Below will be a look at this Lord of Order, with three very special Baxter stock issues from the 1980s....the Immortal Doctor Fate!
The first issue, with its stunning wrap around cover by Walt Simonson, gives you the basics on Doctor Fate, his origin and his settings, as well as reprinting the covers for First Issue Special #9 and More Fun Comics #56 on the interior covers (in black and white), which are two of the three tales reprinted within this mighty tome (and if you needed only one Dr. Fate book in your life, this would be the one!).
But, first up, the origin of Doctor Fate, as told by his wife, Inza Nelson (with a little help from Paul Levitz, Joe Staton and Mike Nasser) from DC Special Series #10 (April, 1978), "This Immortal Destiny".
The next story in this issue is Doctor Fate's second appearance from More Fun Comics #56 (June, 1940), by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman (as well as Dr. Fate's first cover for the issue). Here, Dr. Fate faces Wotan in the underworld, beating and imprisoning him (odd that their second tale is the one reprinted, but it is a follow up story to the first tale, and those so inclined for more Golden Age Dr. Fate info can check here!).
Here, Dr. Fate faces the mummified Khalis, a former foe of Nabu, who takes the Amulet of Anubis from Dr. Fate, and hurts him in his first battle, forcing Dr. Fate to retreat to his tower in Salem, where the helmet (which has the spirit of Nabu in it, making Kent Nelson into Dr. Fate), releases his hold on him, so Inza can tend to his wounds (which grates on Inza, as it has for years). Kent researches Khalis, and goes to fight him, but only defeats the mummy with the power of the sun and an artifact.
The second issue has a cover by Keith Giffen and Gary Martin, and contains reprints of Doctor Fate's back up stories from the Flash #306 to #309 (February to May, 1982) with stories by Martin Pasko, Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt (and on the interior covers, a house ad for the Doctor Fate Flash back up series and the cover to Flash #310....both in black and white).
Here, Doctor Fate has two things to deal with....the resurrection of an ancient Aztec god, Totec, at the Boston Museum, and the wife of his host body of Kent Nelson, Inza, who is getting frustrated with her eternal life...without her husband. These two problems intersect as Inza follows Doctor Fate after he took Kent to face Totec.
Totec, who was really the Lord of Chaos, Malferrazae, has Inza and Doctor Fate captive, transporting the items, as well as his prisoners to Mexico City, where he plans to resurrect his old empire. Doctor Fate breaks free to battle Malferrazae's undead legion, while the Lord of Chaos unleashes Inza's jealous to use as a weapon against Doctor Fate!
Doctor Fate battles Inza's jealousy given life via Chaos magic, while Malferrazae torments her body with tales of how he will take the world and devastate Doctor Fate by turning his host, Kent Nelson, against him. Doctor Fate magics out the villain's plan, and uses his own magic to bring Inza to him....but Inza's jealousy is able to remove the helmet of Doctor Fate from his head, leaving Kent Nelson (who has only vague ideas of what Dr. Fate does) to deal with the world's trouble!
Kent Nelson (the host of Dr. Fate) finds the decaying body of his wife, Inza, still alive due to the magic which kept her and him alive for decades. Kent comes up with a plan to draw back Inza's jealousy and get the Fate helmet back, reintegrating Inza's soul and body, as well as becoming Doctor Fate again to defeat Malferrazae...all while the archeologist Vernon Copeland in charge of the Boston Museum finds out about Kent and Inza (archeologists in their own right), and makes plans for Inza.
The third and final issue has a cover by Keith Giffen and Gary Martin, with reprints of the back up stories from Flash #310 to #313 (June to September, 1982), with stories by Steve Gerber, Martin Pasko, Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt, and black and white covers to World's Finest Comics #208 and More Fun Comics #61 (though these two issues don't make the collection).
Kent Nelson sees horrible disasters happening in New York, Mongolia and China, drawing him to go into action as Doctor Fate (and again driving a wedge between Kent and his wife, Inza)....where she becomes frustrated with her situation, and meets with Vern Copeland (who had wanted to talk to Kent, but finds Inza also an archeologist, which allows him to further his plans for this attractive woman. Doctor Fate traces the seeds of the world's evil to a cornfield in Iowa, and immobilizes a farmer who shows up to protect his field....Fate thinks. Really, the farmer is more than he seems, and sends Doctor Fate away to another realm!
