

In any case, I think they’re gonna play interesting roles in Batman and Supernatural and I’m looking to find out how they influence us puny humans.

Ramble 2020.02.05 | Demonic Monsters