I can’t believe it’s already the third year anniversary since my first review!
To celebrate, let’s do some actual archeology and let’s go way, WAY back.
Before Marvel existed.
When DC Comics was still called National Allied Publications.
Before Batman. Before Superman.
Before the Golden Age, even!!!
Let’s go back to the earliest recurring original character that is still part of the DC Universe.
New Fun Comics #6 (1935)
“New Fun Comics” was a tabloid-sized anthology magazine featuring new content, hence the name: what would be considered a “comic book” today used to be a reprint of newspaper strips.
The stories here are a single page, and a complete storyline would run through multiple issues.
There’s FORTY PAGES of material here (not just comics!), and it covers a lot of genres. I can’t go through all of them, but before we get to the ACTUAL story I’m going to talk about there’s many other things I want to highlight.
We have “Sandra of the Secret Service”, which immediately shows us that this is the pre-Comics Code in the very first page.
Her story is written by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, the 1890-born U.S. Cavalry veteran who founded DC Comics (or rather what would later be called that).
If you’ve never seen adventure comics from the 30s, they’re something.
And there’s even a serial set in 2023!!!
But there’s all kinds of comics here, including lots of black&white strips.
Not everything has, uhm, aged particularly well.
There’s also western hero Jack Woods. He was on the cover of issue #1, which technically speaking makes him THE first DC Comics character. His career will last until 1939.
This issue includes the first published story by Superman creators Siegel & Shuster!
It’s my policy to never post entire pages, but… Henry Duval only ran for 6 issues and hasn’t shown up since 1936, so I don’t think DC Comics will mind.
There are some “educational” comics, some adaptations of famous works…
…and several pages of miscellaneous articles. As I said this was a magazine, so you’ll find lots of stuff you wouldn’t see in a comic book.
I could’ve done without the sports section making a comparison between a boxer and the fascist invasion of Ethiopia. (WTF!?)
One thing that IS there and I definitely didn’t expect: a letters page!!!
And questionable advertisements!
Surprisingly, some ads are targeted toward adults (I can’t imagine a 1935 kid wanting a typewriter).
But enough about the curiosities. Why am I reviewing this, and who is the earliest recurring original character that is still part of the the DC Universe?
New Fun Comics #6 (1935)
The Vampire Master, Part 1 (of 4)
by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
It’s Doctor Occult, by the same creators of Superman (under pseudonyms).
And he wastes no time defeating a vampire by showing his not yet described “Mystic Symbol of the Seven”.
Despite saving Mr. Sanders from the vampire, he’s later called to assist his wife after SHE has been bitten by a vampire.
Expecting the woman will be attacked by the vampire again, Dr. Occult substitutes her with his assistant Rose Psychic. And yes, that’s her actual name.
And that’s how the 1-page story ends, with Dr. Occult and Rose Psychic at the vampire’s mercy.
From #7, the series is re-titled from “New Fun Comics” to “More Fun Comics”.
The series will last until 1947, reaching a respectable #127.
It’s where you find most of the Golden Age heroes: the Spectre, Doctor Fate, Green Arrow, Aquaman and even Superboy debut here.
More Fun Comics #7 (1935)
The Vampire Master, Part 2 (of 4)
by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
We were promised a vampire fight, and the story delivers. Also Rose is NOT a damsel in distress!!!
Unfortunately this newspaper doesn’t get a name, because we were THIS close to have the Daily Planet being older than Superman. (it won’t actually be named the Daily Planet until later in his career).
The Vampire Master will be the real villain of the story.
His pose is clearly inspired by Dracula, but it also reminds me of The Reign of the Super-Man, the 1933 Jerry Siegel short story that is the first use of the Superman name. Shuster provided the illustration.
And that’s all there is to it.
More Fun Comics #8 (1935)
The Vampire Master, Part 3 (of 4)
by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
This is the first Dr. Occult color story. Unfortunately the quality of the scan is not stellar (a common problem of Golden Age comics).
Mrs. Amster has escaped from the vampire’s lair, but she’s been hypnotized into murdering her husband!
