Monday, March 1, 2010

Groove's Faves: Dr. Fate by Pasko and Simonson

What's happening, Groove-ophiles! Here's another fave I'm sure you've heard of but perhaps have never gotten to enjoy first-hand--Martin Pasko and Walt Simonson's legendary Dr. Fate one-shot that appeared in First Issue Special #9 (September 1975). It served as a kind of preview for the return of the JSA in All-Star Comics, as the Golden Age group would finally be freed from comicbook limbo one month later--and wotta preview it was! Simonson's art was in-freakin'-credible on this story, and Pasko's script combined enough creepy/mystical elements to satisfy those of us who'd been groovin' to the "cosmic" adventures of Marvel's Dr. Strange and Adam Warlock. Many of the coolest elements of the Dr. Fate mythos were either introduced or given more depth in this story; stuff like the "ankh" shaped mystical energy, the separate personalities for Fate and Kent Nelson, the mysterious Salem tower, and Inza's hatred of Dr. Fate. All this and a Joe Kubert cover, too! It's a true-blue dose of Groovy Age DC cool, baby! Enjoy!
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

2 comments:

  1. Colin SmithMarch 1, 2010 at 6:03 AM

    It's certainly a great comic, & along with Darwyn Cooke's Dr Fate Tale in JSA All-Stars 3, probably the best Dr Fate since those first few Golden Age tales full of scary fish men & the like. Thanks for posting it. It's always fun seeing what you put up next.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike MikulovskyMarch 1, 2010 at 8:21 AM

    Hey Groovy One!
    Thanks for posting yet another forgotten gem. I used to but First Issue special all the time. Gotta love Dr.Fate, loved his helmet & his tower. This was a really great story for me as a kid.

    Your right with Dr.Strange & Adam Warlock were rock'in at that time. DC should have given Dr.Fate his own title back then. I'm not a huge fan of tv's Smallville on the WB. But they just did a JSA two hour episode. The parts with the JSA was done pretty good. Dr.Fate & Sandman looked great. Even though they killed Dr.Fate! GGGrrr! If you get a chance check it out. I think Dr.Fate & JSA fan will enjoy it. Keep up the awesome work & keep on Groovin!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin
Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.

As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!