Salem first appeared alongside Sabrina in Archie's Mad House #22 in 1962, and was created by George Gladir and Dan DeCarlo.

A similar version of events was presented in a 1990s live-action television film, where he was imprisoned in the form of a cat for attempting to use his magic to make a mortal love him.

However, the comics eventually gave Salem a similar backstory that was shown in the sitcom and its spinoff, Sabrina: The Animated Series.

Further details about Salem's past before his transformation into a cat were revealed in the 2000s manga-inspired version of the comic, written and drawn by Tania del Rio.

In addition to world domination, his ambitious plotting often includes attempts to become wealthy, achieve celebrity status, regain his magical powers, and return to his human form.

His favorite pastimes include playing with yarn, lint spotting, surfing the internet, and reading Sabrina's diary.

Salem was a human warlock, sentenced by the Witch's Council to spend 100 years as a cat with no magical powers after being caught in an attempt to take over the world.

In the original comic (depending on the story), he retains limited powers via incantations, but requires Sabrina's magic finger to enact them.

In the series he would generally serve two roles: one as a mentor / "familiar" - commonly an animal that helps a young witch, for Sabrina, as she found it easier to talk with him about her problems, or the mischievous anti-hero in the episode, such as finding an illegal way to become human again without being punished.

Another follower, Duke (played by Dick Van Dyke), had a reduced sentence and was set free during the series, though Salem tried to use him to take over the world again.

During season one, Salem was visited by his parole officer, to whom he insisted that his transformation is under way, but he accidentally lets it slip that he still yearns for control of the planet.

Upon her learning he is a cat, she cannot help but be delighted by how cute his new form is and pampered him to the point Sabrina missed her own mother and went to visit her.

The sitcom version of Salem also made a guest appearance on the Disney-ABC owned shows Boy Meets World, You Wish, and Teen Angel on November 7, 1997 and Disney's One Saturday Morning on Friday Night with Valarie Rae Miller on September 11, 1998.

Unlike the live-action sitcom, but similar to the previous Filmation series, Salem possesses a limited range of magical powers.

Unlike in previous incarnations, Salem is a spy for Enchantra the head witch, and the Spellman family are unaware of his human form.

Salem is voiced by Luke Cook, who also plays Lucifer Morningstar, in the Part 4 episode "Chapter Thirty-Five: The Endless", in which Sabrina is transported into a sitcom version of the series.