With the success of Dr. Occult at DC in 1935, comic publishers created a host of ghost-busting heroes. At Fiction House, this was Drew Murdoch in “Ghost Gallery”. (They also had Stuart Taylor, another blond, but more on him another time.) Another ghostbreaker with a lengthy CV’s is Zero Ghost Detective in Feature Comics, but ol’ Zee had only forty cases, about one third of Ghost Gallery’s run.
“Ghost Gallery ” appeared in Jumbo Comics #42, August 1942 to #167, March 1953, making that 125 episodes. Drew Murdoch was a character who narrated his ghostly adventures, acted in them or was absent altogether. The breakdown is about 50% of the stories are active cases with Murdoch performing as ghostbreaker. Another 10% have him acting as host with a picture at the beginning and end. Occasionally we got a report from another occult detective to Murdoch. This style of narration would become typical after EC and DC comics used it for years. The last 40% are stories in which Murdoch is essentially missing. “Ghost Gallery” was the longest running anthology of ghostly stories until DC got into the game with House of Mystery in December 1951. Unlike that title, “Ghost Gallery” never had its own comic but only appeared in the general Jumbo Comics. Some stories were reprinted in Ghost Comics and Kaanga. The real “Drew Murdoch” writers are not known though Ruth Roche may have been one of them.
The vast majority of the stories feature ghosts, making the title appropriate but occasionally we got werewolves, zombies, demons, mad scientists and wereleopards. After the first four stories, all the supernatural events were dropped, being the actions of gangsters or spies. Fortunately, this idea was abandoned by Issue #55 and the real ghosts came back.
Drew Murdoch himself began as an older man with grey-streaked hair. But by his third adventure he had his characteristic yellow hair and a rugged youthful appearance. As a ghostbreaker, Mudoch is able to perform the physical stuff from punching a werewolf to kicking a Nazi, drive a car like James Bond, but he is also very learned in the Occult. He is the author of The Ghosthunter’s Guide. He is well connected with government officials, who don’t always believe in the supernatural but know Murdoch gets results. Drew Murdoch is prepared for the creatures of evil as often as the Scooby-Doo ending in which “No Ghosts Need Apply”.
With so many episodes it is not possible to give each plot description, though most followed a pretty common trope. Some event in the past haunts a person who goes to Drew for help. The ghosts are either attackers or helpers (when the client is threatened by living villains such as gangsters). The finale brings a reckoning to justice with Murdoch laying the ghost or capturing the crooks. My favorites are always the ones that go the extra mile like “Cagliostro Cursed Thee” (Issue #163) which has a ghost, a mad scientist and a werewolf in a plot involving brain transferring. Wow, that’s a corker!
The titles are given where known, otherwise the opening line is given. (Thanks to Grand Comic Database and Digital Comic Museum. All issues of Jumbo Comics are available free at DCM.)
Drawn by Bob Hebberd
Issue #42 (August 1942) ” Weird, fantastic, yet undeniably true, are the strange…”
Issue #43 (September 1942) “Rare in America, werewolves have for ages plagued…
Issue #44 (October 1942) “Everyone thought that Big Mike McHugh’s blood and…”
Issue #45 (November 1942) “Mad Mistress of Murder”
Issue #46 (December 1942) “The Case of the Phantom Showboat”
Issue #47 (January 1943) “Fabulous relic of a gilded age, the Howlett…”
Issue #48 (February 1943) “Hindu hands built the music box that tinkled…”
Issue #49 (March 1943) “The blueprint for disaster was drawn when yellow…”
Issue #50 (April 1943) “The Real Thing”
Issue #51 (May 1943) “Everyone in Montville scoffed at the ghost that…”
Issue #52 (June 1943) “The musty halls of Black Oak Manor echo muffled…”
Issue #53 (July 1943) “When Olga Barova, world famous dancer, plunged to…”
Drawn by Alex Blum
Issue #54 (August 1943) “Gloria and Dale…song and dance team…follow…”
Issue #55 (September 1943) “Someday on a lonely road you may find…”
Issue #56 (October 1943) “Why did the ghost of a murdered moon-shiner...”
Issue #57 (November 1943) “Amazing and weird as it seems, this is…”
Issue #58 (December 1943) “The long last mile…past death row cells…”
Issue #59 (January 1944) “It was midnight outside the proud old mansion…”
Issue #60 (February 1944) “The clown bowed low, before Drew Murdoch…”
Issue #61 (March 1944) “Confidential Record from the files of Drew Murdoch: Case 11746″
Issue #62 (April 1944) “Howard Ross. Chicago. That spring night of so…”
Issue #63 (May 1944) “Confidential Record from the files of Drew Murdoch: 13524 P”
Issue #64 (June 1944) “Confidential Record from the files of Drew Murdoch: 13567 P”
Issue #65 (July 1944) “Mollison! I’ll never forget that night he came…”
Issue #66 (August 1944) “The Jennifer Kent Case”
Issue #67 (September 1944) “The Kurt Housman Case”
Issue #68 (October 1944) “It started with a frightened girl who ran…”
Issue #69 (November 1944) “We meet here at Miss White’s grave every…”
Issue #70 (December 1944) “Twice I started to row out alone, Mr….”
