More Fun Comics #55
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMore Fun Comics #55 (May 1940) is one of the defining artifacts of DC's Golden Age, delivering not one but two pillars of the DC supernatural canon in a single anthology package. The issue contains the debut of Doctor Fate — writer Gardner Fox's occult-powered sorcerer Kent Nelson — marking the moment DC's stable of mystical heroes truly took root; within months, Fate would help found the Justice Society of America. Equally notable, the issue represents the Spectre's fourth appearance and the start of that character's run as the book's recurring cover feature under artist Bernard Baily, cementing More Fun Comics as DC's premier showcase for supernatural adventure. This single issue, with two future JSA founders sharing its pages, stands as a cornerstone in the genre of superhero mysticism that would reverberate through DC storytelling for generations.
In "Zor," Joe Shuster delivers a striking early tale with his distinctive art and inks, marking one of his earliest solo efforts in the superhero genre. This 1940 issue, featuring a promotional ad for the Superman radio show across six states, captures the cultural buzz of the era with its vivid, period-specific detail. The cover by Bernard Baily complements the story’s energetic tone with bold, dynamic visuals.
In "Zor," a routine arrest takes a supernatural turn when a corrupt embezzler is shielded by Zor, a mysterious earthbound spirit whose power rivals even that of the Spectre. As the case unfolds, the line between justice and otherworldly force blurs, leaving the outcome uncertain.
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More Fun Comics had begun life a half-decade earlier as New Fun Comics — DC's very first publication and the first American comic book series to feature entirely original content rather than newspaper-strip reprints. By issue #55, under editor Whitney Ellsworth, the title had fully pivoted from its humor-anthology origins into a superhero showcase riding the wave the Spectre had begun in issue #52. Gardner Fox — who had also co-created Hawkman and the concept of the Justice Society — conceived Doctor Fate as a figure drawn from pulp occult fiction, later citing H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Sax Rohmer as influences; he originally named the character 'Doctor Droon' before the name was changed editorially. Artist Howard Sherman both penciled, inked, and lettered the six-page Doctor Fate debut, while Bernard Baily handled the Spectre story and the cover in his own signed work.
Trivia · 10 facts
- First appearance of Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson), the sorcerer-hero created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, in a six-page story titled 'The Menace of Wotan.'
- First appearance of Wotan, Doctor Fate's most enduring adversary, who debuts here as a powerful sorcerer using both magic and super-science to target Fate through his companion Inza.
- First appearance of Inza Cramer, Doctor Fate's companion and eventual wife, who is kidnapped by Wotan to lure Fate into combat.
- Doctor Fate appears in this debut without an origin story, without his name revealed, and without a cape in several panels; his full background was not disclosed until More Fun Comics #67 (1941).
- The Spectre story, 'Zor,' scripted by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and illustrated by Bernard Baily, features the fourth appearance of the Spectre (Jim Corrigan) and introduces the villain Zor — one of the very few antagonists powerful enough to challenge the Spectre directly.
- The cover, depicting the Spectre, is by Bernard Baily and marks the beginning of the Spectre's sustained run as the cover feature of More Fun Comics.
- The issue also marks the final appearance of the Bulldog Martin feature, according to GoCollect's indexing of the issue.
- The Spectre's 'Zor' story was later reprinted in DC 100-Page Super Spectacular #6 and in The Golden Age Spectre Archives Vol. 1; Doctor Fate's early adventures from this issue onward were collected in the Golden Age Doctor Fate Archives Vol. 1 (DC, c. 2007), collecting More Fun Comics #55–98.
- Published by Detective Comics, Inc. with a cover date of May 1940 and a cover price of ten cents; the issue ran 68 pages and was edited by Whitney Ellsworth.
- Both Doctor Fate and the Spectre became founding members of the Justice Society of America when that team debuted in All-Star Comics #3 later the same year (1940).
Cast · 4 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in DC 100-Page Super Spectacular #6 (1971), The Golden Age Spectre Archives #1 (2003), DC 100-Page Super Spectacular No. 6 Replica Edition #[nn] (2004), Golden Age Doctor Fate Archives #1 (2007), DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection #66 (2016), DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection #89 (2016)
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