Phantom Stranger #15

Phantom Stranger #15 (On Sale: July 13, 1971), has another beautiful cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with "The Iron Messiah" plotted by Joe Orlando, scripted by Len Wein, and drawn by Jim Aparo. John Kweli has returned to Africa to visit his home village and finds it in conflict with a land developer who is trying to claim the land by any means possible. When diplomacy with the owner of the company doesn't work, John creates the Iron Messiah, a robot based on their tribe's god Chuma, and based on his own personality.

Things get complicated when the Iron Messiah develops feelings for John's lover Ororo, however, her love is spurned. The Phantom Stranger, who has been watching and helping John whenever there was danger tries to convince the Iron Messiah to act like a man. The robot helps the villagers fight off their opposition, however, in a moment of jealousy it kills John in cold blood. The villagers don't react to this very well and destroy the robot with grenades. Reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB (2006).

Next up is "I Battled for the Doom-Stone" by France Herron and Alex Toth and reprinted from My Greatest Adventure #61 (1961). An explorer discovers that a missing scientist has undergone a fantastic transformation.

That brings us to the other new tale in this issue, Doctor 13 in "Satan's Sextet" by Robert Kanigher and Tony DeZuniga. Dr. Thirteen is asked to stop a group called Satan's Sextet, a musical group that somehow manages to take control of their audiences and make them walk out into the ocean to drown. Thirteen learns their secret: bead and flower necklaces given to the audience members have a hallucinogenic effect on the audience.

Breaking free of their control, Dr. Thirteen goes after the members of Satan's Sextet. Taking them off guard and easily knocks them all out, turning them over to the police after. Reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB (2006).

Our final story is Mark Merlin in "I Scout Earth's Strangest Secrets" by Bob Haney and Mort Meskin and reprinted from House of Secrets #23 (1959). Mark Merlin, the private investigator of the supernatural, takes on several cases that appear to have unnatural explanations. Some of the cases have a natural explanation, such as mountainside creatures that are really just large shadows. In another case, Mark is able to expose a deliberate hoax. Mark proves that a museum, which is believed to be haunted, has actually been the victim of a hoax using magnets to move metal objects invisibly.

Merlin also has a "Question Mark File" containing cases he can not explain or classify. In one such case, a strange creature is found in an unmapped cave. When Mark investigates he falls through a seam in the rock and discovers an entire species of giant single-celled creatures. The creatures attack him, but he seals off the seam, trapping them inside.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Phantom Stranger #14

Phantom Stranger #14 (On Sale: May 18, 1971), has an amazing cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with The Phantom Stranger in "The Man with No Heart" by Len Wein and Jim Aparo. Answering the call of Broderick Rune, the Phantom Stranger finds himself knocked out with a powerful spell. Rune, who has heart disease, then has his men perform a heart transplant, using the Stranger's very own heart. However, when his goons go to dump the body, they are shocked to find that the blanket they were carrying the Stranger's body is empty and that the Stranger is very much alive.

The Stranger then begins to haunt and stalk Rune everywhere he goes causing him to panic and flee to his second estate. There the haunting continues, and so they try mystical means of ridding themselves of the Phantom Stranger, this also doesn't work. Finally, the Stranger appears and chases Rune out into a field where he dies of a heart attack. When his aides can finally get to him, they are shocked to find that Rune doesn't have a heart in his body.

The backup is Dr. Thirteen in  "The Spectre of the Stalking Swamp" by Len Wein and Tony DeZuniga. Dr. Thirteen is called into Bayou country to investigate reports of a strange swamp monster dubbed the Swampster, who is supposedly responsible for the disappearance of people in the area. What they stumble upon is a plot by Professor Zachary Nail, who has built a secret city untainted by the destruction the human race is doing to the planet. People who have gone missing have been mentally conditioned to do Nail's bidding.

When Dr. Thirteen is captured and put under this process, however when ordered to capture his wife, Thirteen shakes off the control. During his fight with Nail, the swamp suddenly and inexplicably begins crushing the domed city, forcing everyone to flee as the domed city is destroyed.

The entire issue was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB (2006).

