The last issues of a title are often among the most interesting, especially if that title ended its run in the early 1950s and catered to the style and tone of what had become the most popular comics genre on the market back then... fantasy/horror! Of course if the company was DC, it was guaranteed that the horror emphasis would be minimal. But starting with Star Spangled #122 (November 1951) the short but interesting career of Dr. Terry Thirteen began.

     The concept of a "ghost breaker", a detective who specializes in debunking "spiritual" phenomena is fairly common in comics. So actually the Dr. Thirteen stories aren't really fantasy either... they're more accurately described as "crime" yarns which feature crooks working as phony psychics as a part of some nefarious pseudo-supernatural con game.

     The Ghost Breaker series ran from #122 through #130 (July 1952). And, true to DC's mild-mannered soul, the title didn't really die, but merely metamorphosed into Star Spangled War Stories with #131 (August 1952), and under that title continued as one of DC's "big five" war titles for another 25 years.

     The nine appearances of Dr. Thirteen were the lead story in each issue, and the cover feature as well. Ghost Breaker wrested that spot away from Tomahawk, who had, in turn taken it from Robin The Boy Wonder with issue #96. Each of these cover "take-overs" nicely demonstrates the succession of post-war genres that superseded the top dog position enjoyed by the super heroes for a golden decade. Issues #123-130 also feature Captain Compass (a seafaring sleuth) closed the book.

     Star Spangled #122 fittingly offers the origin of the Ghost Breaker. Seems that Terry Thirteen's family tree contains a number of martyrs slain for their too-advanced scientific theories... this Terry's father explains to him one day as Terry approaches adulthood. The father is determined to foster enough logic and common sense in his son to always allow him to see past the seemingly supernatural. He proposes that they conduct a test in the event of his (the father's) death: five years after that date Terry will be alone in the family home and try to contact the dead spirit of his father. Well, comes the day, and Dr. Thirteen is alone at night talking to the portrait of the old man above the mantle. When he hears his father's voice in answer, echoing through the deserted house, it sorely tries his skepticism, but Terry finally realizes that this too is a hoax, a final test his father arranged.

     Issue #122 took the "democratic approach" of giving each of the three stars an eight-page slot. Robin's story, "The Bad Boy of Gotham City", is a effective entry luridly rendered by the great Jim Mooney. Robin wants to help a juvenile delinquent that everyone else has given up on. As Dick Grayson explains to Bruce Wayne - "He's an orphan like I am, only no Bruce Wayne came along to help him..." The kid's older crook "pal" tells him to take a chance and hang around Robin because he can then discover Robin's secret identity and use that knowledge against him. Robin takes the lad camping, and one night the kid uses knock-out drops on Robin then takes pictures of him unmasked. Only after Robin risks his own life to save him in a forest fire does the kid see that Robin's the kind of guy you want on your side, and he ends up confessing and giving him the camera.

     The Tomahawk tale is an excellent yarn about a dog that gives its life avenging its master's death, killing the killer and saving Tomahawk's life in the process. Fred Ray's "old-fashioned" art style is a perfect match for this marvelous 18th-century character. This mixture of a fantastic detective, a (young) costume hero, and a frontier fighter made a nice blend, a fine example of the kind of range the old anthology titles could provide.

     Star Spangled #123 (December 1951) pits Dr. Thirteen against a maker of voodoo dolls who wants to extort money from people by threatening to stick pins into magic miniatures of themselves. But the Ghost Breaker pokes a few holes in the plan. The Robin adventure features that colorful recurring villain, Crazy Quilt, while the Tomahawk offering boasts an appearance by none other than General George Washington. Several other of the Tomahawk yarns in the later issues focus on his and Dan Hunter's contributions to the Revolutionary War effort... all are four-color classics of Americana. In this one Tomahawk and some allies transport a load of gunpowder through British-occupied territory while disguised as Native Americans. Tomahawk employs a good knowledge of nature, using plants to make red dye and to waterproof barrels of gunpowder. The four-page Captain Compass story is pretty cursory. It was added without shortening the three other yarns because this ish has four "extra" pages. This was when comics were changing from 52 to 36 pages (counting covers)... in between there was a short attempt at a 44 page format. Issues #122 and #124 thru #129 all run the new standard 36 page count, yet #123 gave readers just a bit more.

     Star Spangled #124 (January 1952) keeps Captain Compass in the cast by reducing the Robin and Tomahawk stories to six pages each. The Ghost Breaker entry goes south of the border to investigate a mysterious Aztec structure called "Suicide Tower". This adventure in Mexico is signed by Leonard Starr who did the art on the series and currently draws Little Orphan Annie for the newspapers. The Robin outing is also fun and deals with that classic Dynamic Duo topic... escape artistry.

