Moving On!

Doctor Occult – “Koth and The Seven (Pt. 4 of 5)” – More Fun Comics #16 (Dec  1936)

Looking back, some of you may remember the first part of the “Koth and the Seven” story arc being very different from the rest of the Dr. Occult stories, whether it was with regards to tone, characters, or overall plot. Well, this next part of the story continues on down that new, zany path, and what’s more, it sprints down that path at a breakneck pace. The story for this issue is incredibly silly, over-the-top, colorful… and honestly, I kind of love it.

As you can see, I almost have no choice BUT to love it.

First, as I mentioned in my last post, it’s important that I fill you in on what happened during the two missing issues. I’ve only got brief summaries available to me, so that’s all I can provide to you, but if the above picture is any indication, I don’t think the plot for this story arc is incredibly nuanced anyway.

It’s no Marmaduke, for example.

We left our heroes, Dr. Occult and Zator, in the spirit realm, where they were about to be attacked by the demon minions of Koth. As the demons close in, Dr. Occult engages in a psychic battle with Koth, which he eventually wins, buying Zator and himself time to escape. The two then reach The Seven at last, where they are given the reason for their summons. The Seven wish to defeat their arch-nemesis, Koth, once and for all, and enlist Dr. Occult and Zator to assist them to that end. They provide Dr. Occult with a magic sword to help him defeat Koth’s minions. The Seven then instruct Occult and Zator to travel to an Egyptian tomb to recover a magical belt that will further increase Dr. Occult’s powers.

Yes, I realize this means that so far, The Seven have pretty much talked about RPGs on this blog more than I have.

The duo arrive at the Egyptian tomb only to be confronted by a wicked giant in service to Koth. Once the battle ensues, Dr. Occult discovers that the sword he is armed with fights with a mind of its own (it’s unclear from the summaries whether or not this is a hindrance to him). As the fight rages on, Koth himself arrives with a mob of cultists, and he promptly orders them to attack. Zator moves to fend off the reinforcements as Dr. Occult rushes off to retrieve the belt. It is at this point, when Dr. Occult straps on the magic belt, that the story in issue #15 ends and the story for our current issue begins.

As our story continues, we quickly see that this magical belt is sort of like an ancient Egyptian version of the utility belt. Not Batman’s utility belt, mind you, with gadgets and weapons. No, it’s much more like Mermaid Man’s utility belt from Spongebob Squarepants, with seemingly random powers that its new user has no idea how to control.

See here for scientific reference.

You see, while The Seven may have told Dr. Occult to retrieve the belt, and while they may have told him about how it can increase his magical power, it seems they didn’t tell him anything at all about working the damn thing. Right when the story picks up again, Occult accidentally brushes his hand against the belt, which of course pushes a button that sends him rocketing into the sky. Meanwhile, Koth’s horde closes in upon the increasingly outnumbered Zator until Dr. Occult’s companion finally trips and falls, left vulnerable to a cultist’s killing strike. Dr. Occult attempts to recover from his hilarious mistake and drop back down to aid Zator, but it becomes clear that he won’t reach his friend in time. Occult then accidentally presses a button again as he falls, which of course turns Zator’s attacker to stone. If this battle had its own fight music, it would absolutely be “Yakety Sax.”

“Real men need swords, not instructions.”

Seeing one of their number suddenly transformed into a statue, the rest of Koth’s servants flee (it seems that Koth has already left the battle by this point). Dr. Occult wants to track down Koth and use the belt to defeat him for good, but Zator insists that they first report back to The Seven. This was probably a good call, since Dr. Occult’s only experience with the belt involves randomly pushing two of its buttons on accident.

When The Seven see that Occult and Zator have retrieved the magic belt, they are pleased, and also look sort of like Dr. Manhattan.

“Gone to a place without clocks, without seasons…”

They tell Dr. Occult that with the belt, he can finally stop Koth from destroying human civilization. Occult asks The Seven why Koth hates mankind so much in the first place, which is a very reasonable question that does not get asked enough in these sorts of situations. It turns out that Koth was part of a space expedition to prehistoric Earth. Something went horribly wrong during flight, and so the ship crash-landed on the planet, where the entire crew (with the exception of Koth) were promptly dragged out of their spaceship and murdered by bloodthirsty cavemen.

I’ll just leave this here.

An understandably angry Koth, in his quest for vengeance, has apparently wiped out several of mankind’s civilizations in the past, and is now preparing for another attack. The issue ends by revealing to the reader that, unbeknownst to our heroes or The Seven, Koth is at that very moment on the march with a massive army of human and alien warriors.

