A Friend

A friend was a mysterious stranger who saved Blaze from Mephisto. After saving Blaze, he left, saying merely "I am ... a friend."


 * He next appeared in order to keep Blaze from killing the Orb, and then he told Blaze he has work to do helping out the Champions.


 * However, Mephisto eventually claims that the "friend" was an illusion created to fool Blaze.

Behind the Scenes
The friend was clearly meant to be a not so subtle version of Jesus Christ. Writer Tony Isabella said: When I added an element of Christianity to oppose Satan, the favorable response was such than I began to expand on my original plans. From that point on, as I'll discuss a question or two down, I became to consider my stories from a fairness standpoint as well. If we were going to represent "Hell" in our comics, shouldn't we also represent "Heaven?" . . . I was discussing the book with a group of writers, confident that, one way or another, I get Johnny out of this jam. That's when the legendary Steve Gerber quipped "Why don't you have God save him?" I laughed and then went...wait a minute...that's just crazy enough to work. I pitched it to editor Roy Thomas, laying out where I'd be going with the character after that, and he approved what would end up being a two-year-long story arc. However, this element was abandoned, because (as Isabella recounted): Len Wein and Marv Wolfman, who succeeded Roy as editor, were also very supportive of my plans. Unfortunately, when it came time for the conclusion of the story arc to go to press, the ever-arrogant, ever-overrated, and just-plain-nasty Jim Shooter decided to change the ending and, by doing so, the entire thrust of the story I had so painstakingly constructed. I've been explaining and apologizing for my last issue ever since. Shooter truly turned a silk purse into a sow's ear.