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Phantom Stranger #13

Phantom Stranger #13 (On Sale: March 16, 1971), has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with the Phantom Stranger in "A Child of Death" by Robert Kanigher and Jim Aparo. Albert Anson, the head of the science project Thunderhead dies mysteriously while working on the project. His grandson Freddy, who carries a toy gun, is present at the time of his death, which is ruled to be of natural causes. When another scientist on the project dies in similar circumstances with Freddy also present, the Phantom Stranger intervenes.

Freddy's adoptive father Dr. Forsyte takes over the project. The Phantom Stranger then acts to prevent his death at Freddy's hand. Freddy is actually a hyper-mutant from a race that lives underground. Recent nuclear tests have forced the hyper-mutants, who look like children, to the surface. They intend to disrupt nuclear test projects. The Phantom Stranger also learns that Tala is observing the project disguised as one of the scientists. The Stranger tries to convince Freddy that the tests are force defensive purposes only. Freddy is then killed in a blast resulting from the latest test. 

Our back-up features Doctor 13 in "The Devil's Timepiece" by Robert Kanigher and Tony DeZuniga. Dr. Thirteen attends a midnight auction of supposed occult items with his friend Bentley Ames. Bentley purchases a grandfather clock with a miniature devil hanging from the pendulum. The clock is delivered to Ames. The first time he winds it, the devil springs forth from the clock and kills him.

Dr. Thirteen arrives a short time later and discovers his dead friend. He winds the clock also. The devil springs forth again. Dr. Thirteen is able to fight off the devil who falls upon his own pitchfork and dies. The devil is actually the auctioneer, who wanted revenge on Ames for testifying in court against his father. Dr. Thirteen successfully debunks the devil's clock, but two men are now dead.

The entire issue is reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB (2006).

Edited by Joe Orlando

Phantom Stranger #12

Phantom Stranger #12 (On Sale: January 19, 1971), has a nice cover by Neal Adams. I think the colors on this one missed the intended effect. 

We begin this issue with the Phantom Stranger in "Marry Me – Marry Death" with Robert Kanigher returning to write (bye-bye Gerry Conway) and Jim Aparo continuing as artist. When Jason Phillips marries a new bride following the death of his first wife (the source of his wealth), the Phantom Stranger haunts him to get him to admit and turn himself over for being responsible for his first wife's death. It's revealed that his first wife had a weak heart and needed to take nitro pills, and Jason allowed her to die.

Eventually, Jason snaps, and tries to kill the Stranger with an ax, but only succeeds in getting himself run over by the hearse coming to get his first wife's coffin. 

The backup story of Doctor 13 is "A Time to Die" by Jack Oleck and  Tony DeZuniga. Dr. Thirteen is called in to investigate the curse of the Black Friar who kills villagers at midnight in the town of Broomsgrove. Told the story by his colleague Dr. Hall, Dr. Thirteen and his wife investigate the strange happenings. Eventually, Dr. Thirteen reveals the Friar to be a hoax and is revealed to be none other than Dr. Hall.

This entire issue was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB (2006).

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Phantom Stranger #10

Phantom Stranger #10 (On Sale: September 15, 1970) has another moody cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with the Phantom Stranger in "Death... Call Not My Name" by Gerry Conway and Jim Aparo. Though not his first writing for DC, this is the first non-horror anthology story Conway ever wrote, but his tenure on the book will be short (two issues). This same month he wrote a Ka-Zar story for Marvel and in two months he would move to Marvel almost exclusively, taking over the reigns of Daredevil, Iron Man, The Inhumans, Ka-Zar, the Black Widow, the Sub-Mariner, Doctor Doom, Spider-Man, Tomb of Dracula, The Fantastic Four and others. Except for inventory stories, he would not return to DC till 1975.  

Three young girls are gathered in a night club, and one of them is invited to dance with a man called Tannarak. Shortly after, the girl drops dead, and her death brings both Dr. Thirteen and the Phantom Stranger to investigate the situation. When one of the girls is kidnapped by Tannarak later in the streets, the two men track them down to Tannarak's secret lair.

