Friday, November 16, 2012

Dr. Occult-Siegel and Shuster-1939 ('37)


Turn off the color on your set for today's black and (yellowed) white presentation. These scans come from the ashcan edition of DOUBLE ACTION COMICS from 1939 but they appeared originally in color in a 1937 issue of MORE FUN COMICS. Some lovely work from the pre-Superman team of Siegel and Shuster. 




5 comments:

Daniel [oeconomist.com] said...

Note how Siegel and Shuster replace the more typical crucifix with a mystic symbol.

(Vampire mythology is in fact infused with anti-Semitic mythology, and the business of using crucifixes to repel vampires comes primarily from that.)

Duffs said...

I believe that symbol of power is common to all Dr. Occult stories. It's usually a disk though, so maybe this is how it started--as a replacement for a crucifix? This is some fine Shuster art!

Anonymous said...

When talking about the success of superman, most overlook the incredibly good art and writing from Siegel and Shuster.

Richard Ranke said...

I wonder if Bob Kane saw this story? He did produce his own,"Bat-Man,"in 1939. (See page 2,panel 4.)

Jeff Baker said...

Dr. Occult was revived with the "All-Star Squadron" in the '80's or '90's. His mystic symbol reminded me of those silly hypnotic discs you could order from ads in, yes, comic books!