Nightmaster

Jim Rook, a young rock musician, is transported to the sword-and-sorcery realm of Myrra, where he discovers he is heir to a magical blade that compels its wielder to speak only truth and cannot be used against the innocent.

Nightmaster is one of those quietly compelling Silver Age discoveries that rewards the curious collector — debuting in the pages of The Phantom Stranger #1 in 1969, courtesy of creators Mike Friedrich and Bill Draut, he arrived at a moment when DC was pushing into stranger, more adventurous corners of its universe. Over a publishing lifespan stretching all the way to 2013, he proved remarkably durable for a character outside the marquee spotlight, turning up in pivotal DC events like Day of Vengeance: Infinite Crisis Special and Countdown to Final Crisis and finding a genuine home in Shadowpact. The company he keeps — sharing pages with the likes of Blue Devil, Detective Chimp, and Green Lantern — speaks to his place in DC's rich ecosystem of cult favorites and supernatural adventurers, and for fans who love digging past the first tier of heroes, Nightmaster is exactly the kind of find that makes longbox hunting worthwhile.