Marvel Team-Up #80-81 (1979): Satana dies; Dr. Strange is a werewolf

1 thought on “Marvel Team-Up #80-81 (1979): Satana dies; Dr. Strange is a werewolf”

  1. Killing off Satana was as unfortunate as it was unnecessary. The decision to do this was undoubtedly motivated by the conclusion of the Seventies’ Marvel “horror phase”- all the publisher’s horror titles had tanked by decades’ end, and the apparent perception by Marvel was that all existing horror characters were deadwood, and a “housecleaning” of all horror characters was in order. I was following Marvel in those days, and I felt the horror “crash”, along with the rest of Marveldom Assembled. In the Seventies, the year ‘1980’ had a very futuristic sound to it, and I believe Marvel felt that as we drew closer to that futuristic-sounding year, horror characters and concepts were being eclipsed by futuristic concepts such as ‘Star Wars’, ‘Star Trek’, ‘Battlestar Galactica’, ‘Space:1999’, ‘UFO’, and so forth. I understood that, then and now, but that’s still no reason to unnecessarily kill off great characters. 1980 was forty-two years ago, we are now heavily into the 21st Century, and world interest in the supernatural is enjoying an all-time high, especially vampires, zombies, and ghosts. And anyway, Marvel Comics, of all institutions, should realize that you just can’t keep a good monster down! The recent “Hellstorm” TV series, one season wonder that it was, was very interesting, and was cancelled after one excellent season of great stories due to the same reason that Marvel’s 1970’s “Son of Satan” comic series was also cancelled- too controversial! Satana Hellstrom may not have been the nicest person to grace the world, but she was interesting and polarizing, and there is always room in fiction entertainment for such characters. Should Darth Vader and his obvious inspiration, Victor Von Doom, be destroyed just because they are evil?? No,no, the “Yin/Yang” principal applies here- just because a character is evil doesn’t mean he/she/it deserves destruction! If the Marvel Universe were populated by nothing but sweethearts and nice people, how interesting would it be?? So, rest well, Satana, and bless your black, evil heart! Excelsior!

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