The 1987 Dr Fate mini-series

Aesthetically speaking, ever since I first laid eyes upon his Super Power Collection action figure, Dr Fate was always one of my favorite DC characters. What's not to love? The yellow-and-blue color scheme. The ominous face-covering helmet. The big sweeping cape. He's pretty easy for an eight-year-old to draw. And the cherry on top: it's impossible to define his powers. What does he do? Just about anything. Can he beat Superman? Probably. Can he beat the Spectre? Maybe. Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman struck gold when they created this character back in 1940. I'm pretty elated to be re-reading the 1987 Dr Fate mini-series for this review.

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The year was 1987. DC was still trying to sort itself out with all the post-Crisis reboots and continuity conundrums. Dr Fate, who was now part of earth-one DCU thanks to Crisis On Infinite Earths, had been appearing in the new and very well-loved Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League ongoing series. It was an excellent time to revamp the character and get a new mini-series out there since interest in Dr Fate was at an all-time high. As an aside, for anyone who wasn't already familiar with Dr Fate from Roy Thomas' recent All-Star Squadron comics, you could've pick up The Immortal Doctor Fate three-issue deluxe reprint series that was released in 1985.

With a creative team of J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Keith Giffen (penciller) and Dave Hunt (inker), the house ad for this new Dr Fate mini-series... didn't really give anything away. I mean, it would appear that Dr Fate would be fighting some big monsters... but other than that, we had no clue that anything drastic would be happening in this mini.

House ad for 1987 Dr Fate mini-series

Needless to say, we were probably a little unprepared for the bombshells J.M DeMatteis and company would be dropping on us. True to the spirit of Dr Fate, it's a very odd story.

I'm telling you right now that this review is full of spoilers. If you want to stop reading this review, seek out this mini-series and read it on your own and be surprised, go ahead and do so. It's worth it.

I absolutely love this cover. Hell, I just love Keith Giffen art.

Kent Nelson is dying, or -- more specifically -- Nabu's host body is burning out. It's more or less revealed in the first issue of this mini-series that Kent is no longer in control when he wears the Dr Fate helmet and that Nabu is in the driver's seat. It's also revealed that Nabu is a Lord of Order. (I can't remember if this is the *first* instance of Dr Fate being named a Lord of Order, but either way, it's spelled out for the reader in this issue.) The Lords of Order want Nabu to cease his never-ending battle with the forces of Chaos since, according to the Yuga cycles, Chaos is just going to win anyways and then the cycle will restart... so why not just let this thing play itself out and they can restart the cycle from the beginning, and Order will come into power again?

panels from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

[It's probably worth mentioning that this 'Yuga cycles' stuff isn't fictional, and that DeMatteis is trying to educate us about Hinduism. Actually, a lot of DeMatteis' mystical writing is rooted in Hinduism, and now that you're aware of this you'll probably start to notice a lot of parallels you probably missed the first time.]

Despite the sage advice, Nabu decides that he needs to find a new host to keep on battling the Lords of Chaos. Enter: Eric Strauss. Eric is a 10-year-old boy who has always known he was destined for greater things. Kent Nelson goes out and abducts Eric from a playground so Nabu can begin training Eric to be the next Dr Fate host.

Dialogue between Kent Nelson and a young Eric Strauss. Note the close up of Inza Nelson's gravestone. panels from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Nabu then ages Eric Strauss from a 10-year-old boy to a 20-year-old man thanks to some unexplained magic:

A 20-year-old Eric Strauss. Hey, that's Kent Nelson in the background! Why does he have a mouth in his abdomen? page from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

We also can't forget Linda Strauss, who is also first introduced in the first issue of this mini-series. Linda is Eric's 28-year-old step-mother. I was really hoping to glaze over this, but it's so in-your-face that you just can't ignore it: Eric and Linda have a very *unusual* relationship. This will be prevalent throughout the mini-series:

panels from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Also introduced in the first issue: Dr Benjamin Stoner. Don't let the fact that he works at Arkham Asylum fool you: this is the first appearance of Dr Stoner (aka: he's not an already-established Batman villain) and he will re-appear at least once in the 1988 Dr Fate ongoing series. Dr Stoner takes his orders from Typhon, a Lord of Chaos, who also makes his first appearance in this mini-series.

