Showcase #56 (1965)
written by Gardner Fox & Murphy Anderson
The original Psycho-Pirate debuted in 1944 in All-Star Comics #23, but didn’t really leave a big mark. Over twenty years later, Garner Fox resurrects the name with a much more famous successor.
We begin this comic with some ACTUAL archeology (ironic, I know), with Doctor Fate… who in his civilian identity is an archeologist… discovering the “Medusa Masks” in an ancient temple.
Sounds legit. This is not the only time the supposed historical basis for Cinderella shows up in a Silver Age story!
Instead of going straight to a museum, the masks are displayed during a party hosted by the civilian identity of Hourman. This is also the first apperance of Wendi, who will later marry Hourman.
And thanks to the inferference of a mysterious figure, she ends up stealing the masks.
This is already a better mystery AND a better used of emotions than the Golden Age story.
And THAT is how the new Psycho-Pirate got his hands on the Medusa Masks! Quite impressive, considering up to this point he didn’t have any powers, that he managed to do this right under the noses of two superheroes.
And here’s the only Silver Age appearance of the original Psycho-Pirate: he gave all his secrets to his successor before dying in jail.
I guess even supervillains are not immune to the dreaded Mentor Disease.
Like I suppose most people, I never read any story of the original Psycho-Pirate when I encounter his successor. So I always assumed that he got the Medusa Mask from him, but nope!
The Medusa Mask is entirely a Silver Age concept, which the original Pycho Pirate was aware of because of… reasons, I guess?
Despite originally activating the Masks with his lighter (???), the “Emir of Emotion” is able to fully absorb their powers by irradiating them with some kind of gas.
Sounds legit.
I have to say I’m quite impressed by the versatility of this power!
This gets the attention of the “wonder wizard” Doctor Fate, who goes to the bank in his astral form.
Which is way, WAY more solid than the Doctor Strange version!
Again the Psycho-Pirate is surprisingly creative, because pride would’ve been my last choice as a weapon.
Hourman is on the case as well, and he manages to knock out the Psycho-Pirate.
One neat feature of his segment is that, since Hourman has powers for only one hour, every single panel comes with its own timestamp.
But dealing with Psycho-Pirate’s henchmen gives him the chance for a last minute trick.
Not entirely sure friendliness qualifies as an emotion, but it sure is effective.
Once Dr. Fate and Hourman team up for real, it’s not that hard to find the Psycho-Pirate’s lair.
That’s a trap, however, because the heroes are defeated with the most ridiculous weapons imaginable.
Dr. Fate might be powerless against pizza (!!!), but he can disintegrate the objects that make Hourman terrified.
Psycho-Pirate is STILL not out, though, because he then makes the two heroes fight and mock each other. (is mockery an emotion now!?)
You know what this story starring an all-powerful magician needs? A scientific explanation for how ancient magical masks work.
Sounds legit.
It might look like a throwaway explanation, but nope, it’s vital to the heroes winning!!!
Kind of pointless when you follow that with the wizard conjuring up a magic mask, though.
Plus I’m still not entirely sure how Doctor Fate’s powers work, even after such an infodump.
Appropriate for a Golden Age character, I guess.
The Earth-2 character are way, WAY better at dealing with secret identities than their Earth-1 counterparts.
Historical significance: 6/10
Psycho-Pirate is immensely significant only thanks to his pivotal role during Crisis On Infinite Earths, but everything he did before that has very little impact on anything.
I constantly forget he was an Earth-2 character!
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Doctor Fate being afraid of pizza! Sure it kind of makes sense in context, but come on!!!
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
This was surprisingly well done! Garner Fox has the tendency to stick too much to his formula of separating the heroes, which gets really distracting in stories with a large cast but fits very well with a story with just two heroes.
Psycho-Pirate is quite interesting, being extremely versatile and cunning, and unlike the Golden Age story the emotional angle is crucial to the story.
Still not sure if all of those should be considered emotions, though.
How close is this to the classic character?: 10/10
I haven’t read that many pre-Crisis stories with the Psycho-Pirate, but he seems pretty much the definitive version to me. Of course Crisis pretty much overshadows everything that happened before it.
Despite Gardner Fox being responsible for the creation of both Psycho-Pirates, they could hardly be more different to each other. The Golden Age version was nothing more than a crafty manipulator whose ability to stymie the JSA was dependent on his identity remaining secret. Unsurprisingly, he died in prison, unable to make a comeback.
The Silver Age version had a flashy Silver Age costume and a versatile power. I wonder if he ever clashed with the second Red Tornado, and would RT have been immune to emotion manipulation? I know Wildcat beat Psycho-Pirate once by closing his eyes!