New Fun #6
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeNew Fun #6 (October 1935) is one of the most consequential single issues in American comic-book history: it marks the first published work of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster — the team that would later create Superman — appearing in print for the very first time. The issue introduces Doctor Occult (billed as 'the Ghost Detective'), who holds the distinction of being the earliest recurring original character still active in the DC Universe, as well as the first superhero-like figure created specifically for a comic book rather than adapted from another medium. Alongside Doctor Occult, the issue also debuts his partner Rose Psychic and the swashbuckling serial 'Henri Duval,' giving comics its first horror-inflected supernatural detective and one of its earliest action-adventure features in the same package. It is also the last issue to carry the 'New Fun' title before the series became 'More Fun Comics,' making it a literal turning point in the publishing lineage of what would become DC Comics.
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Publisher Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson of National Allied Publications formally accepted Siegel and Shuster's work in June 1935, following a letter offering the young Cleveland creators a feature slot, and the two black-and-white stories ran in the October 1935 issue — Siegel and Shuster's first paid comic-book assignment. Because both features in the issue were by the same creative team, the Doctor Occult strip was bylined under pseudonyms — Siegel wrote as 'Leger' and Shuster drew as 'Reuths' (partial anagrams of their names) — a common editorial practice to make the magazine appear to have a larger stable of contributors. The issue was edited by Wheeler-Nicholson himself, with William Cook as managing editor and Connie Naar (noted as the first woman editor for what became DC Comics) serving as assistant editor. New Fun #6 was still in the oversized tabloid format — 10 by 15 inches — that defined the series from its launch; the title would begin transitioning to standard comic-book dimensions in subsequent issues after the rename to More Fun Comics.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First published work by Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist), the future co-creators of Superman — their comic-book debut, cover-dated October 1935, on-sale September 13, 1935.
- First appearance of Doctor Occult ('the Ghost Detective'), now recognized as the earliest recurring original character still used in the DC Universe, created by Siegel and Shuster under the pseudonyms 'Leger and Reuths.'
- First appearance of Rose Psychic, Doctor Occult's partner, who debuts in the opening chapter of the four-part serial 'The Vampire Master' — a story split across New Fun #6 and More Fun Comics #7–9.
- First appearance of Henri Duval ('Henri Duval of France, Famed Soldier of Fortune'), a Musketeers-era swashbuckler conceived by Wheeler-Nicholson and illustrated by Siegel and Shuster; they produced the first two installments before handing the strip off to other creators.
- The Vampire Master serial introduces supporting characters Sander Amster and Mrs. Amster as victims, with Bart Moore later revealed as the villain behind the 'Vampire Master' persona — a mad scientist rather than a true supernatural creature.
- New Fun #6 is the final issue of the series under the 'New Fun Comics' title; with the next issue (#7, January 1936) it was renamed 'More Fun Comics,' the anthology that would later introduce The Spectre, Doctor Fate, Green Arrow, and Aquaman.
- The issue's anthology also continued the ongoing 'Super Police 2023' science-fiction serial featuring Rex Cosmos, Professor Shanley, Joan Shanley, and villain Captain Kiddlaw, as well as 'Oswald the Rabbit' — a licensed Universal Pictures character originally created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks — which had appeared as a running strip-gag across the series since issue #1.
- Doctor Occult's mystic artifact — the Symbol of the Seven — makes its first appearance in this issue; modern DC stories base their visual depiction of the object on its design here.
Cast · 16 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Cavalier Comics #2 (1945)
Key issues in New Fun
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