Doctor Fate finds himself trapped in a limbo dimension, the "Nihil-verse" by his "farmer" foe who is much more than an Earth mystic. The "farmer" is still growing his seed of evil, as Inza meets Vern Copeland for dinner (and he wants more than is on the menu with Inza). Doctor Fate is found by the Lord of Chaos, Vandaemeon, and they battle. When Fate gets the upper hand, he magically reaches out to Inza at their Tower home as a beacon to guide him home...but she's out with Vern!
As the battle of Dr. Fate and Vandaemeon continues, Inza realizes being with Vern is a mistake, but then she is taken under a magic spell, as Dr. Fate homes in on where she is to return....knocking Vern unconscious as he returns to his dimension. Weakened by his battle, Fate removes the helmet for Inza to take Kent home, where Kent and Inza argue about her time with Vern....with Kent headed to sleep to recover, and Inza leaving due to their fight and Kent's lack of trust in her. Kent awakens alone in their tower, finding out the disasters have grown, having to go into action as Doctor Fate, finding the small seed of evil having grown into a larger multiverse damaging gem....and the "farmer" in charge, reveals himself to be Ynar, a renegade Lord of Order!
The red gem of Ynar is remaking the multiverse, as Ynar was in league with Vandaemeon (both of whom had become disenchanted with their sides, and teamed up to remake everything for themselves against both order and chaos). The pair fed the energy of Dr. Fate's mystic battle in the Nihil-verse into the gem to get the power to reshape reality. As everything around him turns red, Inza arrives, thinking it is the end of the world. She, Fate, Kent and their Tower are the only things unchanged by the combined Order/Chaos magic. Knowing he is not powerful enough alone to defeat the magic of both a Lord of Order and Chaos, Dr. Fate adds Inza into the mix, hoping the power of her human spirit can bolster his magic enough. Which it does, allowing Fate to stop the end of the world, casting the two renegades out of the universe. A nice side effect....Kent and Inza had to share their essence, seeing they both were really love each other (yet still have trust issues to work out).
Of course, if you need more doctors in your life, you need to check out the rest of the blogs of the Super Blog Team-Up, as we have many Doctors on call this month, as we share a medical theme for our blogs!
Thank you for stopping by, and hopefully you'll be back if I've entertained you, and hope you enjoyed the variety of my fellow Super Blog Team-Up friends as well!
Three special issues that give you the facts about Dr. Fate, all presented on shiny paper....and a part of your regular Super Blog Team-Up check up!
Immortal Doctor Fate #1 (January, 1985)
Here, Inza relates the tale of how young Kent Nelson was on an archeological dig in Sumeria with his father, Sven, when the boy unearthed a crypt, releasing Nabu (Earth's resident Lord of Order) who was healing. The gas which was healing Nabu was fatal to Kent's father, so Nabu took the boy as his own, training him in sorcery and magic, as well as giving him the helmet and amulet that enabled him to take on the mantle of Doctor Fate....and that is why Inza was so upset.....but, more on that later.
The last story is the best, with "The Mummy That Time Forgot" from First Issue Special #9 (December, 1975) by Martin Pasko and Walt Simonson.
More info on the two 1970s issues can be found here....
Immortal Doctor Fate #2 (February, 1985)
Apocalypse Of The Fifth Sun!
Twilight Of The Fifth Sun
Dawn Of The Sixth Sun
Tomorrow Is Forever
Great little short back up stories from the Flash....made that much better by being able to read them at one time!
Immortal Doctor Fate #3 (March, 1985)
American Gothic
Rogue Gods
Blood Of The Sun
Crimson Testament
A happy ending, leaving Doctor Fate to appear in JLA/JSA crossovers as well as the Crisis On Infinite Earths (not knowing what fate....or is that Fate?....would have in store for them after!
Here are the links!
Magazines and Monsters
- Doctor Voodoo Avenger of the Supernatural 2009
In My Not So Humble Opinion
Comics Comics Comics…
- Dr Who Marvel Comics and the Power of Podcasts.
Pop Culture Retrorama
- Doctor Thirteen the Ghost Breaker
Radulich in Broadcasting Network
- Long Road to Ruin: Dr. Dolittle (1998 & 2001)
- Metal Hammer of Doom: Motley Crue - Dr Feelgood
SuperHero Satellite
- The Lonely Life Of Dr. David Banner
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