     The bogus "blind" man, supposedly led about by a ghost dog, in the Dr. Thirteen mystery in Star Spangled #125 (February 1952) is pretty easy to see through. Top honors this issue go to Captain Compass, who agrees to sail a Hollywood chap around and prove that certain maritime maneuvers are possible for an upcoming film. It makes a good "labors of Hercules" tale and culminates in an escape from the treacherous Sargasso Sea.

     Star Spangled #126 (March 1952) opens with one of the best Ghost Breaker yarns of the series. Entitled "The Phantom of Paris" it involves masked maniacs and murder at the opera... and is done to a convincing turn. The Robin story challenges both the Boy Wonder and the reader with a puzzle in the Bat-Cave. This story, like several other in the Boy Wonder series, contains one of those "What do you think, reader?" panels right before the payoff clue is revealed. And Tomahawk is presented (by General Washington) with a finely wrought hatchet fashioned by Paul Revere. This handsome weapon itself becomes a main character in this satisfying six-pager.

     Dr. Thirteen contends with a crook who seems to have the ability to astral project his spirit self and commit crimes while his physical self remains in custody in Star Spangled #127 (April 1952). Even the more predictable entries in the series offer a fascinating examination of how big a gap can come between appearance and reality. Captain Compass and Robin both come off smooth but a trifle flat this time around, despite Batman's guest appearance with the Boy Wonder. It's Tomahawk who steals the show with a Yankee scheme that thwarts British troops while pretending to amuse them by staging a play.

     The Ghost Breaker story in Star Spangled #128 (May 1952) is a good one. Terry falls prey to the wiles of a woman who claims to awake for a few weeks every hundred years to dazzle the current crop of males. Terry takes her to a museum to test her knowledge of history, and she passes his test. Let's just say that, in this one, Terry needs the help of his fiancee Marie to break the spell of the "immortal" enchantress.

     Captain Compass also shines as a storm off the African coast forces him into port. While he's off board his ship gets stolen by pirates, and the only vessel to pursue them in is a newly restored nineteenth-century Spanish Man 0' War. Pursue he does, and, with the help of a crazy cannon marksman, they rout the pirates.

     Robin is on target this issue too and features the obscure classic villain Mr. 50-50. Appearing in half-black face, Mr. 50-50's theory is that a sucker should always get an even break. Thus decisions are made by flipping a coin (50% odds) or cutting a deck of cards to over or under an eight (50% odds) etc. Even more amazingly, Robin escapes from the "impossible trap" 50-50 puts him in by a genuinely clever ploy, and we know how rare that is!

     Star Spangled #129 (June 1952) has poor Terry "demoted" from Dr. Thirteen to Mr. Thirteen. "The Human Orchids" is not such a great yarn either. DC turned out a lot of product, and a lot of it was pretty good, but a lot of it was not so hot either. Robin's "The Magic Key" is a winner. By the time it comes to the reader "challenge" to match wits with the Boy Wonder, he has presented all the clues clearly. The two "solution" panels were even printed upside-down so as not to be so easily seen beforehand. I certainly couldn't figure it, but after all was said and done, I was not only impressed by Robin's deductive skills but learned something in the process - tough to beat. And Captain Compass comes through as well-going undercover to hire on as a crewman on a ship that's out to work an insurance scam.

     Star Spangled #130 (July 1952) closes out the Ghost Breaker's run with his finest case - a whole town that's afraid of the number 13. The one person in town who stands to profit from this fear sets out to kill Mr. Thirteen before he figures out the score; that makes this story ultra-suspenseful as well as ingenious. Robin puts in a good performance on his last solo - coping with the temporary deafness that results from a close call with a hand-grenade. Captain Compass also navigates a nice finale by piloting a restored Nazi war vessel from Germany back to the USA. As a bad storm buckles some hull plates and the ship starts taking on water, he makes a heroic trip back and uncovers a slick smuggling scheme.

     The Tomahawk story is also brilliant, making this last issue a four-star special. "The Battling Balladeer" is a Yankee rhymester who writes verses that make the British look like buffoons. When this poet gets arrested Tomahawk and Dan come to his defense by staging the hilarious incidents of the poem so that the author can't be convicted of libel. When they pull it off it makes the Redcoats doubly ridiculous. And the ending, with the charming "Ballad of Tomahawk" and Tomahawk and Dan's comments on the bravery and value of one who fights with pen and ink, is an outstanding argument both for poetry and freedom - bravo!

     This is one of my favorite DC runs of all time. Each of the four strips had a couple of excellent stories, several other solid entries, and very few less than passable. And the packaging was consummate early 1950s anthology - with fantasy genre covers (by Bill Ely) and a wide variety of features inside. It is a distinct nine-issue entity and is the final chapter of the title that premiered the likes of Newsboy Legion, Robotman, and Tomahawk.

     And the Ghost Breaker was a good character... he rode the genre trend of the day all the way to the final issue of one of DC's original anthology titles... and ended the series on a high note!

Pat Calhoun has been collecting, researching and appreciating comic books since the early 1960s, and is a nationally recognized comic book historian. Pat resides in Santa Rosa, California.