Like I said, I really do love this issue’s story. From Dr. Occult’s fumbling with the belt to the dramatic backstory of Koth, and finally ending with what turned out to be a pretty solid cliffhanger, this story honestly had a lot going for it. It was fun, fast-paced, and easy to grasp, and was the perfect story to showcase Dr. Occult’s return to color. The artwork and coloring were fairly well-done, considering the time period, and they helped to intensify the action and joy of the story.  And of course, we also are treated to Dr. Occult sprinting about wearing legitimately nothing but a cape and a Speedo, and armed with only a sentient fencing rapier and a very uncontrollable belt.

Again, truly a fashionista ahead of his time.

If this all sounds like it has nothing at all in common with the rest of the Occult stories, beyond perhaps the vague presence of magic, that’s probably because it really doesn’t. Taken as part of the continuous Dr. Occult lore, these drastic changes can be seen as jarring and perhaps just a bit awful. However, taken as a standalone story, separate from any continuity, it’s a fairly fun classic superhero romp. It’s more than a bit goofy, sure, but that’s not much of a problem as long as you don’t take it too seriously. And trust me, that lighthearted approach is going to be very critical to getting through most of these early stories anyway. Deep, engaging plots and an awareness of cliche were not really something these early comic writers had in spades, and this issue is certainly an example of that. But hey, at least it’s simple and fun, which is more than can be said for some of the more “serious” Dr. Occult stories that we’ve seen so far. There are also some very interesting reasons behind these sudden and major changes for Dr. Occult, but we’ll get into those next time, as we wrap up the story of “Koth and The Seven!”

An Unfortunate Gap

Now, some of you may have forgotten about an unfinished storyline that we had quite a few issues back, before the “Werewolf” story arc and before the “Methuselah Murders” issue, involving “Koth” and “The Seven.”

This may jar your memory.

The story for that issue ended with Dr. Occult and his friend, Zator, travelling through the spirit realm to quickly answer an urgent summons from a mysterious group known only to the reader as “The Seven.” While in the spirit realm, the pair are menaced by screeching demons before finally being confronted by Koth, a seemingly powerful magic-user who is enemy to Dr. Occult, Zator, and The Seven. Koth orders his demon servants to attack the duo, and we’re left with a “To Be Continued…”

(Here’s a link in case you still need a refresher.)

That issue was historically important for several reasons. One, it is the only issue where Dr. Occult is known instead as “Dr. Mystic.” The reason for this name change is also important: it represents the only issue where a Dr. Occult story was published by someone other than National Allied Publications/Detective Comics, Inc. It also introduces several of Dr. Occult’s powers, as well as Zator, Koth, and The Seven. All in all, it was a pretty pivotal issue for Dr. Occult, and as Dr. Occult was DC’s first canonical superhero, it was a big deal for comic history in general.

“And also a big deal for ladies everywhere, amirite?”

Given all of those factors, and given the brief hiatus we were forced to take from this significant story arc, I bet everyone’s excited to jump back on board and see how the mythos of Dr. Occult unfolds, right?

Well, unfortunately, we can’t. Not exactly. You see, the next two parts of the “Koth and The Seven” story arc (parts two and three, issues #14 and #15) are nowhere to be found. At least, not by me. I’ve been searching for them for about a year-and-a-half now, well before I ever started this blog, and I have had no luck whatsoever. The oldest issues of the DC universe are fairly difficult to track down as it is, and these two issues in particular are incredibly elusive. Every collection of the early issues of More Fun Comics that I have ever found is missing these two issues in particular. Even Comic Book Plus, a website of early, public domain comic magazines that has been a major resource for me, only claims to have issue #14, and it turns out that even that is just issue #9 with the wrong cover.

A fact that I forget about every time I come across it, leading to an embarrassingly nerdy and amnesiatic cycle of joy and despair.

The absence of these two issues is particularly unfortunate given the relative significance of Dr. Occult’s story in More Fun Comics #14. One, that issue contains the first appearance of several important Dr. Occult characters in the continuous DC Universe. This includes Zator, DC’s first superhero sidekick, and Koth, DC’s first supervillain. Two, it is also the first time we see Dr. Occult in his official superhero costume. In addition to being incredibly sexy, this costume represents the first major arrival of the costumed superhero. All of these firsts make More Fun Comics #14 a pretty groundbreaking issue in the world of comics. Remember, with DC being the original major player in the superhero game, being DC’s first anything is grounds for being the first thing of that kind in all of mainstream superhero comics.

