If you were looking for something different today in the world of Ace Magazines terror, then you definitely came to the right place! SEE! A crazy, throat slashing masked surgeon! Corpse play! Sexy nurses! Suicide! And a plague of Black Death infected rats unleashed! Whoa nelly, it seriously doesn't come more exciting and bonkers than this! Throw in a gloriously gory, and very unique two-page splash panel spread, (art by Bruce Currie) and it all adds up to non-stop, action packed fists o'fun in a hospital of horrors! According to the internet, Dr. James Bradley, aka "Doctor Nemesis" would also later go on to be the co-creator of the Human Torch android! From the June 1942 issue of Lightning Comics V3#1.
7 comments:
Marvel re-used this character in x-men comics -- it's a fun Marvel has re-used this character in x-men comics but he's a bit different, with kind of the same look. There's a direct connection between the two. He's still a "super scientist" type character.
This ends with my favorite 40s super hero trope where he all but spells out that he's Dr. Nemesis, winks at the camera, and everybody around him has the logical reasoning of a dead ferret.
I love the rat panels; they are pretty well drawn and I like how they break out of the panel borders as if they are giants menacing the entire world. It's a clever piece of story telling.
And that splash is great. You don't often see that in older 40s comics, and it's pretty grisly, too.
The story is ridiculous, but the art is wonderful. Especially considering that it was not even remotely necessary to put in all the fine details.
Speaking of tropes, I don't mind it when an innocent character gets away with some big things while escaping, but hearing the cop say "We you an apology" and "We weren't exactly pleased" with the escape is almost deliberately taking the idea to extremes.
This is a 1940's serial all in one episode- action, adventure, hero locked up and escape, narrow escape from death, all in one comic. Nowadays the story would be stretched out to three or four comics minimum.
Dr. Nemesis is going for the look of The Shadow, overcoat, fedora and face covering, though The Shadow didn't really need a disguise since he could cloud men's minds.
Great find Karswell, and great post as always.
I love learning about the unexpected origins of more famous characters' origin stories as much as the next guy. But I'm not sure how Dr. Nemesis here is connected to the original android Human Torch. I see that the Wikipedia page says he was the "co-creator", but there's nothing about that in the original Marvel Tales story. So is this some kind of retcon? Was the property passed to Timely, who connected these dots for copyright purposes?
Along with everyone else, I like the art here. The two-page, splash triptych is inventive as heck, and still pretty remarkable even considering its odd, interpretive slant on the realities of the story it introduces. I feel like the rat panel from the top of page five would have fit there better--and I am so totally delighted by the story's depiction of animals swilling plague puddles in order to load-up on pathogen to inflict on the masses. Not that I wouldn't love to read the "five patients on a meat hook" story the actual splash teases.
But I am most interesting the portrayal of villainy here. As I understand it, Dr. Surgeon is, in reality, Dr. Blackton, who is driven to steal the cure for the plague for commercial purposes. That's terrible, and the story is laudably anti-medical-industrial complex, but it doesn't necessarily create a barrier to preventing the disease. Blackton wanted to cure the plague, he wanted the money. If he hadn't stooped to murder, he'd be a classic anti-hero, doing the right thing for the wrong reason. On the other hand, Dr. Bradley heads a cabal of unethical conspirators actively engaged in the criminal concealment of Dr. Lionel's deteriorated ability to function as a surgeon--to the point of allowing many people to die from a disease they might have stopped before it started if they'd acted ethically. This tale of medical corruption is subtle and has many twists and turns. Plenty of people go to their graves so Lionel can keep drawing a paycheck. That wink at the end there is pure horror.
I am pretty sure that the Human Torch thing is a retcon. Dr. Nemesis was in the X-Men fairly recently where he was revealed to be an early mutant. And kind of a cantankerous asshole. He was more fun than this surprisingly gruesome appearance.
Ha ha ha, this is the most insane thing I can remember in an eon.
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