#gardner murphy

[macrolit]

An Outline of Abnormal Psychology Modern Library, 1946

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Montague Ullman, M.D., Stanley Krippner, Ph.D. & Alan Vaughan - Dream Telepathy - Turnstone - 1973 (jacket design by Clive Tunnicliffe, 'Church at Auvers' by van Gogh)

[smashedpages]

On this day in 1964, Zatanna made her debut in Hawkman #4 by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson! Ever since, she’s cast a spell on us as a magical guardian to the DC Universe and beyond. Yppah Yadhtrib Annataz!

[thetzar]

AHS Men:

Gosh, I Miss This Era !

[splooosh]

“only one”

Gil Kane - Murphy Anderson

[cantsayidont]

For a long time, the main impetus for DC reprinting any of its voluminous back catalog was some promotional or licensing tie-in: a movie, a TV show, some merchandise they were trying to push, or just a popular ongoing book. Given how prominently Dr. Fate was featured in the recent BLACK ADAM movie, therefore, it's surprising and somewhat disheartening that DC didn't take the opportunity to do some kind of greatest hits compilation for the character, who was certainly the best thing about that mostly terrible film.

This is especially unfortunate because you could fit quite a bit of Dr. Fate's Silver Age and Bronze Age non-JSA appearances in a single volume, starting with the two 1965 SHOWCASE team-ups with Hourman shown above, by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson. There are also a number of later team-ups with Superman and Batman:

Fate then got a couple of solo features in the '70s:

Kubert cover notwithstanding, the 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL story, which is written by Marty Pasko, has some really outstanding early Walt Simonson art, while the SECRET ORIGINS OF SUPER-HEROES story has an eight-page retelling of Fate's origin, narrated by Kent Nelson's wife Inza, by the ALL-STAR COMICS team of Paul Levitz and Joe Staton.

In 1982, Doctor Fate got his own eight-page backup feature in, weirdly enough, THE FLASH #306–313. Despite what a couple of the covers imply, there wasn't a team-up between the Flash and Fate (who in those days still existed on separate parallel Earths); the Fate strip was just an unrelated second feature.

This strip, written by Marty Pasko and Steve Gerber with spectacular art by Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt, presents an array of interesting ideas (some of which obviously paved the way for Giffen's 1987 revamp). Pasko had already established (in the 1975 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL story) that Doctor Fate wasn't exactly Kent Nelson: He was really the ancient Lord of Order Nabu, the entity who trained Nelson in the magical arts, who possessed Nelson's body whenever he put on the Helm of Fate. In other words, the Dr. Fate of these stories isn't so much a man wearing a magical helmet as a magical helmet wearing a man. Nabu has made both Kent and Inza ageless — they both appear about 25, but by this time, they're really in their 60s — but allows them little real control of their lives. Kent has more or less resigned himself to it, but Inza is feeling the strain of being trapped in a magical menage à trois with her husband and an inhuman entity that has little regard for Kent's welfare and even less for hers. Nabu, for his part, seems to exist in a state of constant mystical urgency in which human frailties are an unaffordable distraction.

This could have been really compelling, and it's both graphically interesting and quite strange, but all that is a lot to squeeze into eight-page installments, and having them crammed in the back of one of DC's most conventional superhero books was obviously not optimal. It was also having to compete for Giffen and Mahlstedt's attention with LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, which I assume was why the Fate strip was dropped after only eight installments.

To everyone's surprise, there was even a Doctor Fate action figure in 1984 as part of the Kenner Super Powers line. This came with a little minicomic, which to my knowledge has never been reprinted:

All of this stuff would add up to something in the realm of 230 pages, which would easily fit into a single trade paperback collection with a digestible price point. Maddeningly, DC has already done the color remastering for roughly three-fifths of this material, so even that probably wouldn't be a huge chore (although the Giffen/Mahlstedt stuff, which has a lot of color holds and graphic effects, really calls for more care in remastering than DC has tended to give its older material of late.)

[ultrameganicolaokay]

DC Finest: Justice League of America - The Bridge Between Earths by Gardner Fox, Dennis O'Neil, Mike Sekowski, Dick Dillin and more. Cover by Sekowski and Murphy Anderson. Out in November.

"Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. Aquaman. Green Lantern. The Flash. Martian Manhunter. Together, they are the Justice League of America, the World’s Mightiest Heroes! Join them and an ever-growing roster of heroes (plus unofficial member Snapper Carr) as they take on alien and supernatural menaces threatening the citizens of Earth-One and -Two when the bridge between both worlds gets blurred. Collects Justice League of America #45-72 from July 1966 to June 1969."

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

WC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #19

Now this is one of my favorite Justice League stories of all time. The fact that I read it as a reprint at a very young and impressionable age probably has something to do with that. But also, it played upon one of my personal fears as a child. Having watched an especially terrifying episode of the TWILIGHT ZONE, I had an abiding fear that some twin Tom Brevoort was coming to replace me. As this…

[nickmarino]

[moviesandmania]

F*** MARRY KILL Comedy thriller - trailer - out Dec 6

‘A dating movie with a killer twist’ F*** Marry Kill is a 2024 comedy thriller about a young woman who realises she might be dating a serial killer. Also known as F Marry Kill The movie was directed by Laura Murphy, making her second feature after the TV movie Cursed Friends, from a screenplay by Meghan Brown, Ivan Diaz and Dan Scheinkman. It was produced by Jason Moring, Michael Philip and…

[newtodcui]

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD (1955-1983) #47 [Apr 24, 1963]

When a prizefighter makes a deal with a wily alien to become unbeatable, he gets far more than he bargained for! And in the far future, a band of rebels fight against alien invaders using skills gained from sports banned long ago.

[ultrameganicolaokay]

The Brave and the Bold #29 ‘Challenge of the Weapons Master!’ (1960) by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, Bernard Sachs and Joe Giella. Edited by Julius Schwartz. Cover by Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson.

Mike Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson, The Brave and the Bold #29, Justice League of America, 1960.

[smashedpages]

Today in 1964, Zatanna made her debut in Hawkman #4 by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson! Ever since, she's cast a spell on us as a magical guardian to the DC Universe and beyond.

[dailyjsa]

The Brave and the Bold v1 #61

Writer: Gardner Fox

Artist/Inker: Murphy Anderson

[ultrameganicolaokay]

The Brave and the Bold #61 ‘Mastermind of Menaces’ (1965) by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson. Edited by Julius Schwartz. Cover by Anderson.

The Brave And The Bold #61, September 1965, cover by Murphy Anderson

[cantsayidont]

The planet Thanagar, homeworld of Katar Hol and Shayera Thal (Hawkman and Hawkwoman), as seen in its entry in WHO'S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE DIRECTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE Vol. XIII (January 1987). Thanagar, which is located in the Polaris system, first appeared in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #34 (February–March 1961), by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert.