DAN CRANDALL
Real Name: Dan Allen Crandall
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Reporter
Group Membership: St. Louis Globe-Dispatch newspaper staff
Affiliations: Stacy
Enemies: Allatou;
kind of antagonistic relationship with Daimon
Hellstrom, Dr.
Katherine Reynolds, St. Louise Metropolitan Police Department
(especially Detective Lieutenant Alex Quinn)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: The offices of St. Louis Globe-Dispatch
First Appearance: Marvel Spotlight I#16 (July, 1974)
Powers/Abilities: Crandall is a capable reporter, who was dismissive of the supernatural even if it stared him right in the face and showed no regards for restrictions or morals.
Height: Unrevealed (5'9"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (155 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown (with some blond days apparently)
History:
(Marvel Spotlight I#16 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Allen Crandall became
a reporter working for the St. Louis Globe-Dispatch. He somehow gained a
bad reputation with the police.
(Marvel Spotlight I#19 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Crandall interviewed Dr. Katherine Reynolds about her work as a parapsychologist.
(Marvel Spotlight I#16) - Crandall got wind of the mystery of the 4,000 holes in Forest Park that was investigated by the police. He approached Detective Lieutenant Alex Quinn near the McDonnell Planetarium to get a statement from him on what was going on, but Quinn, who was not a fan of him, was dismissive and warned him not to put anything to print about what was going on in the park. Crandall overheard a police officer talk about the number of holes and that there was no apparent pattern. Crandall took notes and while Quinn still warned him about not writing an article about this, Crandall promised that Quinn could read about it in the Sunday edition.
(Marvel Spotlight I#16 - BTS) - Crandall wrote the article as promised and it made the front page of the Globe-Dispatch's Sunday edition (with the topical date of 04/01/1974).
(Marvel Spotlight I#17) - Crandall looked out the windows of the Globe-Dispatch's offices and wondered about the mysterious, motionless fire snake in the sky. He wondered if the creature signaled the end of the world and had a smoke. He was interrupted by Tracy (his secretary?), who showed him the newest pictures from all across the nation that showed natural disasters occurring in Denver, Honolulu and Florida. Crandall had no answers for Stacy why this was happening, but he wondered if Hellstrom, who had apparently caused the creation of the fire snake in the sky, knew more. He knew people were looking for Hellstrom for answers, but the exorcist had unfortunately vanished.
(Marvel Spotlight I#19) - Crandall approached Gateway University's parapsychologist Dr. Katherine Reynolds, a known ally of Hellstrom, to talk to her about what had happened to Dr. Wilfred Noble. He was sure there was some kind of story on how Noble's house burnt down, but he wasn't too keen about visiting County Hospital. Crandall assumed that Hellstrom and his fire-based tricks had something to do with the incident, but Reynolds defended Hellstrom and wouldn't even confirm that she had just tried to call him. She left angrily, but Crandall followed her because he wanted answers, but unlike Reynolds didn't believe in the supernatural aspect of Hellstrom because he had never seen demonic forces at work. Reynolds left Crandall standing in the middle of the road when she just drove off to find Hellstrom.
Crandall followed Reynolds in his car to the burnt remains of Noble's home. They were both sure they would find Hellstrom there, but he wasn't. Noble's neighbors told them that they had seen Hellstrom sulking around earlier and that he had headed to the home of the Manner family. Upon approaching the house they heard a girl's scream and Crandall was sure that Hellstrom was beating up young girls now. Looking through a window they saw the girl's mother weeping and then get attacked by her demon-possessed husband Albert. Hellstrom came to her defense, but the demon Allatou jumped to possess Melissa, the daughter, to continue the attack on Hellstrom. He tossed her through the window and Allatou left the unconscious girl's body to possess Crandall. Hellstrom hit Crandall's hand with Hellfire from his trident to trap Allatou inside Crandall's body and then used a Satanistic ritual to banish Allatou back to Hell. The ectoplasmic form of Allatou left Crandall's body and was then banished to the deepest pits of Hell. Crandall regained consciousness and wondered when he had entered the house and remained oblivious to what had happened.
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Jim Mooney & Sal Trapani.
Crandall's first name was revealed as Allen in #16 and as Dan in #17. The latter kept being used in #17 and #19.
The change of his appearance is very mysterious. It made sense that it changed between Mooney and Colan, but why the drastic change between #16 and #17? It almost seemed like the blond Dan Crandall was not even supposed to be the same guy as Allen Crandall.
This profile was completed on 08/26/2025, but its publication was delayed for the 25th anniversary event.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Dan Crandall has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Marvel Spotlight I#19, p3, pan4 (main)
Marvel Spotlight I#17, p3, pan4 (head shot)
Marvel Spotlight I#16, p4, pan1 (with glasses)
Marvel Spotlight I#19, p14, pan6 (possessed)
Appearances:
Marvel Spotlight I#16 (July, 1974) - Steve Gerber (writer), Jim Mooney
(pencils), Sal Trapani (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Marvel Spotlight I#17 (September, 1974) - Steve Gerber (writer), Jim
Mooney (pencils), Sal Trapani (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Marvel Spotlight I#19 (December, 1974) - Steve Gerber (writer), Gene
Colan (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
First Posted: 09/02/2026
Last updated: 08/26/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!