The menacing Dr Benjamin Stoner.
panels from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

...and finally, there's Kent Nelson -- the golden aged Dr Fate. He's looking pretty rough; that mouth coming out of his stomach is a dead giveaway. Also worth noting: Inza Nelson is dead. DeMatteis spends the first issue of this mini-series turning everything you thought you knew about Dr Fate on it's head. It's all very weird and intriguing and, as far as sheer entertainment value is concerned, I just can't help but want to read more.

Nabu, Kent Nelson and a young Eric Strauss.
panel from Dr Fate v1 #1 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

As the story progresses, DeMatteis really delves into the whole 'Nabu is a manipulative jerk' idea and has Kent Nelson lashing out about Nabu's wicked ways. A sub-theme of this mini is Kent Nelson coming to terms with the fact that Nabu robbed him of a happy life, and that Nabu is really no better than a Lord of Chaos in the end.

Kent Nelson reflects. panels from Dr Fate v1 #2 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Meanwhile, in an inner monologue, Linda Strauss decides to blurt out what we've all been thinking:

This is how Linda feels about Eric -- and she's not even aware he's an adult now.
panels from Dr Fate v1 #2 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Coincidentally, Linda Strauss is twenty-eight-years old... and already feels a "connection" to this young boy. Hmmm. I wonder what's going to happen when Linda discovers that Eric has been suddenly aged to a twenty-year-old? Hmmm... I'm getting flashbacks of Hal Jordan and Arisia here.

panel from Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #1 (1981). Art by Joe Staton and Frank McLaughlin.

I've read enough four-issue minis' to know that in order to keep it interesting, at some point the antagonist needs to overpower the protagonist just so we can see how much damage and destruction would be caused if the protagonist gave up. This mini was no exception; Dr Stoner does, in fact, get possession of Dr Fate's mystical helmet and sacred amulet, he becomes a new Dr Fate (anti-Fate?) and plunges the world into chaos.

This appearance of Ronald Reagan here for no other reason than I collect images of Reagan from DC comics. panel from Dr Fate v1 #3 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

The Justice League and the Phantom Stranger make a special appearance in issue #3. Actually, they take up half of the issue. Not that I'm complaining -- seeing Keith Giffen illustrate and Dave Hunt ink the Justice League is just one more reason to hunt down and purchase this mini-series.

panels from Dr Fate v1 #3 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

On the topic of the Justice League, after this mini-series, Dr Fate would appear in only ONE more issue of Justice League International (it was a Millennium cross-over, too) and that would be it.


The fourth issue of this mini is the big showdown: Eric Strauss, Linda Strauss, Nabu, and Kent Nelson versus Dr Stoner (aka: the Anti-Fate). The battle's not going too well for our heroes, when -- out of nowhere -- one more BIG bombshell is revealed:

panels from Dr Fate v1 #4 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

...and we finally discover Linda Strauss' part in all of this:

page from Dr Fate v1 #4 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

The mini-series reveals that Dr Fate was always meant to be the aggregate of two human hosts. Kent and Inza Nelson were always meant to be merged into one, but Nabu put a stop to that... because he's a manipulative jerk. So that explains the whole Eric/Linda connection: she felt a 'connection' to him (easily confused for love) because they were meant to be the new Dr Fate! That explains it.

...but wait! There's more:

panels from Dr Fate v1 #4 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

Well... so much for that theory.

So, this is the part where I try to defend the weird Eric Strauss/Linda Strauss relationship dynamic.

Keeping in mind that J.M. DeMatteis had a consciousness-altering experience when he was 17 years old that set him on a course towards the teachings of Meher Baba, it's safe to presume that the teachings of Meher Baba's most popular book, God Speaks, The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose, had a big impact on DeMatteis and his story-telling.

