If you missed the last one…
A couple of Golden Age pieces to conclude, before moving onto the much more mundane Silver Age and even into the Bronze. What you will notice though is a shift away from longer stories and more one-page fillers. Or cartoon fillers. When the Bronze Age shows up this will change again. Another thing you will see for the first time is superheroes having a seance. It’s odd but….
As before, authors are listed when known.
“Silk Gauze” (The House of Mystery #13, April 1953) is a one page filler historical explaining how gauze is used to fool people.
“Deadly Seance!” (Strange Suspense Stories #20, August 1954) is another one-pager that is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Concerto From the Dead” (The House of Mystery #32, November 1954) is a one pager about composers writing from beyond the grave.
The Silver Age
“Professor Eureka” (My Greatest Adventure #10, July-August 1956) was written and drawn by Henry Boltinoff. For laughs, of course. His brother Murray will get a chance fourteen years later.
“Great Performance” (Strange Suspense Stories #36, March 1958) was written by Joe Gill. An actor is such a glory hog he comes back from the dead for one last performance.
“Moolah the Mystic” (The House of Mystery #76, July 1958) was written and drawn by Henry Boltinoff for more laughs.
“Lois Lane’s Super-Seance!” (Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #10, July 1959) was written by Robert Bernstein. Superman helps trick Perry White into thinking Julius Caesar’s ghost is tired of him always being called upon. He then busts a gang of criminals who have impersonated Lois. (Personally, I don’t think you could fool Superman with his x-ray eyes.)
“The Deadly Inheritance” (Four Color #1169, March-May 1961) has Sherlock attend a seance then debunk a scheme to steal an inheritance. That Sherlock would think there was no real ghosts is on the mark. Holmes was not a believer unlike his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle.
“Voices From the Twilight Zone” (Four Color #1288, February-April 1962) was written by Paul S. Newman. Abraham Lincoln holds a seance in the White House then has a vision of his own death.
“The Seance!” (Tales of Suspense #52, April 1964) was written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. Kamir convinces a bunch of skeptics that his powers are real. Of course, they aren’t. Hollywood tricks! Too bad he does some actual magic in the end!
“War That Shook the Universe!” (Showcase #60, January-February 1966) was written by Gardner F. Fox, a man who wrote a few ghost stories for Weird Tales in the 1940s. The character was originally created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily. Fox gives him an up-grade. In a seance, the Spectre is drawn from a man’s body and goes on a long journey to battle Azmodeus. Resurrecting the Spectre becomes a thing that happens more than once. It is fitting that the first superhero to hold a seance is a ghostly one.
“The Ghost of Fero Lad” (Adventure Comics #357, June 1967) was written by Jim Shooter. A year later the Legion of Super-Heroes is at it. After Fero lad’s demise fighting the Sun-Master, his ghost seems to be haunting the Legion. Let’s have a seance!
Bronze Age
“Spirit in the Seance” (The Brave and the Bold #90, June-July 1970) was written by Murray Boltinoff. (Henry’s kid brother, remember?) A skeptic goes to a seance and ends up being the ghostly guest.
“Seance is Believing” (Swing With Scooter #28, July 1970) was written by Barbara Friedlander. Malibu invites the gang, including Scooter, to an abandoned house for a seance. Nothing much happens at first. At the end the table begins shaking. It’s not ghosts but a bulldozer ready to demolish the house. This Archie knock-off wasn’t the only one to use seances. Archie and his friends did in several one pagers too.
“The Curse of the Killer That Time Forgot!” (Challengers of the Unknown #73, April-May 1970) was written by Denny O’Neil. Corrina gets the ghostly heebee-geebees several times until the Challengers have a seance. It all ends up in space, facing off with spirits. A strange blend of Apollo 13 and the Ghostbusters. This was 1970 and both ideas were hot with the Apollo missions and the occult boom in full swing.
