First Issue Special - Dr. Fate!

The ninth issue of 1st Issue Special just might be the best comic in the run. Written by Marty Pasko and drawn by the great Walt Simonson, this is a wild and wooly yarn of fell magic and ancient pseudo-history which shakes the typically stoic Dr. Fate to his core. The story is incredibly dynamic thanks to the artwork of Simonson who in this book breaks free of the more delicate stylings which had marked his work heretofore on such things as Manhunter and Sword and Sorcery. These are muscular pages rocking with supernatural action. The lusty Joe Kubert cover doesn't hurt matters either. 

Dr. Fate was always a character who seemed to get less attention at DC than he deserved. He had a run in More Fun Comics during the Golden Age, but after that little attention. His opposite number at Marvel Dr. Strange always seemed to have a series of some kind bubbling, but Dr. Fate never. Despite one of the best superhero outfits in the game he rarely if ever elevated above his roles as a sturdy member of the Justice Society of America in those delightful annual crossovers. I remember seeing him as drawn by Dick Dillin and Sid Greene and loving his look immediately, a look which didn't seem throwback in anyway as some of the JSA costumes did.

In this story Dr. Fate must battle a mummy named Khalis who seeks nothing less than the amulet that Fate wears and which gives him some of his powers. We get a glimpse of the weird life Kent Nelson lives with his personality sublimated under the magical presence of Nabu and we see his wife deal with the complexities of an existence in which she is isolated and her husband is only himself on rare occasions. The battle rages across the pages and it will come as little surprise that Dr. Fate wins the day. But his victory did not secure a series for him alas despite the potency and craft of his outing.  

The next time we glimpse a 1st Issue Special we greet the return of Joe Simon and Jerry Gandenetti and a gaggle of freaks. 

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