Meet Mr. Lucifer

Before branching out to Orbit-Wanted in 1945, Orbit Publications had a line of one-shot comics under the label of Baily Publishing Company. The one horror anthology of these was Spook Comics which also featured various comedic monster tales. The first segment starred the subtle-named Mister Lucifer in a story titled "Up Pops The Devil" drawn by John Giunta who went on to do art for Frank Frazetta's first comic book publication of Snowman. The tale starts off with two bank robbers coming from their latest heist as they bury their booty in a cemetery. They open an old coffin releasing a demonic spirit calling himself Mr. Lucifer who sicks his ghosts and ghouls after his unintended rescuers. The monocled Mr. L had been sealed off in this tomb for 2000 years, which makes you wonder if he was imprisoned by Native Americans. Now he wants to take over the world so he could kill all the people in it which he claims will make him happy. How one reasons global domination followed by planetary genocide is supposed to make sense is something only a headshrinker from Hell could figure out. Lucifer and his helpers begin their destructive campaign by drowning a ship, and then attacking a skyscraper, although his evil stooges get stuck in a cement block. Lucifer tries to free them but gets himself caught in the stone too, leaving a pair of gawkers debating if all the disasters were caused by Nazis or something supernatural. It's never stated in the comic if Mister Lucifer was supposed to be the Devil himself or just a random demon. It appears like if he was really the big red daddy that he wouldn't have been released just at the tail end of WWII only to be defeated by unattended construction gear.

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