Michele, the girl who was kidnapped, is remarkably similar to Dianna, one of Tannarak's childhood friends from centuries ago, during his time in Egypt. He reveals that when he was abandoned by her when they got caught stealing from a market. Since then, Tannarak became obsessed with cheating death, and soon obtained the Blood Stone and the Elixir of Death and both items allowed him to lock away his own humanity inside a statue, preventing him from ever aging and dying. After centuries of search, he finally has found his lover and he intends to use it to remove the Michele's soul and bring back Dianna, with him he shall live forever.

When the Stranger arrives, he confronts and battles Tannarak. The battle ends when the statue of himself falls on Tannarak, and apparently kills him. When Dr. Thirteen arrives he once more subscribes to the notion that everything that happened that night could be explained scientifically, but the evidence provided by Stranger indicates that Tannarak was truly an alchemist. This was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

Next we have "The Bewitched Clock" drawn by Ruben Moreira and reprinted from House of Mystery #11.

We end with the Phantom Stranger in "Charlie's Crocodile," which is also by Gerry Conway and Jim Aparo. Charles Cuddy is married to a wife who always demands more, and he's had enough. He decides to seek out a business listed in the classified adds stating that it can get rid of any pest. Along the way he is confronted by the Phantom Stranger, who warns Charles not to take business from this establishment.

Ignoring him, Charles seeks the service of the proprietor, Mr. Scratch, who gives him an inflatable crocodile to deal with his wife for free, only asking for the man's name and work place. That night Charles inflates it and puts it into their pool. Later when his wife goes for a swim the crocodile comes to life and kills her.

Enjoying his newfound freedom, Charles has his home all to himself and he throws a party, but some of the guests decide to prank Charles and place the inflatable crocodile inside the pool, just as he goes for a swim and his life ends in the same gruesome way as that of his former wife. The Phantom Stranger watches ominously from afar while Mr. Scratch cross Charles' name from a large book he keeps with the rest of his "clients'" names. Other listed clients include Carmine Infantino, Joe Orlando and Neal Adams. This was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Phantom Stranger #9

Phantom Stranger #9 (On Sale: July 14, 1970) has a decently spooky cover by Neal Adams. I do love the way Neal uses the Stranger's shadow but with eyes on this cover. The cover also lets you know that this is a story of voodoo.

This issue features "Obeah Man!" by Mike Sekowsky and Jim Aparo. This was a strange writing assignment for Sekowsky, who normally didn't write books he did not edit and draw. Sekowsky keeps the standard sub-cast around, Dr. Thirteen, the loopy teenagers and Tala.

While on vacation in a Haitian country, Dr. Thirteen is called by the president who believes that local practitioners of voodoo are targeting him to scare people into worshiping their religion. Thirteen relates to a similar case he was involved with that had to do with Voodoo, and how he debunked it as a hoax.

Along the way to confront the Papaloi of the Voodoo worshipers, Dr. Thirteen spots the four teenagers who have been haunting this book for almost a year now: Mr. Square, Wild Rose, Spartacus and Attila. Thirteen suspects that the Phantom Stranger is going to interfere because of their presence and questions them about the whereabouts of the Stranger. However when he returns to the President's car, they find that the Stranger is in the vehicle and has convinced the President to allow him to accompany them.

Arriving at the Papaloi's castle, they find that Tala is once more involved, Phantom Stranger battles both the Papaloi and Tala. Smashing the Papaloi, and capturing it's true form (a spider) in jar containing the Seal of Solomon and throwing it into the ocean. When he tries to apprehend Tala, she disappears. Phantom Stranger leaves as well, with Dr. Thirteen cursing him once more for his interference and vowing that he will one day reveal the Stranger as a hoax.

This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

The back-up story is a two-pager reprinted from House of Mystery #24, "The Walking Stick" drawn by John William Ely.

John Ely, who signed his work Will Ely or Bill Ely, started with DC in 1937 as an artist/writer with More Fun #21. In that first issue Ely wrote and drew three features:  Sandra of the Secret Service: (The International Munitions Ring Part 3), Jack Woods: (The Secret Mine Part 4)  and  Johnnie Law: (The Firebug Part 1). In the 1960s Ely would draw numerous issues of Rip Hunter, Time Master. His last story, "Winner Take All", was for Young Love #62  in 1967. John William Ely died in Milford, CT, on November 12, 1993 at the age of eighty.

