Abstract
- Physician Destiny’s half-helmet was launched in Extra Enjoyable Comics #72, making him look extra like a standard superhero quite than a magical one within the Golden Age.
- Roy Thomas later defined that Kent Nelson and his spouse created the half-helmet as an try and stop the possession by the alien Nabu.
- Thomas cleverly tied this rationalization right into a dramatic character interplay, including depth to the story and resolving the retcon in a satisfying means.
“Present Some Solutions,” is a characteristic spotlighting when lengthy unresolved plot factors are ultimately resolved. Right this moment, we have a look at how Physician Destiny’s unusual half-helmet was defined away many years later.
Typically talking, you all know what this characteristic is about. They’re tales that had been left unresolved for a very long time, after which ultimately a later author, properly, , resolved them. Nonetheless, there are additionally often examples of tales that weren’t essentially unresolved, per se, however quite unexplained. You realize, only a bizarre plot level that wasn’t defined for years (a great instance could be how Wolverine modified his masks in Large-Dimension X-Males #1 as a result of Gil Kane deciding so as to add a cowl to his masks. It was purely an inventive resolution, however many years later, Roy Thomas defined away the masks change in a problem of X-Males: Legends).
That is what we’re right here immediately, the place Physician Destiny modified his iconic helmet at one level within the Golden Age. Author Gardner Fox was clearly simply attempting to get in on the pattern of the time of extra conventional superheroes, so there was by no means an actual in-story cause for the change, however Roy Thomas (him once more!) got here up with a proof years later anyway! Let’s learn the way he did it!
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How was Physician Destiny’s half-helmet period totally different from his different comics?
In March 1940, Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman launched Physician Destiny within the pages of Extra Enjoyable Comics #55. This was very early within the Golden Age of superheroes, and superheroes fairly often had been launched to options simply type of in media res, as Physician Destiny is already a longtime superhero with a love curiosity who wants saving and all the pieces. Nonetheless, one factor that’s clear about Physician Destiny is that he DID have magical powers…
Proper off the bat, Physician Destiny’s golden helmet was a really distinctive factor of the character, and it has most likely remained essentially the most noteworthy side of the character…
Whereas it was Sherman who designed the helmet, it was Fox who stated that Destiny having a helmet was a key a part of the character. It was simply that Fox did not get round to really revealing WHY the helmet till over a 12 months later, when, in Extra Enjoyable Comics #67, we discovered Physician Destiny’s origin. It seems that an alien referred to as Nabu taught Kent Nelson his magical talents and gave him a fancy dress, together with the helmet.
In Extra Enjoyable Comics #72, although, the quilt notes that Physician Destiny is now totally different, as he has a half-helmet now…
He nonetheless has magical powers, however his method may be very totally different…
Take a look at him simply punching dudes out, so very totally different from the distant, magical superhero he had been earlier than…
This was the case for the remainder of Physician Destiny’s comedian guide profession within the Golden Age, and when he returned within the Silver Age, in 1965, when Fox and Murphy Anderson introduced Physician Destiny again in Showcase #55, and all of a sudden, Physician Destiny was rather more of a magic-based superhero once more, and with a full helmet…
Okay, so what was the cope with the half-helmet?
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How did Roy Thomas clarify away Physician Destiny’s half-helmet years?
As I wrote about just lately, Martin Pasko and Walter Simonson did a revamp of Physician Destiny within the Seventies, and through that story, Pasko’s massive twist in Physician Destiny’s setup is that he revealed that Nabu truly POSSESSED Kent Nelson.
In All-Star Squadron #23 (by Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway and the late, nice Mike Machlan), Thomas then tied that Pasko reveal right into a reveal in regards to the half-helmet. They revealed that Kent and his spouse, Inza, realized the reality about what was happening with Nabu, and determined to attempt to cease it by ceasing to put on the helmet, and making a half-helmet as a substitute…
He nonetheless had a variety of the talents that he discovered from Nabu, although, so he was capable of proceed as a superhero, simply with out the total powers that he acquired from the Nabu possession. It additionally explains why he started to battle with extra physicality, and why his angle was all of a sudden extra like a standard superhero of the period (just like the Atom or Wildcat), as Kent was now totally in management, and Nabu wasn’t in management anymore (or an affect on Kent).
It was very intelligent by Thomas, however what made the thought stand out extra is that we see that Kent has to really resolve to offer in to Nabu on the finish of the difficulty, so he lastly agrees to return to the total helmet of Destiny, thus explaining why Physician Destiny was again to utilizing a full helmet when he returned within the Silver Age…
The opposite fascinating factor about this retcon is that Thomas did not simply clarify away a bit of comedian guide historical past that did not essentially make sense, however he did so in a means that was centered round a dramatic character interplay, seeing Inza cope with her husband going again on his resolution, and taking up Nabu once more. It is heartfelt, and works as a personality second forgetting the retcon side of the story. Then you definately add in the truth that it truly ties right into a DIFFERENT retcon (the aforementioned Pasko retcon), so there may be a lot happening on this story by Thomas, and it really works actually, rather well.
If anybody has a suggestion for a comic book guide plot that obtained resolved after a couple of years (I have a tendency to make use of two years because the minimal, as in any other case, you are most likely simply in the course of the precise preliminary reveal of the storyline, ya know? However I am going to enable exceptions the place a brand new author takes over a storyline and has to resolve the earlier author’s unresolved plots), drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!