Issue #71 (January 1945) “Maybe the two kids dreamed this story…maybe…”
Issue #72 (February 1945) “Warren-Burke. Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Warren…”
Issue #73 (March 1945) “Oddly enough, Dr. Stern had just finished deriding…”
Issue #74 (April 1945) “Tragedy at Bayou Bend”
Issue #75 (May 1945) “The drizzling rain had lasted most of the...”
Issue #76 (June 1945) “The Ghost of the Merry-G-Around”
Issue #77 (July 1945) “Lord Whitman turned from staring at the dying embers and faced me.”
Issue #78 (August 1945) “This is the story behind those wilted blossoms.”
Issue #79 (September 1945) “Youth For One, Death For Many”
Issue #80 (October 1945) “The Ghostly Mission of Lucy Preston”
Issue #81 (November 1945) “If ever there was a fear-ridden girl…”
Issue #82 (December 1945) “Usher’s Alternative”
Issue #83 (January 1946) “‘Tis a brave little tug…”
Issue #84 (February 1946) “One of my readers asks, ‘Why do only a small minority of the dead return as ghosts?'”
Issue #85 (March 1946) “A low moan broke the silence…”
Issue #86 (April 1946) “The Zombies!”
Issue #87 (May 1946) “This is the unhappy story of the kid who lives just around the corner.”
Issue #88 (June 1946) “Paul was crouching in a tiny foxhole…”
Issue #89 (July 1946) “Millionaire’s Yacht Sinks”
Issue #90 (August 1946) “Eyes of Azrael”
Drawn by Jack Kamen
Issue #91 (September 1946) “For nineteen years and ten months…”
Issue #92 (October 1946) “The strange events happened in the summer of 1930…”
Issue #93 (November 1946) “Mrs. Maggie Marlow cordially invites you…”
Issue #94 (December 1946) “Here is the most terrifying experience I ever encountered…”
Issue #95 (January 1947) “Creston College Oct. 6, 1932″
Issue #96 (February 1947) “The Sahib’s Hypnotic Murders”
Issue #97 (March 1947) “Wanted: A Home For This Boy”
Issue #98 (April 1947) “I don’t believe in ghosts!”
Issue #99 (May 1947) “This is a story about two worlds.”
Issue #100 (June 1947) “The Office of Mr. Usher”
Issue #101 (July 1947) “The cabby dropped me off at the place…”
Issue #102 (August 1947) “Today, I can still hear the voice of Big Ben, hoarse with pain and terror…”
Issue #103 (September 1947)”The Ghost of the Doll”
Issue #104 (October 1947) “The Luck of the Irish”
Issue #105 (November 1947) “The Rothstein’s Jewels’ Curse”
Issue #106 (December 1947) “Sue Burke welcomed her brother’s impending trial…”
Issue #107 (January 1948) “The Ghost of the Minneapolis Speedway”
Issue #108 (February 1948) “The Story of Aimee Durand”
Issue #109 (March 1948) “The Last Killing of Cal Von Huss”
Issue #110 (April 1948) Who would be the next victim to stare…
Issue #111 (May 1948) “The Ghost of Marcia Leeds”
Issue #112 (June 1948) “Perhaps this story starts with the home-coming of Martin Glock...”
Issue #113 (July 1948) “Asmodeus the Limping Demon”
Issue #114 (August 1948) “The dope who said “Crime Does Not Pay”…”
Issue #115 (September 1948) “Dear Mr. Murdock, The doctors here in the hospital…”
Issue #116 (October 1948) “The Plunder Coast was cursed by Coffin’s Raiders!”
Issue #117 (November 1948) “There had been rumors about Tim Shea’s strange experience…”
Issue #118 (December 1948) “Whoopee! Me big Injun!”