As it so happens, reincarnation is a central tenet of Meher Baba's teachings. Thus, I'm choosing to explain this away as reincarnation -- Eric and Linda were meant to be together, and were probably together in a previous lifetime... but it just so happened that Linda was reincarnated thirteen years sooner than Eric. There. Something that, at first glance, may appear to be confusing and creepy can now be explained away as mystical and slightly romantic.* Anyways, will Eric and Linda be able to sort this out? Well, not in this mini-series, so we'll need to wait for the ongoing series to see how this unfolds.

* J.M. DeMatteis even chimed in on this via twitter:

God bless you, social media!

Kent Nelson, who finally get the peace he's been longing for, is unceremoniously re-animated by Nabu to be his living vessel (again).

panels from Dr Fate v1 #4 (1987). Pencilled by Keith Giffen, inked by Dave Hunt.

So, how did I enjoy this mini-series? I loved it. It's the perfect storm of 'excellent storytelling about a character I've always been interested in' combined with 'art that I just can't get enough of'. Giffen does a great job with setting a dark and ominous tone to this mini-series; he includes lots of shadows and lots of things with sharp teeth.

This is my favorite kind of Keith Giffen art  -- it's bold and dramatic, it's heavy on contrasts, it's filled with vibrant colors and has a 'pop art' feel to it --  it's the same Keith Giffen art that had me take a look at Legion of Super-Heroes with a new set of eyes. You can find similar Giffen art in The Heckler and the Ambush Bug minis and specials. A major appearance by the Justice League was just the icing on the cake.



The big takeaway:

1) Dr Fate is now a composite of two people: Eric and Linda Strauss. I'm not sure how this is going to play out -- will it be a 'Firestorm thing' where, when they merge, Eric is the body while Linda is a voice in his head? I guess we'll need to wait for the ongoing series.

2) Kent Nelson is back -- but he's actually Nabu. Yeah, that won't be confusing at all. To be honest, I just kinda feel bad for Kent... all he wants to do is rest and be with his late wife, Inza.

3) Dr Fate got his powers (of a sort) in Cairo, Egypt and his magic was always being represented with an ankh (a symbol of life used in ancient Egypt) -- so I'm pretty surprised to learn that there's some Hinduism mixed in there.


Coming up next: The 1988 Dr Fate ongoing series.


-Justin

Brief review of the 1988 Martian Manhunter mini-series

The Martian Manhunter first appeared in Detective comics #225 (1955) and was created by Joseph Samachson (writer) and Joe Certa (artist). It’s interesting to note that Samachson was an accomplished chemist (PhD from Yale) and wrote for sci-fi pulp magazines (under a different nom-de-plume) before becoming a writer for DC comics in 1942.

The Martian Manhunter began as a combination of DC’s two most popular heroes at the time: he was a nigh-invulnerable flying extraterrestrial (like Superman) and a world-class crime-solving detective (like Batman). He even became a founding member of the Justice League of America in 1960 and had a prominent role in the JLA until 1968 when Batman and Superman became more actively involved with the team. Because, honestly, two nigh-invulnerable flying aliens on your team is two too many.

The Martian Manhunter laid low from 1968 until 1984 and only occasionally appeared when a DC character had an adventure in space. He made his big return in the pages of Justice League of America in 1984 and has pretty much been a key member of the Justice League throughout the 80s. He was even popular enough to merit an action figure of himself in the 1985 Super Powers Collection toy line.

Justice League of America v1 #228 (1984)

After Crisis On Infinite Earths, DC took the opportunity to revamp origins/past history of most major characters in order to fix continuity issues. In 1988 it was the Martian Manhunter’s turn. It should be noted that J.M. DeMatteis writing this mini-series was a good fit, as he had been co-plotting/writing Justice League of America stories with Keith Giffen since the Justice League relaunch in 1987, so if anyone had a good understanding of the Martian Manhunter it would be Dematteis.