And so she leads Dr. Occult to the lair, bringing along her husband for whatever reason.
Talk about decompressed stories. Reading through these must’ve been a different experience.
More Fun Comics #9 (1935)
The Vampire Master, Part 4 (of 4)
by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
This issue was the first standard sized comic book in the series!
We have reached the ending… and it’s not been easy.
MOST of the scans I’ve been able to find look like this unreadable mess:
So I owe a HUGE shout-out to majormalcolmwheelernicholson.com because it’s the ONLY place I could find a high quality scan!
Because of its rarity and how dense the plot is when compared to the earlier parts, it’s worth to analyze panel-by-panel.
First of all: the “vampire master” is no vampire at all, but a former suitor of Mrs. Amster and a mad scientist.
The Thought Materializer(patent pending) is QUITE an invention!!! Supervillains having world-changing technologies and wasting them on ineffectual crimes is a very long-standing tradition, apparently.
Possibly because it’s enhanced by the colors (despite the weird choice of giving everyone green skin), but the artwork looks noticeably improved.
Speaking of the Vampire Master’s plan… we can all agree it makes not sense whatsoever, right?
I mean if Dr. Occult hadn’t intervened, THIS Is how things would’ve played out:
1) create a vampire to attack Mr. Amster
2) have said vampire bite Mrs. Amster and leave
3) have said vampire bite her again
4) send her back home to murder her husband
What was the Vampire Master’s goal!?
Did he want to murder her husband to get her back? If so, why send the vampire after her? Why not just kidnap her?
At least we know why he bothered with the real woman and not create a duplicate right away: it doesn’t turn out well for him once it happens.
The duplicate is so murder-crazy she wants to kill the original. You’d expect Dr. Occult to be the one to save his client, but nope! It’s the Vampire Master!
And then the Vampire Master dies in a GORGEOUS panel.
And so we end the story by reminding everyone that yes, this was supposed to be a Doctor Occult story despite him not doing anything.
Sooo… did Doctor Occult get paid for this?
Historical significance: 6/10
In-universe it’s a 0/10: not only Doctor Occult is a very minor character, this story has basically nothing that sticks other than his profession and his assistant’s name.
Normally I don’t count real-life events as part of the score, but for this one I’m practically obligated to make an exception: without a comic book showing there’s an interest for comics that are not reprinted material, it’s likely there would be no Superman.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
His machine can create anything but the Vampire Master just plays with it. Still, if this was the Silver Age we would get SOME idea of how it works, even if it would’ve been nonsensical. With the Golden Age, you often have to go along with the fever dream.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
This is basically a completely different genre. It’s not entirely without merit… there’s some good atmosphere… but Doctor Occult has no personality, he’s not even a factor in the final part, and when you get down to it the Vampire Master is a massive disappointment.
Interestingly, Doctor Occult has one of the longest gaps in publishing history. His last Golden Age story is from 1938 (issue #32): he skips the rest of the Golden Age, the ENTIRE Silver Age (!!!!) and wouldn’t be seen again until 1985 (!!!!).
That happened in All-Star Squadron #49, by (who else?) Golden Age superfan Roy Thomas.
He managed to stay around after that, occasionally getting his own stories but most of the time helping other superheroes.
He’s less mainstream than Constantine and even the Phantom Stranger, but his pedigree practically guarantees him the occasional appearance whenever you need to assemble magic users.
Thanks for three years of consistently great, thought-provoking and entertaining posts.
It’s amazing to think that Doctor Occult and his Mystic Symbol of the Seven (which bears an astounding resemblance to the “Hypno-Discs” they used to sell in the back pages of the comics) goes all the way back to 1935.
It always bugged me as a kid that Dr. Occult had a Mystic Symbol of the Seven that was divided into 8 parts. Now, less so, but it still does, a wee little bit. Has it ever been revealed just who or what the 7 are?
That’s the REAL magic of the symbol 🙂
I have no idea if they ever explained who the Seven are. If they have, I bet they made a connection to the “Lords of Order” stuff.