Doctor Fate # 21-30 (DC Comics) (1988) [COMICS]

 In this set, one writer wraps up their time on Doctor Fate and another writer, whom I like a great deal more, begins.  For some reason, people remember J.M. DeMatteis' vapid spirituality as somehow groundbreaking, while forgetting William Messner-Loebs truly original work on the series.  But here, in Post # 2005 of Jhaeman's Detritus, I set people straight!

Issue # 21 has Kent/Nabu sending Petey & Jack Small into the amulet to get the dead (real) Kent & Inza out--but they find Joachim Hesse trapped in there!  Kent/Nabu wants to be just plain Nabu again.  Meanwhile, chaos is being unleased by Anti-Fate--whatever that means.

Issue # 22 is a gag-inducing story where Linda and Kent join together to form a 4-armed Fate to fight Anti-Fate at a special holy site ("The Tomb of the Avatar"), where the cosmic smile that transcends order and chaos with love allows Anti-Fate to find peace.  Hurl!  New Age-y proselytising is as annoying as any other kind.  And in a similar vein, the Phantom Stranger takes Eric/Eugene to the "Land of the Helpers" because he needs to help humanity with the next stage of evolution.  Do we really need another reminder of the New Guardians debacle?

Issue # 23 makes me *really* hate the Sonny Bono-esque "Smiling God" (I think Welcome to Nightvale has something on this too).  Nabu and Linda come back to consciousness in the The Tomb of the Avatar with Wotan taking care of them.  Meanwhile, inside the amulet, Fate attacks Petey, Jack, and Joachim, so they use the power of imagination to each become their own Fate.  Special spiritual message: "Trust your heart."  You heard it here first!

All hail the Smiling God, Issue # 24 is the end of the DeMatteis time on the series.  Okay, try and stay with me here.  Eric/Eugene's daughter Raina (hideously illustrated to look extremely creepy) faces the tragedy of her mother (Wendy) dying; but Linda dies and takes over Wendy's body to help look after the girl, because Raina will be the "seed of a new generation."  I'll lay odds we never hear about Raina again.  Nabu becomes an infant in the womb of the new Linda/Wendy.  It's all so dumb.  Kent and Inza escape the amulet.  The long and short of it is that all of DeMatteis' characters are safely off-screen, and the new writer will have the classic Doctor Fate main characters to work with starting next issue.

Issue # 25 is better in so many ways, from the artwork to the writing and everything in between.  The issue is more fun and Bill Messener-Loebs makes better use of Fate's power array.  The tower mystically merges into modern day New York and Inza, who has been stuck inside the tower for 40 years (but remaining perpetually the same age) is shocked how much has changed.  Although the Lords of Order plan to leave Earth (because they're annoyed with Fate), one of them, Shat-Rui, vows vengeance and attacks, only to be trapped in Nabu/Kent's old body.  Still a bit hard to explain, but trust me, it's a lot better.

I like the solid cover to Issue # 26.  While Inza is exploring her powers as Fate and even flies into space, Kent becomes over-protective as he's used to being the only one in the marriage with super powers.  We see the neighborhood in New York start to become a major part of the story, with some fun supporting characters.

Issue # 27 really enmeshes Kent and Inza in an urban Black community with poverty and drugs the major issues to contend with.  In a subplot, the mask itself can talk and is starting to act up.  In another fun subplot, Kent can't an archaeology job because he's been out of commission for 50 years!  There is a cringey scene where Fate pulls out the addiction from a drug addiction and battles it like it were a demon.

Issue # 28 has people from across the neighborhood's history popping into the present as an evil god named Tgiian is defeated.  Meanwhile, Kent pretends to be his own grandson in order to get a job teaching archaeology.  The issues are much more enjoyable to read, and the theme is interesting, as Inza uses Fate to intervene in street-level problems but Kent is concerned about the ramifications of people relying on her for everyday issues.

Seeing pilgrims and pirates interact with modern-day New Yorkers is pretty amusing in Issue # 29.  The debate between Kent and Inza continues to be interesting, with each side making some valid points.

Issue # 30 introduces a new supporting character, a local cop.  Fate tries to intervene in stopping a huge tower from casting a shadow over the neighborhood, but when the cop is accidentally killed, Fate realises there are limits even to her power--she's able to bring the woman back to life, but only by hurting everyone around.

That's it for now--we'll wrap up the entire series in the next post.  I do find it really interesting to see a super hero take a sort of broad scale public health approach to helping their community, instead of focussing on super villains all day long.  Bill Messner-Loebs does a good job showing how much that could improve people's lives, without getting Pollyanna-ish about it.