DCRO 12- More Fun Comics (1936) #13 [R Story]

Story title: "The Werewolf, Part 3"

DCRO entry

Cover Date: September 1936

By: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster 

Alright, let's finish this story up.

That, again, is not Doctor Occult in the logo. Or maybe he is and that's a clue that he will die in this issue. Nah, they probably just wanted to add some variety to the logos. 

Also, we're back again to color. I'm not too sure how I feel about that. The coloring is very basic, so it kind of takes away from the eerieness and vintage feeling of the black and white without really adding too much... It's no big deal though.

Anyway, the Doctor, as we left him, is fighting a bunch of dudes, and losing, as usually happens when someone fights a bunch of dudes.

Then, Mrs. Daniels points a gun at the Doctor. Is he about to pull a Steve Carson? 

I guess not, because in the next panel, he's being carried into another room and there's some trash talk that ends with the Doctor telling Mrs. Daniels that she should stamp herself. I can see trash talk hasn't changed a lot from the 1930s...

Next, the Doctor is tied to a "rude altar".

Great, you get sacrificed to some evil god, and through the whole thing the altar is insulting you. Just perfect.

What's up with those robes though? Why do they have horns? Do they sacrifice people to Batman or something? More importantly, the skull and bones on their chests make it look like they might be pirates. 

So, the plan is apparently to inject the Doctor with some substance that will turn him into a werewolf. I guess that explains the "horns": they must be wolf ears. Also, if the transformation occurs after an injection, does it count as "occult"? Maybe it's just really advanced science, but I don't know the criteria.

Anyway, Mrs. Daniels is about to inject the Doctor but one of the cultists stops her. A struggle ensues, and it ends with the hooded figure shooting Mrs. Daniels down, ending her reign of terror. 

Why hasn't this happened before? Did they want to be wolves or something? I guess there was also some kind of mind control involved, but then why didn't it work on Westley?

Doctor Occult's savior takes off his hood, revealing he was Mr. Westley, the original werewolf from the first part. He unties the Doctor, who then proceeds to explain to everyone else that they should be alright now and that they won't turn into wolves again. I wouldn't be so sure about that... 

And that's the end.

I was a bit disappointed that the Doctor didn't wait in a closet in this story. I guess at least we got the night-long staring contest with a dog from the first part...

There's also a preview for the next issue.

Sounds interesting, but wait! "Dr. Occult leaves this mortal world..."? Is that the second clue that the Doctor will die? I hope not, these stories are pretty entertaining.

By the way, as always, you can read Doctor Occult (only from the Golden Age), here.

Now, the ratings:

Quality/Enjoyment: 3/5

A nice ending to the longest (6 whole pages!!) and probably the best story in the order so far. As always, there were a lot of little conveniences involved and it doesn't end up making complete sense, but that's to be expected at this point. I just hope we start getting longer stories soon.

Historical/Cultural/Narrative Significance: 1/5

And that's the end of this story. Next time, we get a new character, so look forward to that I guess. In the meantime, thank you for reading, and have a nice rest of your day!