Lookin’ like that, I would’ve let Occult be MY first, if you know what I mean…

If anyone is ever able to track down these two issues, please don’t hesitate to contact me. And of course, the search will never cease on my end until I’m able to locate them. When that day comes, rest assured that I’ll post the news, as well as the usual updates and historical discussions, immediately. In the meantime, to prevent this post from getting too long, I’ll leave you here, bitterly disappointed in me, the Internet, and in life itself. But don’t fret! In my next post, I’ll provide some quick summaries of the missing issues to bring everyone up to speed, and then we’ll carry on like this sad, sad day never happened.

A New Take On An Old Idea

Doctor Occult – “The Werewolf (Pt. 2 of 3)” – More Fun Comics #12 (Aug 1936)

When we last left Doctor Occult, he had subdued a vicious werewolf through a pulse-pounding action sequence involving pulling out a magic talisman and just sorta standing there. Despite the last issue’s anti-climactic ending, we’re still left with a magic-using paranormal investigator and his captive werewolf. This part of the story has to be at least a little interesting, right? Well, yeah, actually. It kind of is.

In this issue, the story continues with the werewolf chained up in Occult’s laboratory as the Doctor waits for morning.

The Doctor uses this time to seduce the werewolf with his smoldering gaze.

Dawn finally arrives, and the werewolf makes his transformation back into a man. Despite having spent the past six or so hours all naked and wolf-y, the man finds himself once again fully clothed, which helps Doctor Occult avoid awkward questions about chained-up naked men in his laboratory.

“Please. I prefer them much… hairier.”

The stranger, free of his curse for now, begs Doctor Occult to help him. The man explains that the transformations happen against his will, that he can’t control himself while in wolf form, and that he has no idea why this is happening to him. You know, standard werewolf stuff.

Washboard abs not included.

But here’s where the story gets sort of interesting. Instead of the usual werewolf bite or cursed bloodline, Doctor Occult explains that some dark presence must be forcing the man to turn into a wolf. This was intriguing to me, because usually there isn’t an outside force controlling the werewolf’s transformations, let alone directly responsible for them. It gives the story a major antagonist to face outside of the werewolf itself. Maybe I’m too easily impressed, but I found that idea kind of neat.

Anyway, Doctor Occult promises to help the man hunt down his hidden enemy, but first offers to bring the stranger home. It turns out the man is unemployed and homeless, and stays with other unfortunates at Mrs. Daniel’s boarding house, where they live entirely off of her generosity.

Being forced to turn into a ravenous beast every day makes it pretty hard to keep up a nine-to-five.

The Doctor and his client arrive at the boarding house, where we are introduced to Mrs. Daniel, who expresses concern at the stranger’s sickly appearance and at his absence the night before. We also finally get a name for the guy (Mr. Westley), so I can stop calling him “the stranger” and “the man” all the time.

Sorry, Mr. Westley, but “the dude” means something very different to me.

Once inside, Doctor Occult notices that the boarding house, which presumably once also held out-of-towners and working-class locals, is now inhabited entirely by the unemployed homeless. While continuing his investigation of the building, he happens to catch Mrs. Daniel’s reflection in a nearby mirror. Only, the reflection doesn’t show the attractive boarding house owner, but rather a massive, bipedal wolf.

“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?”

Mrs. Daniel, noticing that Doctor Occult has stumbled upon her secret, and realizing too late that maybe she shouldn’t have installed a mirror in that room, begins screaming feigned cries of distress. The occupants of the boarding house, believing their beloved benefactor to be in danger, begin closing in on Doctor Occult with various bits of weaponry, and it is here that the story ends for now.

All in all, I thought this part of the story wasn’t bad. It was certainly an improvement over the previous one. As I said, I found the cause of Mr. Westley’s transformations to be pretty unique, and the situation at the boarding house also puts Doctor Occult in an interesting dilemma. Between the unwilling werewolf and the mob of hobos with good intentions, the Doctor finds himself confronted by enemies that aren’t really evil, and so, being a hero, he’ll have to find a non-violent (or at least non-lethal) way to deal with them. Plus a wolf sorceress that seems to use a boarding house as a barracks for her army of transients makes for a pretty compelling villain, I’ve got to say.

She also makes a pretty difficult spouse for MISTER Daniel.

One weak point of the story, as has somewhat frequently been the case in these stories, was the awkwardness of the dialogue. In his haste to explain the story using such limited space, Jerry Siegel ends up giving us speech bubbles that read a little bit like a badly translated and dubbed episode of Speed Racer.

“…mustfirstlocatebeforeIcanhelpyou AWWUHH?”

That being said, the artwork wasn’t bad, and the story was fairly engaging despite the dialogue. I find myself genuinely interested in seeing where this story goes from here. Hopefully you’re interested too, because in the next post, we’ll be wrapping up the riveting story of Doctor Occult and the Werewolf!

