Note: Toks Solarin returns to Project: Rooftop this week with an inspired and off-beat take on DC’s Etrigan the Demon and alter-ego Jason Blood. Originally designed by Jack Kirby after being inspired by a character from Prince Valiant, this Etrigan hails from a different mythos but with the same monstrosity. – Chris A.
Here’s what Solarin had to say about his take:
Etrigan and Jason Blood are really cool characters …they just don’t look very good. On paper you have an immortal knight trying to redeem himself bound to the demon half brother of Merlin, pretty cool right, whats not to like? Well once you put a power house like Etrigan in a unitard, tights and little booties you can’t really take him seriously. This is of course ignoring those horrible bat like ears! So I decided to have a go at a redesign and this is what I came up with.
Jason Blood: What does a guy wear whose been around for hundreds of years, does he stick to his traditional garb, does he pick a decade he likes and stick to that or does he wear the latest fashions in order to blend in? The short answer is I have no idea, who could know that!? In the end i decided to have him dress in smart/formal type clothes as that is what a knight would wear in king Arthur’s court and he would just follow that pattern through out the centuries. The Tattoos are what binds Etrigan to Blood and over the years Jason has added some protective enchantments and sigils to his body as well. He would be one of the most powerful sorcerers in the DCU because of his bond with Etrigan and him having centuries to study and he’s a knight so he knows his way around a battle field.
Etrigan: I made him bigger than he appears in the comic as well as a Hell Knight. I thought having him wear armor would connect him to Blood in a more significant way.He also has hair in my version, white hair which in a very small way reenforces his link to Blood (I did try a red stripe so his hair was the reverse of Blood’s but it looked stupid). I also gave him two big iron swords on his back, with iron being the bane to all things supernatural I thought they would come in handy when ever he needs to get up close and personal.
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