#I figure that making Dr. Fate a shared mantle at the end of Doctor Fate (1987) was intended to play off that specifically

[daydreamerdrew]

back-up story to The Flash (1959) #306, as republished in Immortal Doctor Fate (1985) #2

#ok I’m understanding the mechanics of Dr. Fate better know #I like what they’re doing here with Inza #regarding the emphasis on Inza not being able to understand the Dr. Fate side of Kent’s life #I figure that making Dr. Fate a shared mantle at the end of Doctor Fate (1987) was intended to play off that specifically #I’m not as confident in this but I wonder if making Eric and Linda’s relationship overtly inappropriate #was intended as commentary on Kent and Inza’s #maybe commentary is not the right word #making the interest begin when Eric was still physically ten and adding the step-mother angle changes the situation #and makes it more indisputably bad #so less of commentary on Kent and Inza’s relationship and more of playing off of them by making the succeeding characters darker/worse #back to the panels- I think that portraying Inza here as like a prisoner with no life purpose outside of (worrying about) Dr. Fate #also serves to highlight how Kent himself is like a prisoner with no life purpose outside of Dr. Fate #Kent saying ‘I thought after all these years you’d have grown up by now.’ #stands out considering that he was rapidly aged from 12 to adulthood #it’s weirdly infantilizing for him to say to his wife #it’s also wack cause as far as I know she did grow up normally #it comes across to me as un-self aware with to be fair if anyone has an excuse for that it’s Kent #anyway I feel like I can’t really blame either of them in this situation like they’re both in bad positions #dc #kent nelson #inza nelson #my posts #comic panels

[thecomicsnexus]

DOCTOR FATE #1-4 JULY - OCTOBER 1987 BY J. M. DEMATTEIS, KEITH GIFFEN, DAVE HUNT, ANTHONY TOLLIN AND DICK GIORDANO

Kent Nelson is dying. His wife, Inza, has passed away. The only thing keeping him alive is Nabu. But the Kali Yuga has arrived and it is time to pass the mantle of Fate to Eric Strauss. But why?

SCORE: 10

This was a very strange reading. Intriguing... but strange.

Giffen was the right choice to pencil this story. His style fits very well for very specific stories, and that “chaos” was the right choice for this story.

DeMatteis has plenty of experience writing horror, so I am not entirely surprised, however, it does seem to be above his average quality.

There are things to discuss in the spoilers section, but in general, this is the right kind of story Dr. Fate could have in the late eighties. There is taboo involved here, and just like all the revisionists that came after the British invasion... the figure of Nabu gets really shadowy. It puts the golden age origin in a very different light.

Spoilers after the break...

The first big shock we experience is seeing Eric Strauss grow into a man. The whole thing feels creepy and screams of “stranger danger”. But we find some calm in Eric’s comments about seeing the lord of order before.

There are a couple of fake deaths in this issue. One of them is Phantom Stranger... who kind of dies... we know he is not dead... but it is not resolved in the story.

The big surprise (unless you read the entire run of JLI), is that Doctor Fate was always supposed to be two people. And that Inza was supposed to be Doctor Fate with Kent, but Nabu didn’t want to let go his control of the power. The concept smells a lot like the Firestorm matrix, but as we will see in the future, Linda can take over the role of Fate.

Now about Linda. We are told early on that she is in love with her step-son. So the moment she sees him grown up, she feels like she can finally “make it happen”. But the kid is technically 10. They say he is an old soul... but... they have to explain that a little further. Anyway, Linda and Eric are like a new version of Inza and Nabu.

And in the end, Kent dies, but Nabu comes back to take his body, so he can help the new Doctor Fate. It is explained that not sharing the power with Inza was what eventually deteriorated both of them. And that is why Nabu lost power as Kent deteriorated.

Power is meant to be shared, or it will kill you.

#keith giffen #dave hunt #dc comics #comics #review #1987 #modern age #doctor fate #jli #justice league international #justice league