Phantom Stranger #9

Phantom Stranger #9 (On Sale: July 14, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams.

This issue features the book-length  ""Obeah Man" written by Mike Sekowsky and drawn by Jim Aparo. While on vacation in a Haiti, Dr. Thirteen is called by the president who believes that local practitioners of voodoo are targeting him to scare people into worshiping their religion. Thirteen relates to a similar case he was involved with that had to do with Voodoo, and how he debunked it as a hoax.

Along the way to confront the Papaloi of the Voodoo worshipers, Dr. Thirteen spots Mr. Square, Wild Rose, Spartacus and Attila, this hippy kids from Sekowsky's previous Phantom Stranger issues). He suspects that the Phantom Stranger is going to interfere because of their presence and questions them about the whereabouts of the Stranger. However when he returns to the President's car, they find that the Stranger is in the vehicle and has convinced the President to allow him to accompany them.

Arriving at the Papaloi's castle, they find that Tala is once more involved, Phantom Stranger battles both the Papaloi and Tala. The Stranger captures Papaloi in it's true form of a spider inside the Seal of Solomon, and throws the relic into the ocean. When he tries to apprehend Tala, she disappears. The Phantom Stranger leaves as well, with Dr. Thirteen cursing him once more for his interference and vowing that he will one day reveal the Stranger as a hoax. This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

We end with a two-page reprint from House of Mystery #24, "The Walking Stick" drawn by John Ely and captioned with a new header, "From the Secret Files of... Dr. Thirteen." 

John William Ely, Jr. started with DC in 1937 with  More Fun Comics #21, where he wrote and drew three strips featuring Sandra of the Secret Service, Jack Woods and Johnnie Law. He is listed as the creator or co-creator of Nadir, Johnnie Law, Kraklow, Lawrence Steele, Scoop Scanlon and Scott Scanlon. He mainly worked on non-super-hero strips. He did draw Rip Hunter...Time Master from issue 8 to 29. His last work was in Young Love #62, in 1967. Though he worked for other publisher, 349 of 360 strips he worked on were for DC.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Phantom Stranger #8

Phantom Stranger #8 (On Sale: May 12, 1970) has a really great cover by Neal Adams.

We have the book-length "Journey to the Tomb of the Ice Giants" by Denny O'Neil and Jim Aparo. An icebreaker searching the arctic for oil encounters a giant made of ice. Word of the encounter reaches the ship's owner Mr. Muttson, who is later found frozen in a block of ice in his steam room. Dr. Thirteen is called in to investigate. The Stranger shows up and Thirteen blows a fuse, as usual.

Dr. Thirteen says this reminds him of a similar incident and he tells "The Adventure of the Brittle Blossom" in which a wealthy recluse is found frozen in his hot house. When he notices that some of the flowers are also dead and brittle, Thirteen deduces that the man was frozen by Freon gas dispensed through the water pipes. His nephew was the murderer.

Although the Ghost Breaker believes the death to have a rational explanation, forensics reveal that the ice came from the arctic. Though warned by the Stranger that there is evil in the arctic, Dr. Thirteen and his wife travel by helicopter to the damaged icebreaker. After finding a giant sword in the ice, the couple is attacked and captured by the ice giant. As the Phantom Stranger tries to negotiate their release, Tala shows up, telling the Stranger that he should let the ice giant have the Thirteens. Pushing her away, the Stranger attacks, but is hurt. When he regains his senses, he sees a line of ice giants, ready to reclaim their planet.

The Stranger then tells the giants of how the world has changed under the hand of man, convincing the giants to abandon the world. When the giants say their laws require they take a human, Tala arrives and gives the giants Marie Thirteen as their permanent prisoner.

After the Phantom Stranger uses dynamite to seal the ice giants cave forever, he finds Marie Thirteen alive and well. Tala appears and says how she had disguised herself as Marie and had been the one taken by the giants. The sorceress was able to free herself later. Marie Thirteen then tries to explain what happened to her husband, but he doesn't believe her, explaining the whole thing away as delusions. As they leave we see the ice giant's sword laying on the ice.