A Step Backward

Doctor Occult – “The Werewolf (Pt. 1 of 3)” – More Fun Comics #11 (July 1936)

Hey guys, sorry for the long delay between the last post and this one. I’d give you some elaborate excuse as to where I’ve been, or why I’ve been slacking, but I won’t lie: I don’t really have one. It turns out that it’s pretty easy to fall behind on posting when I don’t stay on top of it. I’m gonna do my best to make sure that I post a lot more frequently from now on, and hopefully before too long I’ll fall into the habit of posting regularly.

All that being said, this next Dr. Occult story was a somewhat disappointing one to come back to. I was left with fond memories of the series after the last issue we looked at, but, as this post’s title suggests, the first part of the “Werewolf” story arc definitely felt like a step backwards in terms of quality.

The story starts off by introducing a new character: Dr. Occult’s butler, who is of course named Jenkins.

“No, as a matter of fact I don’t consider myself a walking stereotype. Why do you ask?”

Jenkins is brought to the door at five minutes to midnight by a frantically ringing doorbell. He is confronted by a desperate-looking man who insists that he must speak with Dr. Occult immediately. Jenkins informs the man that his boss is asleep for the night, and suggests that he come back in the morning, but the man only repeats that he must see the Doctor that very instant. Then Jenkins, well…

Good show, old chap.

It turns out that the stranger did, in fact, have a pretty pressing reason to see Occult. As the title may have suggested to you, the desperate man is cursed with a certain affliction, and not long after Jenkins, well, “sees him out,” this happens:

…Whoops.

Now in wolf-form, the werewolf lets out a vicious howl, jerking Dr. Occult out of his slumber. The Doctor, due to his familiarity with the supernatural, recognizes the howl as that of a werewolf, and he quickly gathers up the appropriate magical talisman and leaps through his window into the night to face the creature. Meanwhile, a woman is wandering down the path outside, unaware of the danger. What this woman is doing wandering on private property at nearly midnight, none can say (one of the charming Doctor’s late-night callers, perhaps?), but the werewolf nevertheless prepares to turn her into a late night snack. As the wolf pounces, Dr. Occult swings down from a tree branch into the beast’s path. He then engages in an epic conflict with the monster, narrowly dodging snapping jaws as he quickly fires off devastating spells. Just kidding, he pulls out his talisman and the werewolf just sort of sits down.

I’ve had more exciting and dangerous encounters with a pet guinea pig.

And so the story ends, for now. As you can see, we’re back to the “magical powers” Doctor Occult, rather than the hard-boiled detective, and while there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, I feel like the “magical powers” part of the story should at least be interesting. Instead, we’re once again left with a massively anticlimactic ending, with Dr. Occult quickly using some magical trump card to win the fight in a single panel. No tense battle, no exciting chase, just a speedy “abracadabra” and the show’s over. We do learn a bit more about the Doctor in this issue. We’re introduced to the character of Jenkins, and we get to see the fairly lavish lifestyle in which Occult lives, suggesting that he either comes from wealth or, more likely, is simply very good at what he does. Yet this small amount of character-building doesn’t really make up for the lack of action in a story which is practically begging for it. So far, it seems that Dr. Occult has a talisman for just about every circumstance, and I really do hope that the creators start to veer away from that sort of thing. It would give the stories a sense of danger, or at least tension, and provide the sort of excitement that something like a battle with a werewolf deserves. I suppose we’ll see how things go in the next issue, where this story is continued, and we find out more about this shape-shifting stranger, and the Doctor’s plans for him!

A Hidden Gem

Doctor Occult – “The Methuselah Murders” – More Fun Comics #10 (May 1936)

There isn’t much historical significance to this story that I could find, other than that it represented Doctor Occult’s return to National Allied (later DC) after his single-issue stint over at Centaur Publishing, which of course brought Siegel and Shuster back with him. Also, this issue of More Fun has the same cover date as Doctor Occult’s Comics Magazine issue, though the two magazines were released in different months (meaning readers didn’t get to see multiple DC stories in a month just yet).

While the feel of this story couldn’t be more different than that of the one in my last post, it’s actually one of the best Doctor Occult stories that I can remember reading, and definitely my favorite one on this list so far. Instead of the giants, magic, and demons found in the first part of the “Koth and The Seven” arc, this story has a strong “noir detective” feel, in keeping with the popular hardboiled detective stories popping up around this time. Occult’s name also changes back from “Doctor Mystic,” though he is for some reason now known as “Doc Occult,” rather than “Doctor.”

