The name of the villain in Doctor Occult‘s adventure from More Fun Comics #24 (August 1937) was Henri Duval. This is the second time I’ve seen Jerry Siegel re-use a name of one of his characters (Jor-L being the first).
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Superheroes die all the time these days and are resurrected in various forms months or years later, so it’s kind of meaningless. However, back in May 1937 it wasn’t so common, so I’m sure this cliffhanger where Doctor Occult is declared dead was upsetting to fans of Leger and Reuths’ “More Fun” strip.
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August 1936 creeps the industry ever-closer to a full-fledged superhero, with Doctor Occult meeting The Seven, donning a skin-tight uniform with a symbol on its chest and a red cape, and then flying through the ether to Egypt. Clearly Siegel and Shuster were playing with their crazy Superman idea in other strips. Note that this […]
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In More Comics #13 (July 1935), the Doctor Occult story featured a “next issue!” blurb. I think this is the first time I’ve seen the creators excited enough to tease the next issue storyline.
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David McKay Publications started publishing their own newspaper reprint comic, King Comics, in 1936. In King Comics #4, they start including Mandrake the Magician. Mandrake is considered by many historians as the first costumed superhero. In other news, Doctor Occult takes on a werewolf over in More Comics:
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I’m not sure what “tough thongs” are exactly, but this panel from Doctor Occult in More Fun #10 was too good to pass up. April 1936.
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March 1936 brings three more companies into the comic book publishing game: Centaur Publications, United Features, David McKay. Centaur Publications was formed by two former employees of National Allied Publications, John Mahon and Bill Cook. Their flagship comic book is Comics Magazine #1, which includes a feature called “Dr. Mystic, Occult Detective”. The feature is […]
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It’s September 1935 and here we are, the birth of the DC Universe. With this panel Doctor Occult becomes the first character to exist in the DC Comics universe, though obviously there was no such concept of a shared universe / continuity at the time. The strip debuted in New Fun Comics #6 by National […]
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