Blue Devil #6
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBlue Devil #6 (November 1984) marks the debut of Bolt (Larry Bolatinsky), a tech-suited assassin who proved durable enough to appear across decades of DC continuity — in Suicide Squad, Identity Crisis, and eventually spawning a second-generation villain in his son Dreadbolt. Beyond the first appearance, the issue holds a quiet structural significance: it was the last interior issue pencilled by Paris Cullins, the co-creator whose kinetic, open-line style had defined the series from the start. Writers Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin later acknowledged that no subsequent artist fully recaptured the tonal blend of comedy and superhero action that Cullins had helped forge across those first six issues. Issue #6 is therefore both a birth and a threshold — the moment Blue Devil's founding creative partnership reached its natural end.
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The series was born from a thoroughly collaborative process: Cohn and Mishkin originally conceived the character for artist Steve Ditko, who declined the assignment, and the concept was redirected to Paris Cullins, whose energetic style shaped the tone of the book. For the first six issues, Cohn and Cullins worked in close physical proximity — Cullins traveling from Philadelphia to Brooklyn to plot and draw alongside Cohn — a highly organic approach that contributed to the series' unusually unified voice in its early run. Issue #6 was produced on a 52-page format that included a bonus Flash Force 2000 insert drawn by Denys Cowan and Sal Trapani, scripted by Robert Loren Fleming; this expanded format was common to several DC titles of the era. After issue #6, Cullins departed interior duties (though he continued providing covers), triggering a period of fill-in artists that the book's creative team found creatively frustrating.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Bolt (Larry Bolatinsky), a special-effects technician turned for-hire assassin whose tech suit grants him short-range teleportation and energy-blast capability — created by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, Paris Cullins, and Ernie Colón.
- Bolt is the progenitor of the villain Dreadbolt (Terry Bolatinsky), his son, who would later appear in Teen Titans and the Terror Titans miniseries.
- Bolt went on to appear in Suicide Squad, Captain Atom, Starman (Will Payton era), Identity Crisis, and Salvation Run, making this the origin point of one of DC's more persistent mid-tier mercenary villains.
- Issue #6 is the final interior-art issue pencilled by Paris Cullins on the series; Cullins continued to supply covers through the end of the run but did not return as regular interior penciller.
- Writers Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin stated that following Cullins' departure, no subsequent artist managed to replicate the combination of comedic tone and superhero action the book had during issues #1–6.
- The main story, 'Night on the Town,' is set in Las Vegas and introduces the 'weirdness magnet' concept — the in-universe explanation for why unusual events constantly surround Dan Cassidy after his exposure to the demon Nebiros.
- The 52-page issue includes a 16-page bonus Flash Force 2000 insert comic written by Robert Loren Fleming with art by Denys Cowan and Sal Trapani — notably Denys Cowan's contribution to an issue that also marked Cullins' final interior appearance on the title.
- The Trickster (Flash villain) appears in a cameo alongside Bolt, continuing the series' practice of using established DC rogues as guest antagonists and developing the Trickster into a more nuanced, recurring presence.
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