Doctor Spektor is a fictional

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

occult detective Occult detective fiction is a subgenre of detective fiction that combines the tropes of the main genre with those of supernatural, fantasy and/or horror fiction. Unlike the traditional detective who investigates murder and other common crimes ...

" that appeared in

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

.Plowright, Frank ''The Slings and Arrows Comic Guide''. Great Britain : Slings & Arrows, 2003 (p.189) Created by writer Donald F. Glut and artist

Dan Spiegle Dan Spiegle (December 10, 1920 – January 28, 2017) was an American comics artist and cartoonist best known for comics based on movie and television characters across a variety of companies, including Dell Comics, DC Comics, and Marvel Com ...

, he first appeared in ''Mystery Comics Digest'' #5 (July 1972).

Publication history

After his first appearance in a 10-page story in ''

Mystery Comics Digest ''Mystery Comics Digest'' was one of three digest size comics published by Gold Key Comics in the early 1970s. The other two were '' Golden Comics Digest'' and '' Walt Disney Comics Digest''. ''Mystery Comics Digest'' was published for 26 issues, ...

'' #5, Dr. Spektor was spun off into his own title, ''The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor''. The series ran for 24 issues (May 1973 - February 1977). His final original story appeared in one issue of ''Gold Key Spotlight'' (#8, August 1977).

Jesse Santos Jesse Santos (June 24, 1928 – April 27, 2013) was a Filipino comic-book artist. He is best known as the co-creator of ''Dagar the Invincible'' and ''Tragg and the Sky Gods'' with writer Donald F. Glut. Biography Jesse Santos was born in Tere ...

replaced Spiegle as artist on the series, and remained there for the entire run. Dr. Spektor appeared in all four issues of Gold Key's ''Spine-Tingling Tales'' (1975–76), where he provided linking narration for some of the stories within (these stories were reprints from ''Mystery Comics Digest'' that dealt with characters who later appeared in his title). He also had stories he narrated in ''Mystery Comics Digest'' #10, #11, #12, and #21, and articles in ''

Golden Comics Digest ''Golden Comics Digest'' was one of three digest size comics published by Gold Key Comics in the early 1970s. The other two were ''Mystery Comics Digest'' and ''Walt Disney Comics Digest''. Published from 1969 to 1976, all 48 issues were reprints, ...

'' #25, #26, and #33. Under the Whitman Comics name, issue #25 was released in May 1982. It reprinted issue #1, but with a line-art cover instead of the original painted cover. In 2014,

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptation ...

released a new version of ''Doctor Spektor'', written by Mark Waid and drawn by Neil Edwards, as part of the company's revival of several Gold Key characters which also included

Magnus, Robot Fighter Magnus, Robot Fighter is a fictional superhero, appearing in comic books created by writer/artist Russ Manning in 1963.Steve Holland, ''Sci-Fi Art : a graphic history''. Lewes : ILEX, 2009. (pp. 102-3) Magnus first appeared in ''Magnus Robot Fight ...

, Dr. Solar and

Turok Turok is a fictional character who first appeared in American comic books published by Western Publishing through licensee Dell Comics. He first appeared in ''Four Color Comics'' #596 (October/November 1954). After a second ''Four Color'' appear ...

Fictional character biography

Doctor Adam Spektor is an

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

investigator, dealing with various occult menaces, such as

mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furt ...

(Ra-Ka-Tep),

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

s (Baron Tibor, Dracula),

werewolves In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...

, and more. He is aided by Lakota Rainflower, his

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

secretary (until issue #22), along with several semi-recurring assistants (Elliot Kane in issue #4 and #10, future love interest Lu-Sai in issues #12 and #24, his cousin Anne Sara in issue #17). Several of the monsters he encounters return in subsequent issues, and for three issues, Spektor became a werewolf (#11-13). Issues #2–11 contain short stories in the back 'from the occult files of Doctor Spektor' and narrated by Spektor, which many times include creatures and characters from the main series such as Durak (or at least his knife), Elliot Kane, and others. Don Glut had Dr. Spektor crossover with several of his other Gold Key characters such as Tragg and Dagar. Tragg and Lorn make cameo appearances in issue #19. Ostellon, Master of the Living Bones (from ''Dagar the Invincible'' #1), appears in issue #7; issue #15 concludes a story begun in ''Dagar'' #13, and Durak from ''Dagar'' appears in #16. Doctor Solar appears in several issues (#14, #18, #23), and Gold Key's the

Owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

appears in #22. Spektor also made a brief one-page appearance administering "Dr. Spektor's Creature Quiz" in Glut's children's book ''Monsters: Fiendish Facts, Quivery Quizzes and Other Grisly Goings-on'', also from Golden Press.

Powers and abilities

Dr. Spektor is a skilled investigator of the occult, and very knowledgeable about the lore of the paranormal. During issues #11-13 Dr. Spektor became a werewolf. During that time he possessed, while in werewolf form, increased strength, stamina, and invulnerability (except to silver weapons).

References

External links

* {{Gold Key Comics 1973 comics debuts Spektor, Doctor Adam Spektor, Doctor Adam Detective comics Fantasy comics Occult detective fiction Spektor, Doctor Adam Spektor, Doctor Adam Gold Key Comics titles

Publication history

Fictional character biography

Powers and abilities

Further reading

References

External links