Making major changes to a comic book character with a lot of history is always tricky, as you don’t want to do anything too drastic that will upset the long-time fans (ex: John Byrne’s Superman). In this particular instance, however, DeMatteis nailed it and the mini-series was well-received.

Changes to Martian Manhunter (as per the mini-series):

• His real name isn’t J'onn J'onzz 
• He is the last martian. All the others were wiped out thousands of years ago by a plague. 
• Mars is actually a dead planet. 
• His real form is a green cone-head creature. 
• All of his personality and memories were implanted into him by Dr. Erdel 
• Dr Erdel never died, it was all an elaborate trick. 
• Fire (previously his only weakness) isn’t deadly to the Martian Manhunter - it's revealed that the danger is all psychosomatic.

One of the reasons this revamp worked so well is because the character of the Martian Manhunter was never strongly defined to begin with, so there was lots of room for elaboration. Crisis on Infinite Earths essentially retconned Superman’s early involvement with the Justice League of America and it would as appear as if the Martian Manhunter was meant to fill that continuity hole (one nigh-invulnerable flying alien can substitute for the other). This leads to a few continuity problems (mainly anything to do with Martians invading earth pre-Crisis) but I’m going to overlook that since DeMatteis did an excellent job regardless.

As a Giffen/DeMatteis-era Justice League fan, I really enjoyed this four-issue mini-series. As a matter of fact, this mini is a direct conclusion to the events the happened in Justice League Annual #1 (1987). The Justice League International do make an appearance, but they only play second banana since the main focus is on the Martian Manhunter. I did not enjoy the art (but maybe you did/might). Mark Badger was the penciller and I found his illustrations too abstract/psychedelic for this type of story. I guess in my mind’s eye Kevin Maguire was the regular Justice League penciller and the only artist fit to do a Justice League spin-off mini-series such as this one.

Michel Fiffe (creator of COPRA) interviewed Mark Badger in early 2010. Fiffe was kind of enough to share an unpublished excerpt from the interview with us about Badger's work on the Martian Manhunter mini-series:

Michel Fiffe: "You had worked on the Martian Manhunter mini-series with J.M. DeMatteis. That seems to be the story where you began loosening up. The entire series works really well as one piece, actually, not just as a string of pages telling a story but as a visual whole. Was there a complete script or did you visualize the entire thing without outside direction?"

Mark Badger: "Plotting of Martian Manhunter was basically done in the basement of 666 5th Ave with Andy Helfer and DeMatteis over pastrami sandwiches. There was no grand plan, it was just screwing around and trying to do something fun. Comics hadn’t become big biz yet where writers and editors mastermind these crossovers to death. I think full scripts really do hurt the visual inventiveness of comics because in a movie, you can extend the time, and storytelling can be carried by sound and suggestion in a way that comics just can’t. On one hand, I understand artists no longer think in terms of storytelling but that’s because editors hire artists who don't think of storytelling. And then no one has the ability to teach anymore. Teaching demands not just saying “this is the right way to do something” but a loop of feedback where you assess what the person is doing to see if they understand the concept and then re-phrasing it and evaluating how you said it. Jim Shooter was a good basics teacher. He laid out a fundamental set of rules but he really had no way to talk about anything after those basics. So at one point, Marvel was buying all the white Zip-a-tone in NYC to cover up blacks in the background to provide depth in their comics. But the idea of atmospheric perspective conflicts with the idea of using black for composition ad spotting a figure against a black backdrop so they stand out. They’re both Renaissance ideas in composition and sometimes you need to have done the craft to juggle them when appropriate."

