“For the first dozen issues, he had no secret identity and his origin was unknown. This was most effective. Doctor Fate was always in costume and dwelled in a doorless and windowless tower in ‘witch-haunted Salem,’ surrounded by musty tomes, weapons and devices both of advanced science and advanced necromancy. He exited his tower by walking through the walls or by using some arcane machine. He was a wizard of incredibly ancient origin and virtually unlimited powers…”
The Gardner Fox scripts suggested that he was familiar with the ominous cosmic mythology of H.P. Lovecraft.
“Dr. Fate had achieved complete control of energy, and blows or bullets directed at him were turned into power for him,” O’Donnell noted. “He could emit rays of energy which were capable of knocking over buildings or thoroughly disposing of unsavory characters. He had a crystal ball and spells for all occasions at his command. He could fly, too.”
And that was too much, somebody decided.
In More Fun 72 (Oct. 1941), Dr. Fate’s beautiful gold full-face mask was reduced to a half-mask, and his powers were similarly halved for standard superhero slugfests.
Yawn.
When I met him crossing from a parallel world in Justice League of America 21 and 22 (1963), his vast original powers had been restored. The beautiful blue and yellow costume, that mysterious helmet masking his features, those boundless magical powers — evocative stuff that dreams are made of.
But that last point suggests a problem that Dr. Fate shares with Dr. Strange and other superhero magicians going back at least to Chandu on radio in 1931. Ill-defined powers can seem to be unlimited, and your story has no suspense if the hero can always pull some deus ex machina spell out of his ass to save the day.
Vincent Mariani wrote: The most incongruous and misleading title in comics had to be More Fun when Dr. Fate and The Spectre were in their initial days of horror filled tales. Both series did lighten up quite a bit, for the worse, later on. As you indicated, the occult heroes transitioned to typical material with added "comedy relief". Artist Howard Sherman even adjusted his style for a more "cartoony" look.
ReplyDeleteThe More Fun banner became more applicable with the addition of Johnny Quick, and subsequently, early Superboy.
Ultimately, More Fun became a humor book, which is where it had started in the pre-superhero days.
Bob Hughes wrote: It's down to a succession of editors. Vin Sullivan gave way to Whitney Ellsworth (origin and secret identity), to Mort Weisinger (half mask) to Jack Schiff (no more magic and no more cape). Also Gardner Fox left to take over the Spectre when Siegel got drafted and Joe Samachson started writing Dr Fate. I generally like Samachson but his Fates are terrible. Then again, Fox's Spectres are worse.
ReplyDeleteBob Doncaster said: Like you I first saw him in that JLA/JSA team up. The full helmet is the best look for him.
ReplyDeleteRobert S.Childers said; I've always liked Fate's costume as a whole, but the full helmet is definitely the better choice. Both Dr.Fate and the Spectre seriously mined the works of HP Lovecraft. Jerry Siegel's Spectre stories often had crazy supernatural dreamscapes and weird entities.
ReplyDeleteRegis Philbert wrote: I love both these characters and of course the full helmet is the best but I like the comic book clunkiness of the half-helmet, like the charming idea to make this Lovecraftian demi-god into more of a goofy superhero simply by exposing the bottom half of his face!
ReplyDeleteGene Popa wrote: At least Roy Thomas, as he so often deftly did, much later created an interesting reason for the switch in helmets. (And I've just realized that the early Golden Age was the same span of time distant from the All-Star Squadron as the early 80s are from now.
ReplyDelete