This is one of my favorite eras of Jim Aparo's artwork. In his year and a half on Aquaman he has morphed into this amazing story-teller. I was not the only one to notice this. On page 16 of the story we see an ice formation that looks like Batman and portends to his long stint on The Brave and the Bold that is just around the corner. This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Phantom Stranger #5

Phantom Stranger #5 (On Sale: November 13, 1969) has a nice cover by Neal Adams. This will be the last cover for a while that shows the Stranger as an actual character on the cover.

We begin with "The Devil's Playground" by Robert Kanigher, Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson. I cannot tell you how much I dislike the writing in this issue, mainly as it pertains to the four "hippie" characters returning from last issue. These four: Spartacus, Wild Rose, Attile and Mister Square (you can't make up names that bad! Oh wait, Robert Kanigher actually did!), are at the beach one night when they hear a man calling out. When they get to him they find him dead. When they go to show the body to a security guard, it is missing.

Back in "the city," the four teenagers, Dr. Thirteen and Tala all end up at the same dance club, where a man named Earl Winthrop is breaking up with his girlfriend Vera. Broken-hearted Vera drives off into the night and, after hitting an oil slick on the road, off a bridge and into the ocean. The Phantom Stranger appears and retrieves her dead body from the deep, bringing her to shore where the police are waiting.

Meanwhile, back at the club, Earl is now on to another conquest, this time it is Wild Rose who, along with her friends recognize Earl Winthrop as the man they saw drowned at the beach. Rose dances with Winthrop and Tala decides to set the club on fire. The Phantom Stranger shows up and uses his cape to put out the fire. Tala tries to win him over with a kiss and then leaves, while Dr. Thirteen once again calls the Stranger a phony.

Outside Winthrop invites everyone to party at his beach house while he flies to Florida. The house keeper lets them in but shows them a newspaper with a headline regarding Winthrop being lost at sea. The gang parties anyway (it is the 60's after all) and eventually Winthrop shows up saying the newspaper was mistaken, yet with a bit of seaweed hanging off his hand. The kids notice that Earl dances with every woman in the room and seems to ask each one the same question, which always results in the woman laughing.

They get a warning that a hurricane is coming and everyone leaves the beach house except Earl, the four kids and Dr. Thirteen. Earl takes Wild Rose out to the beach for a walk and confides in her that the newspaper was right and that his plane did crash. While floating in the sea a strange light appeared and told Earl that he was doomed to float in eternal loneliness forever unless he can find someone who will weep tears of pity for him. He told every woman he met tonight his story and they all laughed at him, but Wild Rose does cry for him and he returns to the sea to meet his end.

However Tala shows up to see that Wild Rose joins Winthrop in death and a fight ensues between her and the Phantom Stranger. In the end, the Stranger wins and Dr. Thirteen once again, calls the Stranger a phony. Wow, was this a badly written story.

The back-up story is "The Devil's Footprints" by Robert Kanigher and the unusal, but good-looking art team of Curt Swan and Nick Cardy.

This entire book was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Phantom Stranger #3

Phantom Stranger #3 (On Sale: July 15, 1969) has its first cover by Neal Adams, and the new Neal Adams logo. What is interesting is that while the logo depicts the revamped Phantom Stranger, using his hat's shadow as a mask, the cover shows an entirely different guy, closer to the Bill Draut covers of the first two issues.

We begin with the Phantom Stranger in "How Do You Know My Name?" a reprint from Phantom Stranger #5 (1953) by John Broome, Frank Giacoa and Joe Giella. A carnival mystic, Vasti, predicts supernatural behavior will increase at an amusement park. Suddenly ghosts and spectres are seen and cause trouble for the park. The Phantom Stranger investigates in order to debunk the supernatural explanation. He exposes Vasti as a fraud, trying to force the park owner to sell cheaply.

