More Fun Comics #55 (1940)
by Gardner Fox & Howard Sherman
cover by Bernard Baily
Despite the cover, we are not going to focus on the Spectre’s story…
…even if it features one of the Spectre’s very few recurring enemies, Zor.
Not really surprising that the Spectre has so few villains, since you really don’t need too many evil people who can match him.
We’re actually here for the first Doctor Fate story.
Apologies for the quality of the scans, I could not get my hands on a reprint.
Just like the Spectre, Doctor Fate also has few villains. This issue is also the first appearance of probably his most important foe, the fabulously dressed Wotan.
Wotan hypnotizes a regular guy into becoming a really polite criminal.
Ah the 40s, when killers had manners!
The woman is Inza, the girlfriend (and future wife) of Doctor Fate himself, since this is part of Wotan’s plan to lure him out.
The plan works, and Doctor Fate makes his debut saving not only his girl…
…but also the killer!
Which makes sense: this was not a criminal, just a guy hypnotized by Wotan. But it’s still notable for the early Golden Age to keep ANY adversary alive.
For a moment I was worried we were going to get another infodump, but this is really tame and not really the whole origin.
Due to the bad quality of the scan, here’s the text:
“Who is Doctor Fate? Student of ancient mysteries that were partially destroyed when Caesar burned Alexandria’s library, delver into the unknown science of the occult and the weird, alchemist and physicist extraordinary. Doctor Fate has learned the ultimate secret of the universe, the true conversion of energy into matter and matter into energy!”
It’s also interesting to see that Inza is not your typical damsel in distress. She’s Doctor Fate’s assistant, and even if she doesn’t have any real magic powers she does pull her weight.
Gardner Fox has always been influenced by science fiction. Even if he’s writing a magic power, he still tries to put SOME level of scientific realism into his story!
Doctor Fate then teleports himself and Inza to Wotan, in order to face him directly.
Okay so you’re a powerful evil wizard and you want to get rid of a magic-wielding superhero.
What do you unleash against him?
AN APE. Not a magical ape, just… just a regular ape.
The Golden Age, ladies and gentlemen!
That’s just pathetic. I mean Inza defeat one of the apes herself! With some magical help, but still.
Wotan… you’re being a major disappointment. I know this is only your first appearance but for crying out loud Zor grew the size of a mountain for HIS first battle with the Spectre!
Ah yes, “the mysteries of the past”… apes and a knife.
I think you’re giving Wotan way too much credit, Fate. He really doesn’t seem to be your equal.
In fact, when Wotan makes his final move and threatens Inza…
…Fate doesn’t even use magic to defeat him: HE PUNCHES HIM OUT.
Told you the Golden Age holds no punches. LITERALLY in this case.
It’s also unclear exactly HOW Fate defeated Wotan. He caught him off guard with a punch, that’s for sure, but this made him mortal… HOW, exactly!?
You pushed him off the window!!! You don’t need to be a doctor to check if he’s dead or not, and you ARE a doctor!!!
And that’s how the story ends. Considering the cover of the following issue… yeah Wotan is fine.
If you’re wondering just how Doctor Fate wants to check if Wotan is dead… HE GOES TO HELL.
Who needs the World’s Greatest Detective if you have a guy who can ASK DEATH DIRECTLY?
Despite being an ancient super-wizard, Wotan is basically a mad scientist in this issue for no reason.
He also upgraded his weapons from apes and knives to DOOMSDAY WEAPONS.
I can’t help being severely underwhelmed by Wotan.
In addition to Doctor Fate and the Spectre, there are several non-superhero stories in #55.
And also a story whose title page has, uhm, NOT aged well.
But despite that, the protagonist doesn’t do blackface. It’s just a story with a rough-and-tough bounty hunter dressing up as an old woman to solve a case.
It’s not a bad story by 1940 standards. What baffles me is that there is absolutely no reason for that title page!!!
Despite the HUGE variety in the type of stories that were being published, it’s VERY clear that what was really selling was superheroes. They’re basically the only thing that gets advertised.
Historical significance: 9 / 
Doctor Fate is a very important character both for the Golden Age and for DC’s magic characters in general, and this story does a lot to introduce his mystique.
Silver Age-ness: 8 /
MURDER APES!!!
Does it stand the test of time? 7 /
Surprisingly modern when compared to his contemporaries. What holds it back is just how underwhelming Wotan is, but the lack of characterization on Doctor Fate himself… kind of work to his advantage? There’s an aura of mystery surrounding him that kind of works, especially with Inza around him to ground him a little.
It’s also refreshing to see a 1940 female supporting character being given some agency!
