Coming to the end of the month, and I am now coming toward the end of my favorite DC characters. Doctor Fate and Zattana. Sometimes they are linked together, sometimes they are not. Kent Nelson is the main partner of Nabu, but there are others, since Doctor Fate is really more the helmet. Honestly, ever since I was young, I have gravitated toward wizards. So, I love the magic part of the DC universe. Especially the Lords of Chaos and Order. The idea of two cosmic entities struggling against each other.
It didn’t hurt that in the Justice League cartoon, the actor of Doctor Fate was Oded Fehr. Which, ever since The Mummy, I have loved his performances. Even the shows that are not the best. He’s usually the best part of anything that he’s in. Though the Mummy had a wonderful cast, which made the whole movie so much better. It is why The Terror Beyond, is one of my favorite episode from Justice League. It ties my love of magic and my love of H.P Lovecraft. The episode utilizes Cthulhu. Cosmic horror being my preferred horror.
Then you have a magician who plays up the whole stage magician act. There is a wonderful absurdity to it, a real wizard, making a living as a stage magician. Whenever the DC universe delves into the occult with these characters the stories become larger. It allows them to explore all those interesting theories and mythologies that have arisen out of our past. Like Atlantis and Lemuria, which are more fictional than historical. Or Egypt and Sumer, which are more historical than fictional. There are so many blank periods in our understanding of history, that we due tend to invent some outrageous stories to fill them, and the magic users of DC delve into those stories.
It is why binding the two together, Zattana and Doctor Fate together works, like they did in Young Justice. Giovanni Zatara in the show, being the father of Zattana, becoming Doctor Fate. That kind of trauma was heartbreaking, and made the show that much better. The death of a character, when done right, really can be a gut punch. But the story in Young Justice, starting with the episode “Denial”, and ending with “Misplaced”. In fact, Misplaced in many ways is a continuation, and upgrade to “Kid Stuff” a Justice League episode that deals with magic users. It would be traumatic if all the adults disappeared at once.
That brings up one of the greatest villains of the DC, Vandal Savage. An immortal cro-magnon, pretty much count Dracula in many ways. Minus the blood-drinking, but the cut-throat tactician, and the might make right personality. Having a villain whose older, wiser, and serious makes them more dangerous. It makes it more interesting when the villain is dangerous. The best outing of Vandal Savage, besides Young Justice, is the animated movie, Justice League: Doom. Though the episode where Superman is thrown far, far into the future, also has a great representation of him as well. That episode being, “Hereafter”, part II.
To sum up, all of these characters deal with the occult and magic. And it makes the stories with them fun pulp. They are always going to deal with cosmic entities, and the horror that comes with that. The best stories with the characters dwell down that well, embracing the macabre and absurdity. Magic and cosmic forces are out there, and a good writer will just roll with it. And the examples listed above are what made me love the characters.
Matthew William Lindquist 