Next we have Doctor 13 in "No Such Thing as Ghosts" a reprint from Star-Spangled Comics #126 by France Herron and Leonard Starr. We end with the only new material in the book, the Phantom Stranger in "Some Day in Some Dark Alley..." by Mike Friedrich and Bill Draut. This was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Phantom Stranger #2

Phantom Stranger #2 (On Sale: May 13, 1969) has a cover by Bill Draut. The character is still two issues away from a stylistic redesign at the hands of Neal Adams which will transform the character forever.

The new story this issue is "The Man Who Died Three Times" by Mike Friedrich and Bill Draut. With this story they bring the Doctor Thirteen character into interaction with the Stranger. This was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

They round out the book with reprints. From the old Phantom Stranger #1 comes "The House of Strange Secrets" by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. Neal Hunter is lured to a strange house after he is led of the main road. Neal enters the house and is greeted by a man who wishes to kill him. The Phantom Stranger appears and protects Neal. The killer then disappears and the house changes.

Neal and the Phantom Stranger explore the house as the killer strikes again. The Stranger learns that the killer is the former apprentice of a dead magician named Robart. He believes that by killing Hunter he will gain immortality. The Stranger then exposes the killer's magic as a fraud and rescues Neal. The apprentice is killed himself during an attack on the Stranger.

From Star Spangled Comics #128 comes Doctor Thirteen in "The Girl Who Lived 5,000 Years" by France Herron and Leonard Starr.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Phantom Stranger #1

Phantom Stranger #1 (On Sale: March 13, 1969) has a cover by Bill Draut.

Fresh from his Showcase tryout we have the Phantom Stranger. We begin with "When Ghosts Walk" from Phantom Stranger #1 (1952) by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Sy Barry. Three friends share a plane flight that ends in a fatal crash. Sometime after the crash, ghosts appear and carry out the plans of the dead men that they were unable to complete.

The ghost of Carson Rand attempts to take papers from Edgar Jones which were to be used to blackmail him. The ghost is stopped by the Phantom Stranger. Next the ghost of Bart Benson appears to break a unbreakable bronco. The Phantom Stranger appears to and reveals that it was a trick.

Finally, the apparent ghost of John Martin contacts his fiancee, Margo Phillips. The Phantom Stranger once again appears. The Stranger unmasks the ghost as Matt Wright, a night club employee which Margo caught stealing. Matt had used the ghosts to disguise his true goal of killing Margo. The Stranger's arrival saves Margo and exposes the ghostly hoax.

Next is Doctor 13 in "The Hermit's Ghost Dog" from Star Spangled Comics #125 by Francis Herron and Leonard Starr.

Lastly is the only new material in the book, "Defeat the Dragon Curse ...or Die" by Mike Friedrich and Bill Draut. This new story was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Showcase #80

Showcase #80 (On Sale: December 12, 1968) has a Phantom Stranger cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with the Phantom Stranger in "Men Call Me the Phantom Stranger" by Mike Friedrich, Jerry Grandenetti and Bill Draut. This was the first new Phantom Stranger story since The Phantom Stranger #6 in 1953. DC was looking for more mystery comics and found a winner in this long-forgotten character, revamped for the 1960s. This story was a framing sequence around the rest of the book which was reprints and was itself reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

Next we have "The Three Signs of Evil" by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella and reprinted from Phantom Stranger #2. Artist Mark Davis strolls through Columbus Circle and happens upon a gathering. As he watches, he begins sketching a picture of some symbols the people are using. When the group notices him, they demand that he turn over the sketches. Davis refuses and leaves the scene.

The cult members follow Davis and attack him near Times Square. Mark is rescued by the Phantom Stranger who examines Mark's sketch. The Stranger deduces where the cult will be from the sketch. Mark offers his assistance in stopping the cult.

Following the third sign in his sketch, Mark is captured by the Moon Cult. They intend to sacrifice him to gain mystical power. The Phantom Stranger comes to the rescue again and knocks out the cult. Mark summons the police, while the Stranger disappears.

Lastly we have a reprint of the first Doctor 13 story, "I Talked with the Dead" from Star Spangled Comics #122 and drawn by the great Leonard Starr. DC took the mystical Stranger and added the supernatural hoax-breaker Terrance Thirteen as a foil for the Stranger's mystic adventures.

Edited by Joe Orlando.