In this story, Doctor Occult is tracking down a serial killer whom, after torturing and murdering his or her victims, takes nothing from them, and leaves behind only a note bearing the word “Methuselah”. The story starts with the police finding another victim, and bringing Doctor Occult in to assist in the investigation. After visiting the morgue and looking at the records of all of the victims, Doctor Occult has the newspapers feature a phony, front page story about a man who claims that all of his ancestors lived to be 100 years old, and that he expects to do the same.

Newspapers just haven’t been the same since they got rid of those fun, wavy edges.

It is then revealed that the man in the article is in fact Lieutenant Day of the city police force. After putting the Lieutenant’s name and face into the fake news story and spreading it across town, Occult moved both of them to a random apartment building, and for three nights straight, Occult has had Day wait in a chair in the middle of the front room while he looks on from the closet. You don’t need to be a crack detective yourself to guess at the Doc’s plan here, but Lt. Day is completely in the dark, and Doctor Occult refuses to give him any explanation. Occult simply assures Day that he knows what he’s doing, and that Day will “probably” get a promotion out of it. I find it odd that Occult is so secretive here, since there’s no reason Day can’t know about his plan, and further explanation would’ve gone a long way towards reassuring the Lieutenant that his colleague didn’t simply have a very specific chair-and-closet fetish.

“Mmm, yeah, now tell me how sweaty the cushion has gotten…”
“Umm, how will that help, Occult?”
“I’m not Occult; I’m a dirty little raincoat…”
“…I don’t want to work with you anymore.”

Either way, the Doctor’s plans finally come to fruition, as the killer barges into the room and knocks Lt. Day unconscious with a club. Day’s attacker then hoists him up with leather straps, kneeling and muttering prayers and incantations before drawing his dagger for the killing blow. It’s here that Doctor Occult finally decides to intervene, dashing from the closet and laying the murderer out with a mean left hook. It’s probably a good thing that Lt. Day was knocked out, and therefore doesn’t know just how long his comrade held back before stepping in.

“Right, sorry about that. I had to uh… finish up in there.”

Finally, Doctor Occult explains (to the reader, probably, but I like to think it’s directed at the two unconscious men) that the killer’s calling card of “Methuselah” revealed his motives: the killer hoped to live “1000 years,” like the mythical figure of the same name. Unlike the biblical Methuselah, the serial killer believed that he could only accomplish this by stealing the remaining years from others through ritual sacrifice. It turns out that all of the killer’s other victims had ancestors that were known to have lived to be at least 90.

I have to say that I honestly enjoyed this story. Once again, Doctor Occult didn’t actually use any magical powers to solve this case, but rather relied on his wits and his knowledge of the mythical. Magical abilities certainly become a major part of the character, which I accept, but I still prefer “knowledgeable paranormal investigator” to “magical superhero.” This story was also much simpler and more fluid than the previous ones, giving you a simple premise and an easy-to-follow plot, without constant explanation or ceaseless new developments. That said, Occult’s explanation in the last panel was incredibly lengthy, and spelled out things the reader probably didn’t need it to.

I know I can be a bit long-winded at times, but that speech bubble has about triple the word count of my entire blog.

The art for this story was also very impressive. Though the illustrations are still in black-and-white, that color scheme is a far better fit for the hardboiled/noir feel of this story than for the magic and monsters of the previous one. The quality of the illustrations themselves was also impressive, with a level of imagery and detail that surpasses what we’ve seen so far, and even a good chunk of what we’ll see in the future.

Next time, we’ll see if Siegel and Shuster can keep up the quality of work they’ve shown in this story as we enter the first part of a three-issue story arc that has the Doc dealing with a bloodthirsty werewolf!

New Friends, New Enemies, New Powers. Oh, and a New Name.

Doctor Occult – “Koth and The Seven (Pt. 1 of 5)” – The Comics Magazine #1 (May 1936)

As I mentioned in my last post, this Doctor Occult story was not published in More Fun, nor was it published by National Allied Publications, the precursor to DC Comics. It was instead featured in The Comics Magazine, by Centaur Publishing. In fact, the character isn’t even referred to as “Doctor Occult” in the story, but is instead called “Doctor Mystic.” The story was, however, still created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and is actually the only Doctor Occult story to feature the duo’s real names, rather than the pseudonyms I’ve mentioned before, “Leger and Reuths.” It’s been speculated that the reason for Siegel, Shuster, and Doctor Occult’s temporary departure for Centaur Publishing was due to Major Wheeler-Nicholson’s financial troubles over at National Allied (as stated before, the Major’s difficulties with money were frequent, well-known, and eventually led to the formation of, and then his ousting from, DC Comics).