"I picked up from Walter Simonson, who laid stories out on a typing page with 24 boxes first, using words and maybe thumbnails. I stole that. So I was always thinking of the whole story first, not the one image of the story I can sell. When I started to learn how to code it, was able to see the overall structure of the project that made me successful, more than any math skills. (I spent 8th grade algebra drawing Conan after all, so I should never be able to code.) But at Parsons, we always thought in terms of the overall work and the project, not just the one painting. They were constantly pushing you to have this approach because you were building a body of work not one image to sell. Sometimes I get jealous of people who can think of cool drawings and that slick “I’m a tuff guy” illustration look to all their characters."

"I based the new Martian Manhunter on a David Smith sculpture. I figured if you’re a character capable of morphing into shapes, why in god’s name would you look like a body builder? I just felt like the ability to change shapes meant you would make beautiful Art Nouveau and abstraction, not guns. If you manipulate form, wouldn’t you be fascinated in what you can make? Then I had been reading about grid systems for graphic design, so I made up a small grid and then overlayed that on the Kirby six panel grid to split up the pages. So that drove the layout. Then there was a Roy Lichtenstein show of abstractions at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) while I was working on the Manhunter. So at the time I would go there look at the Lichtensteins, go up to the Henri Matisse room and look at the swimming pool cut outs and then go turn in pages."

"At some point I had been looking at one of the more generic artists at Marvel because they sent us all the comics in those days. I couldn’t understand what the heck the drawing was, it had no relation to the human form but it was a comic. When you looked at comic book drawing in those days it was really weird and comic booky, not the photo realism of today. I thought: man if you can draw that weird, I can draw any shape I want and it will work as a figure. Boy, was I dense! Comics drawing is built on a long tradition. Saying that Matisse is a justifiable part of that tradition is weird. Matisse’s approach to form is so much based at looking at the world and not drawing icons. Matisse would actually just let his drawing be based on the emotion of drawing. I think there was a show of Matisse drawings at MOMA that where charcoal line drawings, not just one line but grey pages where he had changed & changed & changed the drawing to finally get to one line. SO I was looking at those and thinking this is proper drawing. In comics, that’s not proper drawing and I didn’t understand the distinction. So that’s all the stuff I was looking at and trying to pour into my comics."

[If you want to credit any of the interview above, please credit Michel Fiffe]


Two great sources if you're looking for more info on the Martian Manhunter:

• The Idol-Head of Diabolo, a Martian Manhunter blog
• Fanzing's History on the Reboots of Martian Manhunter

You also might enjoy Mark Belkin's interview with J.M. DeMatteis (he briefly mentions Martian Manhunter, but talks about a lot of the other DC projects he worked on during the 80s.)



This article first published on the DC in the 80s tumblr in Aug 2013.

Review of 1989's Mister Miracle v2 ongoing series

Mister Miracle was created by Jack Kirby in 1971 and was included as a part of Kirby’s Fourth World story line which was introduced in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (1970). Mister Miracle’s first ongoing series lasted 18 issues from 1971 to 1974, and was then revived again for another 7 issues from 1977 to 1978. It would appear that the Fourth World interest had fizzled out by the end of the decade and Mister Miracle and the rest of the New Gods went into comic limbo after a 1980 Justice League of America appearance (issues #183 - 185).

Kirby’s Fourth World characters experienced a revival in the mid-80s, thanks in part to Darkseid’s appearance in the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Great Darkness Saga story line (1982) and Kenner deciding that Darkseid and his crew would make the perfect villains for the Super Powers Collection toy line (and accompanying cartoons and comic books) in 1984. Part of the revival included a deluxe format reprint of the 1971 New Gods saga in 1984 and a Hunger Dogs graphic novel in 1985. Kirby’s Fourth World characters really hit their stride in 1986 when Darkseid was revealed to be the villain responsible for the Legends cross-over event, and it wasn’t much later that all of the New Gods became integrated into the DC universe and Mister Miracle became a member of the new Justice League (written by Kieth Giffen and J.M. DeMatties) in 1987. Coinciding with Mister Miracle joining the Justice League was a one-shot special published in 1987 reminding readers who Mister Miracle was.

