Characters of DC welcomes you all to this month’s discussion. In this month we will be looking at several characters who are more inclined toward the supernatural rather than the usual superheroics. Since Hallow’s Eve comes at the end of the month there will be an additional element to the stories we cover this month: They will (hopefully) feature some sort of Halloween type theme.
Secondarily, C of DC is partnering with the DC History Club this month. They are covering both Swamp Thing and Constantine over there if anyone wants to join in their discussion. They are also doing some Watch-Alongs so be sure to join in on those. You will find the link to the DC History Club discussion here.
Our Characters for the Month
Dr. Fate. (10/1-10/7)
Phantom Stranger (10/8-10/14)
Raven (10/15-10/21)
Swamp Thing (10/22-10/31)
As usual I will be posting a more detailed post for each character full of interesting tidbits and stories to read. Unfortunately, I will not be able to post character chronologies as I have been previously. Apparently the DCU Guide, which is what I use for them, is experiencing technical difficulties and it may take them awhile to get up and running again. Sorry about that but I will link them as soon as its back online again.
Hope to see everyone here for our first week, which covers the many lives of Dr. Fate.
A founding member of the JSA, Dr. Fate is a powerful wizard who uses the skills taught to him by Nabu to fight against the people who bring chaos to the world. Many people have worn the helmet over the years and they all have some connection to the original Dr. Fate, Kent Nelson. Since there have been many Dr. Fates we will be reading a bit of each one so the reading list this time around might be a bit full.
Some good looking Dr Fate going on. Though is Kent Nelson an MD or is he one of those PhDs that expect you to call him doctor all the time? Think I’m going to dive in on the newest Dr Fat Khalid Nassour. I only know him from some recent Justice League Dark and I liked him in there.
Dr. Fate is a particular favorite of mine and Khalid Nassour was an interesting character in his own right. I thought his supporting cast was great and I liked the book a lot. (Not sure there were many that did because fans can be pretty set in their ways about their favorites.)
Interesting, if I think of a Monster Mash, I would think of the Scary Figure Dance from Teen Titans Go!, even have the Teen Titans in their monster forms, Robin (vampire), Cyborg (Frankenstein’s monster), Raven (Invisible Man or Woman, like Gentleman Ghost), Starfire (mummy), and Beast Boy (werewolf), from that one episode where Raven made a spell that turn all of them into monsters for Halloween, not make them kids, like the first Halloween episode with the Halloween Spirit and her purple donkey costume, I’m mean Pretty Pegasus.
So, not having a lot of familiarity with Khalid Nassour as Dr Fate I dove into that series. Ended up with a real split opinion to be honest. I like Khalid as a character and Fate’s helmet reaching out to someone of Egyptian heritage who has the blood of pharos makes sense. And frankly Kent Nelson hasn’t exactly controlled Nabu very well for the last few decades. Handing of Fate to a legacy character with Kent as a mentor makes sense. The story was fine, good not great. It was the artwork that gave me issues. It was a very cartoony, angular style. It reminded me of Wilson’s Ms. Marvel run. It’s not that I dislike that style, it could work well for some titles. But, for me I want Dr. Fate to have weight, the magic stylings should be detailed and expressive. The unrealism of a magic title for me calls for more realism in the art. This style just takes the menace and power out of the story.
I grew up of course with Kent Nelson and his lovely wife Inza. Will always have a soft spot for their best stories. But I would hand the helm of Fate off to Khalid.
I found that Dr. Fate’s origin story is reprinted in this issue of Justice League of America. It looks like some pages were taken out for this reprint though.
@msgtv. Yeah, the art style threw me as well. It was more angular than I generally like to be honest. I would have liked it to have been more bit more expressive myself.
On the flip side I really liked Khalid a lot. Here’s a young man struggling with just living his life and he’s given this enormous legacy and responsibility. Something about seeing a new character learning the ropes and becoming something more really pulls me in.
Supporting cast is a good start with mom and pop and not one but two young women in his life. And as tough as it would be with lots of scrapes and close calls along the way, I would have Khalid eventually graduate from med school. Never enough MDs in the superhero community.
I only had time to read a few of the suggested readings and I know very little about Dr Fate. I read the reprint of the origin story from More Fun Comics that I mentioned in my previous comment and read a synopsis that I found on another site. It is a great idea from a long string of great ideas that were coming out at that time. They set his character up as a magic type character right from the gate. I wish that I had the rest of this comic. I didn’t catch who the lady was on the last page. I assume Inza from the later comics I read.
I only read a couple of pages of the Crisis on Earth One.as I read it a couple of years ago and didn’t find it very engaging; however, I recognize it’s significance to the DCU multiverse. When I read it I remember it did not give very much context for each of the heroes and at the time I didn’t know very many of them. So I jumped to the 1987 issues.
When I opened these, I was very pleased. When I joined DCU it was to read comics starting after Crisis on Infinite Earths. I have read a lot from 1986 and 1987. I love this time in the DC universe. This was a welcome addition to my weekly reads. I only read two of them but I am engaged and willing to read more. I like this Lord of Chaos monster thing. Very creepy and slimy. I like what happened with the new Dr Fate and the whole Arkham angle. The art depicting the madness was great. I really like what I have read of this story. A great Halloween pick.
I wish more of More Fun Comics were digitized myself. When I picked this I was really hoping it was among those that had been. Sadly it was not. I believe that lady was indeed Inza who has also been Dr. Fate.
Thar significance is why that particular story was included here.
It was indeed a great Halloween pick and a great story to boot.
The enigmatic Phantom Stranger is one of DC’s most mysterious characters. No one knows who he is, where he came from or why he wanders the DCU. Follow me…for I am the Phantom Stranger…
This week’s information tidbit is that the first three issues of Phantom Stranger Vol. 2 (1969) are actually made up of reprints from the short lived Vol. 1 of the series that lasted from the August/September 1952 issue until the June/July 1953 issue.
That’s all for this week. Next week we will be covering Raven and the issues we will take a look at were picked by our very own @AlexCarr. Hope to see you there
I’m becoming obsessed with the Phantom Stranger and I’m currently trying to read as much as is available to read on him. I’d never really had an interest in him before but now I seem to be spending a lot of time with the Stranger.
Raven is the daughter of the Demon Trigon and a human woman named Arella . She was instrumental in calling the Teen Titans back together again and with their help was able to defeat her father in his attempt to take over the world. Over the years she has used her dark powers for good and has been a long standing member of the Teen Titans showing up in almost every incarnation of that team since her first appearance.
And that all I have this week. Be sure to join us next week as Characters of DC and the DC History Club join forces to bring you a special club crossover discussion on our final character this month: Swamp Thing. The stories we will cover were chosen by @msgtv who runs the History Club.