The name and publication are not the the only changes that this Doctor Occult story brought to the table, either. This story, the first of the “Koth and The Seven” story arc, comes in at a whopping two pages (a 100% increase from the earlier stories), and Siegel & Shuster did their best to squeeze as much new material into that short amount of space as possible. The story begins with a “masked, wraith-like giant” wandering around an unnamed city’s skyscrapers, apparently searching for something.

The giant also makes some very questionable fashion choices.

The monster towers over even the city’s tallest buildings, which understandably sends the local residents into a panic, and brings Doctor Occult to their aid. Here we see the first use of the Doctor’s powers, powers conspicuously absent from the “Vampire Master” story arc. Through an “old, mystic ritual,” Doctor Occult increases in size to match the height of the giant, and also makes himself “semi-material,” whatever that means. If these abilities seem to be just about perfect for getting the heroes out of the Vampire Master’s cage in the last story, that’s because they are, but, as I’ve said before, Doctor Occult’s powers seem to vary widely from issue to issue. Whatever Occult got his doctorate in, it certainly wasn’t consistency. So, a giant Occult begins to battle his monstrous foe, while thousands of shrieking civilians mill about their feet in a terrified mob.

Perhaps he got his doctorate in causing collateral damage.

After a brief struggle, Doctor Occult finally manages to tear the monster’s mask free, revealing the giant to be none other than his old friend, Zator, in the character’s first appearance. Zator explains that appearing as a supernatural monster would be the easiest way to locate Doctor Occult, as it would be certain to draw the Doctor out to do battle. That seems like an incredibly over-complicated plan, but we’ll just assume that’s Zator’s thing and move on. When Doctor Occult asks Zator about “The Seven,” whoever they are, Zator further explains that The Seven have actually requested Dr. Occult’s presence, and have sent Zator to retrieve him. The two giants lock arms and vanish off into the spirit world, presumably leaving behind a very confused city, in order to quickly reach India, where The Seven apparently reside. During their journey, the duo is threatened by monsters of the nether world, first through open hostility, then through illusions and trickery. It can be assumed that Dr. Occult has traveled in this fashion before, but that doesn’t stop him from being completely clueless when it comes to these monsters, as Zator keeps having to explain how to handle them.

Yeah, get it together, Doc.

Despite our heroes’ best efforts to dash through the spirit world and avoid its demonic residents, the pair find themselves slowing inexplicably, until at last a figure appears before them, a man that Zator calls “Koth.”

…Ladies.

Koth offers them a choice: join with him against The Seven, or be torn to pieces by the monsters of the spirit world. Since we haven’t been introduced to The Seven yet, this choice doesn’t mean much to the reader, but it clearly means a lot to Zator, because he promptly tries to kill Koth. Koth, in response, sics the monsters on the heroes, and we’re left with a “To Be Continued…”

Like I said, the creators of this story tried to shove an awful lot into two pages, and introduced a lot of characters and concepts without really explaining them, so the story wasn’t nearly as engaging as it could have been. It does, however, give the reader a desire to stick with the character of Doctor Occult in order to find out more about the mystical world he seems to live in. The story was also in black-and-white, unlike the previous ones. This may have been a stylistic choice, but was more likely a budgetary one, which is a shame, because this is a story that visually had a lot going on for it, and one that definitely would have benefited from some color. The story arc actually isn’t continued until More Fun #14, which is five whole issues away. It’ll be interesting to see what the change in publications will do for the story and production value. The next post brings the Doctor back to More Fun and his proper place in the DC Universe. However, if you’re not a huge fan of Doctor Occult, I’m sorry to inform you that he’s the only DC character we’ve got for the next little while. It isn’t until Detective Comics #1, with the introduction of Slam Bradley, that we get a new character in the DC continuity. It’s not all bad news, however. I can’t find several of the More Fun issues published up until then, so while we’ll miss out on a Doctor Occult story or two, we’ll get to some new characters that much sooner. Besides, I can tell you that Slam Bradley is worth the wait, for multiple reasons.

Soon enough you’ll be feasting your eyes on this fine specimen of a man.

I’ve also got my first RPG post coming up very soon, which will provide a nice change of pace as well, so stay tuned!

The End of the “Vampire” Master

Doctor Occult – “The Vampire Master (Pt. 4 of 4)” – More Fun Comics #9 (Mar-Apr 1936)

Unfortunately, the only copy of this issue that I could find was incredibly blurry, making some of the dialogue, particularly the recap in the first panel, just about impossible to read. I was, however, able to squint and make out the rest of the story, and if I couldn’t read a word here or there, I still got the gist. This part of the story is again just a single page, so I’ll try to give more detailed a summary than I might otherwise do.

