Doctor Occult
Doctor Occult is the title of a comic series that the US publisher DC-Comics has been publishing in varying forms since 1935.
Doctor Occult tells - as the name of the series already suggests - stories that are located in the area of " mystery " and also usually contain elements from the area of horror and horror literature.
Publications on Doctor Occult
The first "Doctor Occult" story was published in October 1935 in issue # 6 of the comic series " More Fun Comics " , in which the "Doctor Occult" series was a regular feature in the following years. The author of these early stories, as well as the creator of Doctor Occult, was the American Jerry Siegel , who later achieved world renown as a science fiction author through the comic characters and series "Superman" and "Specter" he invented .
With “ More Fun Comics ” # 38 from 1938, “Doctor Occult” disappeared as a feature from this series. Further stories of the character were initially published in " The Comics Magazine " (under the title Dr. Mystic).
In the 1980s, "Doctor Occult" stories were published in the series " All Star Brigade " before the character was published in the early 1990s by authors such as Neil Gaiman - as one of the title characters in " The Trenchcoat Brigade " and as a main character in the comic novel " The Book of Magic " - and Roger Stern - in the series "Superman" - was "revived" in a modernized form. In 1994, Vertigo , a DC imprint that publishes comics aimed at targeting adult audiences, dedicated a one-shot to Doctor Occult. In 1999 he played a leading role in the miniseries " Trenchcoat Brigade " , also published by Vertigo .
Title character and plot
Doctor Occult, whose real name is Richard Occult, is a private detective who is dedicated to researching supernatural processes. Visually - with a trench coat , pulled down fedora hat, elegant suits and chain-smoking - the " hard boiled detectives " of the so-called black series, such as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe or Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade, the figure has even found her in fashion in more recent stories Maintained the appearance of the 1930s and 1940s.
In solving his cases, which almost always have something to do with phenomena such as magic , occultism , satanism , mysticism or other forces of action of dark, sinister forces, Occult benefits from his own supernatural abilities: he can hypnotize other people, he can deceive by virtue of his will conjure up real illusions and exercise control over things and people through telekinesis. He also has a " magic disk " (a kind of amulet) that looks like a Maltese cross enclosed in a circle and enables him to perform the most varied of magic tricks and which can only be touched by him. Occult is supported in his adventures by his butler Jenkins and his partner / companion Rose Psychic (from More Fun Comics # 19 of March 1937). Frequent guest stars in Occult's adventures include Superman, the mysterious Phantom Stranger and the cynical John Constantine . Occult's most common adversary is the evil magician Koth.
Occult's enemies include the shamanistic group "The Seven", a clique of seven questionable mystics who raised him and Rose Psychic. The most important development within the various series is the merging of Occults and Roses into one person with two personalities who replace each other.