Every other week, we've been looking at stories reprinted in 1974's 100-page Detective Comics #439. So far, we've visited with the Golden-Age Hawkman and the Silver-Age Atom. This week, we're jumping back to the Golden Age to review an early Dr. Fate story that first appeared in More Fun Comics #66 (April 1941). It was written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Howard Sherman.
Fate's lady friend Inza meets an honest-to-goodness leopard woman at a party, learning that the poor girl has leopard-spotted arms, has recently been dumped by her boyfriend because of this and is contemplating suicide.
Inza is staying overnight at the house where the party is held. That night, she's attacked--apparently by the leopard woman. Dr. Fate senses she's in danger and flies to her. He investigates, confirming the spots on her arms and having an unpleasant encounter with the owner of the house. He soon discovers that the house owner is drugging the poor girl, which is what gives her the spots. They guy wants to drive her to suicide so he can inherit her money. Fate banishes the guy "from the world of men," stops the fake-leopard lady from killing herself and, for the first time, takes off his helmet so that Inza can see his face.
Gardner Fox is normally a cracker-jack writer, so perhaps that's one reason I'm disappointed in this story. It is atmospheric and Sherman's art looks good, but the 6-page length leads to a weak plot. Fate walks through the adventure without effort, "deducing" the bad guy's identity and motive simply by reading his mind. Neither the villain's identity nor his motive are properly set up--it's all just dropped abruptly into the next-to-last page of the tale. A disappointment in all but the atmospheric art.
Next week, we return to the Lonely War of Willy Schultz.
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