When we last left Doctor Occult, he and his comrades found themselves trapped in the clutches of the Vampire Master, who was presumably a vampire, but appeared more as a strangely reptilian-looking dude in a lab coat. Regardless, we soon find out exactly what the machine does that old Vamp was fiddling with: it creates physical, living copies of anything he imagines. Apparently he has a soft spot for Mrs. Amster, the wife of Doc’s client, because in addition to an army of horrific creatures drawn from his twisted imagination (one of which, though hard to make out clearly, just sorta looks like Ulysses S. Grant in a bathrobe), he has also created an exact duplicate of her, down to her snazzy red dress.

He fares much better against Southern rebels than he does against paranormal investigators.

He wants the Mrs. Amster clone to rule at his side as his queen once he conquers the world, but it turns out that his creations lack souls, which I guess is a deal-breaker for him, so he decides to destroy the fake one and instead entrance the real deal. He explains all of this to our heroes as they are trapped in their cage, right in the same room as both the woman’s husband and her doppleganger, which to me seems more than a little rude. The female clone is understandably upset by his plan and stabs him fatally with a knife, which has clearly become her weapon of choice. In his final moments, out of his love for the real Mrs. Amster, the Vampire Master hits the controls to set the group free, then initiates a self-destruct of his lair. Doctor Occult and company narrowly escape as the building bursts into flames behind them, destroying the Vampire Master and his monstrous constructs.

“Eeesh, this is NOT how I saw this going…”

The group somberly watches the inferno, and Mrs. Amster laments that the Vampire Master used his genius for evil rather than good. Though, with a name like the Vampire Master, I’m pretty sure that path was set in stone.

Overall, it was a bit of a strange story arc, with lots of abrupt, off-the-wall shifts, though I suppose that’s to be expected at this stage of comic book storytelling. Maybe catching the first half of the story would’ve caused things to make more sense, but I doubt I’ll never know for sure. One thing is for certain: the Vampire Master did not look any vampire I’ve ever heard of. In the last issue, he looked like a bad sci-fi alien; in this one, he looked strikingly like a used-car salesman wearing a sheet.

Pictured: Not a vampire.

That’s not to say that Joe Shushter was a bad artist; he definitely wasn’t. It’s just, y’know, maybe vampires weren’t exactly his specialty.

One other thing that I found interesting about this story arc is that Doctor Occult did not once use magical powers to defeat the Vampire Master. In the last issue, his knowledge of vampires helped lead the group to VM’s lair, but that was about all of his expertise that he applied to the situation. The real hero of this story were the Mrs. Amsters, both real and fake, as it was the genuine article that brought them to the Vampire Master, and her clone who delivered the killing blow. Knowing how female characters will later be portrayed in some of these comics, it was refreshing to see a woman be portrayed as an asset rather than dead weight or a damsel in distress.

Tomorrow, you’ll see Doctor Occult change names (and comics) for a single issue, as he is featured in Centaur Publishing’s The Comics Magazine #1, under the name Dr. Mystic (now with 3 times the magical power!).

Doctor Occult : The Birth of a Universe

Doctor Occult – “The Vampire Master (Pt. 3 of 4)” – More Fun #8 (Feb 1936)

Doctor Occult first appeared in New Fun #6, in October of 1935, 4 months and 2 issues before the magazine we’ll be talking about. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster under the pen names “Leger and Reuths” (Siegel and Shuster would, three years later, would go on to create Superman, who you may have heard of).

They’re kind of a big deal.

You may be surprised to see Doctor Occult, rather than Superman, here at the start of my comic history. Well, it turns out Superman isn’t technically the first comic book hero to inhabit the DC universe. See,  New Fun, which was renamed More Fun in the beginning of 1936, was published by National Allied Publications, a company founded by Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. At the end of 1936, Wheeler-Nicholson borrowed heavily from magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld to produce Detective Comics #1, and as part of that business arrangement, the Major and Donenfeld’s accountant founded Detective Comics, Inc., marking the true birth of DC Comics. Sadly, before the characters of Superman and Batman were around to turn DC Comics into a national sensation, continuing financial troubles had forced Wheeler-Nicholson from the company. Detective Comics, Inc. then went on to purchase the Major’s other comic book company, National Allied, buying More Fun along with it.

Poor guy. The man who invented modern comics deserves to at least have words in his books.

Whew! So! This puts the good Doctor, and More Fun #8, at the front of my comic history for three reasons: he is one of the first characters to ever be created by what would become DC Comics, he is the first character to actually be a part of the continuous DC universe, and, despite about a year of trying, I still can’t find his first two appearances anywhere, so More Fun #8 instead of New Fun #6 it is.

