El Diablo

Rafeal Sandoval is a Texas politician who becomes the costumed vigilante El Diablo, channeling the legacy of a classic Western hero to fight corruption and injustice in his community.

Born in the pages of Secret Origins #45 in 1989, El Diablo arrived at DC Comics during the Copper Age with a debut crafted by Martin Pasko and Grant Miehm that clearly had ambitions beyond a single issue. This character carved out a corner of the DC universe substantial enough to anchor a self-titled series, while also turning up in the pages of Checkmate and rubbing shoulders with heavy hitters like Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Firestorm, and The Flash — serious company that speaks to El Diablo's place in the broader DC landscape. With a publishing presence stretching all the way from 1989 into 2020, this is a character whose staying power quietly outlasted many flashier debuts of the same era — a hidden gem for collectors who love digging into the deeper, more atmospheric corners of DC's Copper and Modern Age output.