Hot Stuff the Little Devil is a comic book character created by Warren Kremer who 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 Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

) 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

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

ic brethren, Hot Stuff sometimes performs good deeds to irritate them.

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) as well as multiple back-up stories between the periods 1957-1982 and 1986-1991, along with sporadic appearances in other publications during the 1990s and 2000s. The most recent appearance of Hot Stuff was in 2009 with Casper the Friendly Ghost and Wendy the Good Little Witch, when a three-issue comic book miniseries was published by Arden Entertainment called ''

Casper and the Spectrals ''Casper and the Spectrals'' is a three-issue comic book miniseries published by Ardden Entertainment, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Casper the Friendly Ghost. The series gives the characters a modernized look and design while living in a gr ...

''. Warren Kremer and Howard Post were the artists who helped define the look of Hot Stuff, drawing many comic book covers and stories over the years. Ernie Colón was another major comics artist who drew Hot Stuff. While Harvey Comics flagship characters Casper the Friendly Ghost, Spooky and

Wendy the Good Little Witch Wendy the Good Little Witch is a fictional comic book character from Harvey Comics. Like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Wendy is an opposite-type character, a girl witch who does good deeds. Publication history Wend ...

often crossed over into each other's stories, Hot Stuff rarely appeared with them. Instead, the little devil would be featured with characters like

Stumbo the Giant Stumbo the Giant is a fictional Harvey Comics character. He lives right next to Tinytown, and everyone in Tinytown loves him, despite his tendencies to keep them awake with his loud snoring, or to shake up the town with his laughter or by accident ...

(created by Warren Kremer and

Larz Bourne Larz may refer to: * Lärz, a municipality in Germany * Larz, a given name; people with the name include: ** Larz Anderson (1866–1937), American diplomat ** Larz Bourne (1916–1993), American cartoon writer {{Disambiguation, given name ...

, and appeared in back-up stories in Hot Stuff comics in 1957), Katnip the cat, Herman the mouse and good fairy Princess Charma. While they often tended to annoy or anger Hot Stuff, their appearances served to further develop Hot Stuff's character.

Comic book series

* ''Hot Stuff the Little Devil'' * ''Devil Kids Starring Hot Stuff'' * ''Hot Stuff Creepy Caves'' * ''Hot Stuff Sizzlers'' * ''Hot Stuff Digest '' * ''Harvey Wiseguys'' * ''Astro Comics'' * ''Casper And...'' * ''Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Vol. 2'' * ''Casper and his Friends Magazine'' (Marvel Comics) * ''

'' * ''Hot Stuff the Little Devil Halloween Special'' (Dark House Comics) * ''Harvey Comics Treasury'' (Dark House comics) * ''Harvey Hits'' (Joe Books) * ''Casper the Friendly Ghost'' (American Mythology Productions)

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 407 Long Range Patrol Squadron (abbreviated 407 LRP Sqn, formerly 407 Maritime Patrol Squadron) is a long range and maritime patrol squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force. It is located at 19 Wing Comox, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, ...

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 Lindhurst High School is located in Olivehurst, California, USA. It is one of two high schools in the Marysville Joint Unified School District of Yuba County and draws students from the communities of Olivehurst, Linda, Plumas Lake, and Mar ...

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 street gang Satan Disciples. Additionally, he is the mascot for the

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

-based restauran
Torchy's Tacos
The Old Jail Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana has an image of Hot Stuff on a cell wall as drawn by one of the inmates. 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 official appearance in a 2020 episode of ''

Harvey Girls Forever! ''Harvey Girls Forever!'' (originally titled ''Harvey Street Kids'' in its first season, then retroactively retitled) is an American animated comedy television series produced by Brendan Hay and Aliki Theofilopoulos for DreamWorks Animation Televi ...

'', based on Harvey Comics characters, as a hot sauce mascot.

Film

As of 2014,

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

was developing a live-action/CGI film based on the character with Lizzie and Wendy Molyneux set to write it. It would be the second attempt for a DreamWorks Animation film to use live-action and computer-animation. It will be the second DreamWorks animated film to feature characters from the Classic Media library; the first was '' Mr. Peabody & Sherman''.

References

External links

Hot Stuff the Little Devil
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

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.
{{Casper the Friendly Ghost Harvey Comics series and characters Harvey Comics titles Fictional demons and devils DreamWorks Classics 1957 comics debuts Humor comics Fantasy comics Comics characters introduced in 1957 Child characters in comics Casper characters Children's comics