Now that you know Doctor Occult’s position as the first established comic book hero (out of DC/Marvel, anyway), you might wanna know what he’s all about. And it turns out that the Doctor, as a character, is pretty simple. He’s a private investigator, a detective, like the vast majority of comic book characters at the time. His catch is that he only investigates mysteries involving the supernatural, and he combats such paranormal threats with a set of magical powers that seem to vary from issue to issue. He’s honestly a bit of a bland character, and the inconsistency of what powers he’s supposed to have can be a little off-putting (much like Zatara, a later DC magic-user whose stories are even tougher to read, but we’ll get to him soon enough). If I remember correctly, the character falls off the face of the DC map for quite a while, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to it.

Suave, maybe. Exciting? Not really.

The Doctor Occult story in this issue is actually only a page long, so there’s not much to summarize. It’s the third part of a four-part story, involving the Doctor defending his client, and the client’s wife, from the evil schemes of a vampire (which looks sort of like a lizard-person wearing a lab coat).

The very face of terror.

In this issue, the client’s wife is returned to her husband, though she seems to be under some sort of trance put on her by the vampire. She tries to stab her husband to death, but Doctor Occult breaks her trance by, well, just sorta grabbing her arm, it seems like. When she wakes up, she leads the group to the vampire’s lair, where they promptly have a cage dropped on them within their first few steps. The story ends there, at least for this issue, with the vampire in his lab coat before his prisoners, messing with some strange scientific equipment, the words “To Be Continued” scrawled faintly beside him. So, y’know, be sure to check back tomorrow for a few more Doctor Occult facts (less than this post had, I promise), and of course, to see how this riveting tale ends…

A Delirious Decision. An Unreachable Goal. A Fatally-Stubborn Will.

4 A.M. may not seem like the ideal time to commit to anything, even something as harmless as a blog, but commit I did, so here I am, and hopefully, here you are, too. 

For many years now, I’ve been an obsessive completionist when it comes to my hobbies. This mostly applies to my nerdier interests, such as video games, comic books, and fantasy/sci-fi novels, but it’s also true of the things I try to learn about, like history or science. I can’t just read a Star Wars novel. I have to read every Star Wars novel ever written, in publication order. I can’t just play Final Fantasy, I have to play every Final Fantasy game ever made, in order, while reading every line of dialogue and nabbing every unique piece of treasure. I have to get every achievement; learn every scientific theory in order; know not just the state capitals, but also their most-populated city, their largest export, their amount of disco enthusiasts per capita. You get the idea. 

Of course, such a complete knowledge is just about impossible to obtain in even one area, let alone all of them. And yet I can’t shake the desire. This often leads to me spending an obnoxious amount of time on a topic, only to eventually get bored and wander off (for example: despite hundreds of hours of gameplay dedicated to the Final Fantasy series, the only game in that series  that I’ve ever finished is the first one). As silly as that may seem, the alternative, to me, is far worse. Every snippet of information or experience that I’ve passed over (or even suspect I’ve passed over) haunts me at night like I imagine Steven Seagal is haunted by the looming specters of the men he’s killed (I’m looking at you, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations). Because of these facts, I’ve picked up and abandoned more projects than I can count, and I honestly hope that this doesn’t become one of them. With your help and feedback, I truly believe that it won’t be.

Together, we’re going to look at comic books, specifically Marvel/DC comics, as well as role-playing video games (these will be of any platform). I’m going to read these comics and play these games, from the earliest examples on through to the newest releases (or as close as I can possibly manage). I will post reviews, summaries, and screen shots, as well as background information and notes on historical context. I’ll be upfront and tell you that this experience is for me, first and foremost. I’ve already been attempting to go through these histories on my own, and I figured that blogging about my experiences might make it more fun. But I do hope to entertain and inform my readers as well, whether I inspire them to try out an ancient game or comic themselves, or maybe just give them something interesting to read for a bit. I will be entirely open to feedback/suggestions/personal experiences, and will do my best to respond to everything I receive. Also, as time and motivation and popularity permit, I hope to expand this blog even further, examining the histories of just about anything else you can think of, using that obsessively completionist manner with  which I tackle the rest of my interests. I know that I’ll never be able to cover the full extent of even one of these areas, but with your help, I hope to be able to make quite a dent. And of course, by the end, we’ll know much more than if we had done nothing at all, and that’s worth the effort in itself, isn’t it?

“It’s 106 miles to Chicago; we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes; it’s dark; and we’re wearing sunglasses.” “Hit it.”