Story title: "The Methuselah Murders"
Cover Date: May 1936
By: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Today in More Fun Comics, we're back with Doctor Occult, and this story is auto conclusive so let's dive in.
It looks kind of weird cut like that, but I wanted to show how some elements in the logo pop into the actual story, that's really cool!
The story begins with Doc Occ(ult) speeding in his car to a crime scene of a so-called "Methuselah killer" because the police have asked him for help.
Side note: For those of you who don't know, methuselah is a character from the bible who managed to live almost a thousand years.
Apparently, there's been another murder (with torture to boot) and the only evidence left behind was a note that read "Methuselah". This is all very ominous and all and I'm sure later they will be an actual supernatural factor, but at this point, it's kind of weird that the police contacted the Doctor. I mean, it's not like the man is Batman, he specifically fights supernatural threats, and this just sounds like a psychotic killer.
Anyway, that small piece of information seems to be enough for the Doctor to piece together the mystery because he's devising a plan already. He goes to a newspaper called the Daily Star Times-Star and gets them to print the following:
Then, he talks to the man the story is about, Lieutenant Day, and gets him to sit in a chair for three days while he waits in a nearby closet... I don't know, this is only the second time a Doctor Occult plan involves hiding in a closet, but it's weird it happened twice. He seems a bit too eager to come out of them...
An unknown number of hours later (let me remind you that all this time the Doc has been waiting inside a closet and the Lieutenant was sitting on a chair), there's finally an attack.
After beating the Lieutenant up (Occult is still hiding), the madman hangs him using "tough thongs"... How could someone be hung by "thongs"? For some reason, the movie Borat comes to mind... Anyway, the killer starts chanting some bullshit, and only when he's about to deliver the final blow the Doctor intervenes.
And now, something I really don't like:
In the next panel, the Doctor explains the solution: This murderer apparently believed (inspired by the story from the bible) that if he killed a lot of (would be) long-lived people and then did that crazy incantation he would be able to live to a thousand years old.
I hate when comics do this, I mean why have the solution weaved into the story when you can just have a panel explaining it? I mean, at least have the Doctor explain it to another character instead of to the reader. I get that they didn't have a lot of space to work with but that doesn't change the fact that it doesn't read very well.
And that's how the story ends.
Now, the ratings:
Quality/Enjoyment: 2/5
There's no way around it, this is bad. It doesn't make any sense how the Doctor solved the mystery (especially because we don't see him investigate at all), the idea that they waited for three days is kind of ridiculous, and the Doctor's involvement didn't feel very necessary. Yes, there was a supernatural factor with the chanting and all, but still, the police could've taken care of it. Also, as I already said, I really didn't like the last panel. It's not all that bad though: at least the story is readable and the concept of the murderer could be interesting given more time and space... I'm sensing a pattern here, but I guess that'll take some time.
Historical/Cultural/Narrative Significance: 1/5
One more Doctor Occult entry.
Remember that you can find every Golden Age Doctor Occult story here since it's public domain. Maybe skip this one though.
And that's how it ends, I'd say this is my least favorite entry in the order so far, but we're not that deep into it, so it'll probably be surpassed. Anyway, thank you for reading, and have a nice rest of your day!
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