Issue #119 (January 1949) “The Medium’s Revenge
Issue #120 (February 1949) “Frenchy’s Ghost”
Issue #121 (March 1949) “Shuffle Along’s Third Guest”
Issue #122 (April 1949) “Personal property of Drew Murdoch Case No. 2204″
Issue #123 (May 1949) “The Puppeteer’s Ghost”
Issue #124 (June 1949) “The Vindication of Lester Crawford”
Issue #125 (July 1949) “Case No. 1258: Jerome Phane”
Issue #126 (August 1949) “You’ve joined zee Royal Mounted, Tony?” more on this comic
Issue #127 (September 1949) “Evil Stalks the Home of the Promise Breaker”
Issue #128 (October 1949) “This is a story of the old whaling days…”
Issue #129 (November 1949) “Report from talent scout praises local girl…”
Issue #130 (December 1949) “The shack on the desolate shore…”
Issue #131 (January 1950) “Case No. 2982: Sam Hannigan”
Issue #132 (February 1950) “I was delighted to get the schoolteacher’s…”
Issue #133 (March 1950) “May 16, 1943: Dear Mr. Regan…”
Issue #134 (April 1950) “Warden Killed!”
Issue #135 (May 1950) “Stand back! Stand back, ye phantoms from the dead!”
Issue #136 (June 1950) “President of Estaldus Assassinated!!!”
Issue #137 (July 1950) “They said that old John Whitney lived in another world!”
Issue #138 (August 1950) “Spin on, o Sisters Three…”
Issue #139 (September 1950) “The crew’s itinerary didn’t list a stopover…”
Issue #140 (October 1950) “The Ghost of the Busy Bee Air Service”
Issue #141 (November 1950) “The young man’s eyes blazed with excitement…”
Issue #142 (December 1950) “Whitey O’Neil didn’t have any trouble…”
Issue #143 (January 1951) “As secretary to Mr. James Whittamore…”
Issue #144 (February 1951) “Strange unseen forces surround us…”
Issue #145 (March 1951) “For half a century, Ben Bloodway’s curse…”
Issue #146 (April 1951) “The old Bradshaw mansion was deserted…”
Issue #147 (May 1951) “The King is dead, long live the King!
Issue #148 (June 1951) “Luck! How and where can you find it?”
Issue #149 (July 1951) “The note read, ‘Death…I bring death!'”
Issue #150″ (August 1951) At the Nest of the Eagles you will learn many things…”
Issue #151 (September 1951) “The jingle-jangle of the phone bell…”
Issue #152 (October 1951) “The Ghost Vs. The Martians”
Issue #153 (November 1951) “The alarm is out!”
Issue #154 (December 1951) “The following is a letter I received from Dr. Snow…”
Issue #155 (January 1952) “Miss Laura Whitney, 20-year-old American heiress…”
Issue #156 (February 1952) “The night wasn’t fit for man, beast, nor devil…”
Issue #157 (March 1952) “Do fame and fortune lie on the other side of that distant hill…”
Issue #158 (April 1952) “Last Will and Testament: I, Rufus King…”
Issue #159 (May 1952) “‘Don’t go, girl,’ the old woman begged…”
Art by Lily Renee
Issue #160 (June 1952) “Confidential Report To — Drew Murdoch”
For one hundred and forty-seven issues of Jumbo Comics (#13-160), Sheena, Queen of the Jungle graced the cover of the comic. Usually drawn by Dan Zolnerowich or Joseph Doolin. With #161, for some reason, Sheena took a back seat and “Ghost Gallery” got the last six covers. It may have been that in 1953, Horror Comics were the hot product. Jungle girls were old news. The artist who did them is not known.
Art by Jack Kamen
Issue #161 (July 1952) “Pawns of the Pit”
Issue #162 (August 152) “Hangman’s Haunt”
Art by Bob Webb
Issue #163 (September 1952) “Cagliostro Cursed Thee”
Issue #164 (October 1952) “Death Bars the Door”
Issue #165 (December 1952) “Pay Off From a Corpse”
Issue #166 (February 1953) “The Gallow’s Bird”
Drawn by John Belcastro as John Bell
Issue #167 (March 1953) “Cult of the Clawmen”
Conclusion
“Ghost Gallery” and Drew Murdoch had a phenomenally long run, over eleven years and five artists. Despite that span, the comic held to its goals pretty well after Issue #55. The artwork was always professionally done. Unlike some Horror titles, poor hacks were not called in to finish off the run after some talented person got it started. The writer (or writers) knew the format for a ghostbreaker tale.
I think the varying of the strip between Murdoch cases, tales narrated by Drew and others that had only the smallest of connection gave the comic a versatility that might otherwise be lacking. If an idea didn’t accommodate a detective case, because it was set too far in the past or for some other reason, that was okay. Murdoch could be left out of that one. If the protagonist met a sad end that was okay too. Often characters would die, become ghosts and achieve a happy ending from the other side.
Drew Murdoch was an influential ghostbreaker. His style of narration became the norm in Horror comics, which all had a host to start each story off, then like Rod Serling, appear again at the end. Horror Comics as we know them didn’t really get started until Adventures Into the Unknown in 1948, but “Ghost Gallery” and Drew Murdoch had six years under their belt before that ACG title appeared.
