Secret Origins (1986) 17 (2)

Secret Origins 17

Aug 1987

The Secret Origin of Dr. Occult

by Roy Thomas, E. Nelson Bridwell, Howard Simpson, Bob Lewis, Augustin Mas, Carl Gafford, Greg Weisman 

A baby boy and girl are saved by a mystic named Zator, on the final night of the 19th century, from a satanic cult. Zator raises the two children in the Far East. The boy he names Doc and the girl he names Rose. He instructs them in the ways of magic that he has learned.

He sends them back to the United States of America once they have matured. The boy changes his name to Richard Occult. The girl changes her name to Rose Psychic. Doctor Occult, as Richard starts calling himself after he completes his PhD, fights evil magical forces with the help of Rose. 

Thoughts

This story is a fast paced story that doesn’t slow down much after the opening scene. Maybe this is appropriate considering the average length of his Golden Age stories.

This story is not a retelling of an older story but there are some references to some of Dr. Occult’s stories from the Golden Age.

The rough draft for this story was written by E. Nelson Bridwell and completed by Roy Thomas. Dr. Occult first appeared in New Fun Comics 6 (Oct 1935). Most of his subsequent Golden Age appearances were in the pages of More Fun Comics. His last appearance during the Golden Age was in More Fun Comics 32 (Jun 1938).

Doctor Occult’s stories were usually no more than a few pages. His first appearance following the Golden Age was in All-Star Squadron 49 (Sep 1985).

Secret Admirers

Most of the letters from readers are positive. All of them are in reference to Secret Origins 12 but most of them focus more on the Fury origin story than they do on the one about the Challengers of the Unknown. One reader points out some of the inconsistencies that have come up in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

Roy Thomas welcomes Greg Weisman, the new Coordinating Editor for Secret Origins. RT also includes some notes about Dr. Occult’s Golden Age publication history, not all of which are accurate. 

Meanwhile

This month’s column was written by Dick Giordano and was a memorial to E. Nelson Bridwell who passed away on Jan 23, 1987, before this comic book was published. Bridwell was a writer for DC Comics for decades and an expert on Superman’s family tree.