How close is this to the modern character? 7 /
Doctor Fate could’ve had a VERY different name!
Doctor Fate (I originally called him Doctor Droon, but the name was editorially changed) was one of my favorites. I created him and even sketched out the original costume he would wear – but that costume was changed by artists over the years, for one reason or another. To my knowledge, I wrote all the Dr. Fate yarns that appeared, up until 1968, when I left comic book writing to a great degree. I always liked the supernatural; I read Lovecraft, Derleth, Sax Rohmer, Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Whitehead, all the others, Fate was a derivation from my imagination influenced by those writings.
GARDNER FOX
Doctor Fate’s origin story had to wait a year, until More Fun Comics #67.
If you thought the “aliens built the pyramids” theory is a modern thing… this is from 1941, courtesy of Doctor Fate’s father.
Yeah, uhm, Doctor Fate’s original origin is NUTS. It involves a super-scientific alien magician who is revived after half a million years of sleeping in a pyramid.
AND Fate is raised by the guy who accidentally caused the death of his father.
Eventually he learns everything he needs from the alien, being given his iconic helmet.
By the way, you know how Doctor Fate is always talking about his “helmet of Nabu”?
THIS GUY is the Nabu he always mentions!!!
Yeah that origin has been SERIOUSLY retconned over the years, for obvious reasons!
Doctor Fate proved popular enough to become a founding member of the Justice Society. Apparently the world wasn’t ready for a superhero whose face was never visible in-costume, so his helmet was changed to this atrocity.
Which is hilarious because the first issue where he changes the helmet, More Fun Comics #72, also features him being knocked out by gas.
Not magic gas, by the way.
Doctor Fate would stay on More Fun Comics until #98 in 1944, and dropped out of the Justice Society about the same time.
He’d be a regular member of the Justice Society in the 60s, whenever they had team-ups with the Justice League, but he did have a couple of issues of Showcase with Hourman.
In addition to being heavily involved with anything related to the Justice Society, Doctor Fate has had SEVERAL regular series.
I have not read any one of them… to be honest I’m more of a Doctor Strange guy, and Fate never really captured my attention.
He’s also turned into a legacy character. The Golden Age version, Kent Nelson, is typically the guy behind the helmet.
There was a time when TWO people were Fate at the same time!
Inza has also been Doctor Fate for a while.
Hector Hall has also been Doctor Fate, after trying out being the superhero Silver Scarab AND being Sandman for a while too.
Hector is the son of the original Hawkman and Hawkgirl, because if there’s a thing Hawkman REALLY needs is being EVEN MORE CONFUSING.
A new Doctor Fate book was set to debut in 2007, starring the grand-nephew of the original, written by Steve Gerber and drawn by Paul Gulacy.
Sadly Gerber died before it could happen, and this version of Doctor Fate ended up being a footnote.
And finally there’s the Egyptian-American Khalid Nassour, introduced in 2015 who I think is still the current wielder of the helmet, although of course the original is still around.
Yeah this kind of back-and-forth between identities is one of the reasons why I haven’t been able to get into Doctor Fate.
I can’t help but draw comparisons with Doctor Strange… sometimes he’s not the Sorcerer Supreme, but at least I know who Doctor Strange is. Both literally and in terms of personality.
If who is behind the helmet doesn’t really matter, I can’t get into the character.
I do have to admit it, though. That helmet is one of the coolest freaking things in comics!!!
Roy Thomas did use Wotan’s scientific abilities in ALL STAR SQUADRON (he makes a ray gun that ends up killing one of the future Preseidents, and robot soldiers). Since that run majorly used the Half Helmet Dr Fate, Thomas gave him a weakness to gases and lack of oxygen.
In addition to the various characters who have worn the mantle of Dr. Fate, there was also Jared Stevens, who went by just “Fate” (tagline ‘The Dr is out’). He lasted long enough for his book to be restarted from scratch after only a year.
There’s also a multi-armed version of Dr. Fate serving in the Bendis-boot of the Legion of Superheroes. Nothing is known of him since Bendis provided almost no details about any member of his version of the Legion.
The coolest use of the helmet – and it wasn’t the genuine item – was in the “52” series, when (spoiler alert? It was fifteen years ago) Felix Faust disguises himself as the helmet in order to sacrifice the soul of a widowed, depressed Ralph Dibny, and pretends that the detective Jason Bard died putting on the helmet unprepared. But ever the detective, Ralph could tell there was a plot afoot, because the shiny helmet had no fingerprints on it, and ultimately, trapped Faust and Neron in Fate’s tower instead.