Mister Miracle would finally get another ongoing series in 1989 as the Fourth World’s involvement within the DC universe was at all-time high: the Cosmic Odyssey event was just wrapping up, the Forever People had just concluded a six issue mini-series, Mister Miracle and Big Barda had become prominent members of the Justice League International, Lashina (of the Female Furies) was on John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad roster, and another New Gods ongoing series was about to debut. It really was a good time to be a Fourth World character.

The premise of Mister Miracle’s 1989 ongoing series was pretty simple - Mister Miracle and Big Barda want to escape all of the crazy superhero shenanigans and just settle down for a quiet ‘normal’ life in the suburbs. J.M. DeMatteis was the first writer for this series - which made sense since Mister Miracle (and Big Barda) had become a permanent fixture in DeMatteis’ Justice League International and no other writer (save for Keith Giffen) probably had a greater hand in fleshing out the character since his 1987 return. As you can suspect, the new Mister Miracle ongoing series had many humorous elements as seen in DeMatteis and Giffen’s JLI and really played up the whole 'superheroes trying to settle in a small town without drawing attention to themselves’ aspect. Len Wein became the writer after issue #8 and, while he still kept the humor, the series shifted direction and started to move toward Mister Miracle heading on an intergalactic tours sans Big Barda. I’m not sure if I mentioned that Mister Miracle and Big Barda were heavily integrated into the Justice League universe, and just to demonstrate that point, Justice League Special #1 (which occurs between issue Mister Miracle v2 #12 and Mister Miracle v2 #13) is a pivotal issue in the series and Mister Miracle subscribers would not have received it unless they had ordered it (or sought it out at the local comic book shop). The series then focuses on Mister Miracle’s adventures across the galaxy all while a subplot about a robot Mister Miracle being introduced and killed off within the pages of Justice League America (also by Giffen and DeMatteis) ran subsequently. It should be noted that Doug Moench picked up writing chores at Mister Miracle v2 #14. The final big story arc in this series is about Mister Miracle returning to Earth, moving to Manhattan with Barda and company, deciding that he no longer wants to be a hero anymore and begins to train his old protege Shilo Norman to become the new Mister Miracle. Ian Gibson illustrated the first 5 issues and was then promptly replaced by Joe Phillips who became the regular artist for the rest of the series (minus a few fill-in issues by various illustrators).

If I had to describe this series to someone, I’d tell them it’s very very good with many elements of Giffen’s Justice League incorporated into it (the humor, anyways). A gritty realistic mood was trending as far as comic books were concerned in the late 80s, and to have a series jump on the humor bandwagon (à la JLI) was a refreshing change. Many fans pointed out that this conflicted with the OTHER Fourth World series at the moment (The New Gods) which had a much darker tone, however this may have been done in respect to Kirby’s 1970s Mister Miracle series which also kept a light tone.

Big Barda plays just as much a role in this series as Mister Miracle does, and I’m somewhat surprised she didn’t get her name included in the title. If you are a fan of Kirby’s Fourth World universe, I’d recommend checking this series out as A LOT of Fourth World characters make appearances. One of the interesting things about this series is that it picks up on a lot of the story lines and characters that appeared in the 1971 Mister Miracle series, meaning that Mister Miracle’s history/existence was NOT rebooted by the Crisis On Infinite Earths event. I guess there was no point in messing with perfection? While this series is being reviewed in a blog about DC comics from the 1980s (because the first issue was published in 1989) it really is more of a 1990s series - it even contains the obligatory Lobo cross-over (as Lobo was appearing EVERYWHERE in the early 90s). 

This series ended at issue #28 (1991) and Moench managed to wrap up any loose ends by the final issue (although it was revealed that he did have plans to have Barda’s new Female Furies battle her former team, but plans had to be scrapped). Mister Miracle continued making appearances in the DC Universe until he got another ongoing series in 1996. Shilo Norman (who was reintroduced in this series) also made sporadic appearances throughout the DC Universe and is still a fan-favorite to this day.

This article first published in March 2014.