Hot Stuff the Little Devil is a character appearing in American comic books. Created by Warren Kremer, he first appeared in Hot Stuff #1 (October 1957), published by Harvey Comics. Imbued with a mischievous personality and able to produce fire, Hot Stuff appears as a red child devil who wears a diaper (said to be made of asbestos) and carries a magical sentient pitchfork (referred to as his "trusty trident"), which is a character in its own right. Much to the consternation of his demonic brethren, Hot Stuff sometimes performs good deeds to irritate them. Though often, compared to other Harvey Comics supernatural characters such as Casper the Friendly Ghost and Wendy the Good Little Witch, Hot Stuff is portrayed as much more wrathful and loves pulling pranks on others.

Publication history

Created and first drawn by Warren Kremer, Hot Stuff has appeared in at least eight comic book titles including:

  • Hot Stuff Sizzlers (1960)
  • Devil Kids Starring Hot Stuff (1962)
  • Hot Stuff Creepy Caves (1974)

Princess Charma, Hot Stuff's girlfriend and primary companion, a blonde, winged, angelic "fairy godmother" who is as kind and delicate as Hot Stuff is vicious and forceful, and tries to cool down his hot temper or to get him out of trouble by waving her magic wand.

Grandpa Blaze, Hot Stuff's grandfather, who is often temperamental and is known to use cusswords in his speech, but is ultimately friendly toward his grandson.

Legacy and influence

Hot Stuff the Little Devil is the unofficial emblem for the 108th Field Battery-Royal Australian Artillery and the 407 Long Range Patrol Squadron of the Canadian Forces. He is the mascot for Dysart High School located in El Mirage, Arizona, Eagle Valley High School in Gypsum, Colorado, and Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst, California, and a blue version of Hot Stuff is the logo for Fort Morgan Middle School in Fort Morgan, Colorado. He was the mascot of Joey Harrison's Surf Club in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, and was also the inspiration for the logo of the Chicago based street gang Satan Disciples. Additionally, he is the mascot for the Austin-based restaurant Torchy's Tacos.

Hot Stuff makes a cameo in a 2014 episode of The Simpsons titled "Treehouse of Horror XXV", in which he was put in "Super Hell" for how "lame" his comics are.

Hot Stuff made an appearance in an episode of Harvey Girls Forever!, based on Harvey Comics characters, as a hot sauce mascot.

Film

As of 2014, DreamWorks Animation was developing a live-action/CGI film based on the character with Lizzie and Wendy Molyneux set to write it. It was to be the second attempt for a DreamWorks Animation film to use live-action and computer-animation and the second DreamWorks animated film to feature characters from the Classic Media library; the first was Mr. Peabody & Sherman. Since then, there has been no further news about the project.

References

  • Hot Stuff the Little Devil at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
  • 407 LRP Squadron hat, as sold by the 407 Squadron kit shop, with a modified Hot Stuff logo.