CountDown to Halloween 2023 Rutland Halloween Parade Comic Book Tales CheckList

Here's a list of stories we've thus far presented...in chronological order...

1970

(The first Rutland Parade story in any comic!)

Marvel's Avengers #83

Come On In...the Revolution's Fine!

Part 1

Part 2
We haven't run the 1971 tale from DC...yet!

1972
There are actually four comics set in Rutland, more than any other single year!
One of the Marvel stories is a standalone, not linked to the other three.
We haven't run that one...yet!

The other three (two Marvel and one DC, are linked, Rashamon-style, showing the same events from different viewpoints, and featuring different characters...though the characters don't realize it!

Marvel's Amazing Adventures (The Beast) #16
...and the Juggernaut Will Get You...If You Don't Watch Out!
Part 1
Part 2

DC's Justice League of America #104
A Stranger Walks Among Us!
Part 1
Part 2

Marvel's Mighty Thor #207
FireSword!
Prologue
Part 1
Part 2

1974

Marvel's Avengers #119

Night of the Collector!

Prologue

Part 1

Part 2

1975

Gold Key's Occult Files of Doctor Spektor #18
Masque Macabre
Prologue
Part 1
Part 2
There were two separate DC Parade tales in 1976...which we haven't run...yet!

1977

DC Super-Stars (Phantom Stranger & Deadman)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
After 1977, there are only occasional stories set in Rutland, none of which we've run...yet!
Bonus:
Introduction to the Rutland Parade in Comics!
The Real-Life Rutland Halloween Parade!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

Countdown to Halloween 2023 OCCULT FILES OF DOCTOR SPEKTOR "Masque Macabre" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Doctor Spektor, his friend and companion Lakota Rainflower, and his cousin, Annie, are invited to participate in the annual Rutland Halloween Parade.

The parade is a trap!

Annie is possessed by the spirit of the sorceress Princess Neffram who animates statues of Spektor's deceased foes and other creatures who then hypnotize cosplaying paradegoers into serving the sorceress!

Note: These two are not the actual Owl or Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom, but cosplaying parade-goers!

Written by Don Glut (who wrote almost all the 1970s Gold Key Multiverse tales) and illustrated by Jesse Santos, this story from Gold Key's Occult Files of Doctor Spekor #18 (1975) was typical of the admittedly less-dynamic, but still quite entertaining material the company produced.
BTW, this was the only Rutland Halloween Parade-themed comic done by any comic company in 1975!

Next Week: a recap (with links) of every Rutland Halloween Parade tale we've run both here and on other RetroBlogs!

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Occult Files of Doctor Spektor Archives

Volume One

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Countdown to Halloween 2023 OCCULT FILES OF DOCTOR SPEKTOR "Masque Macabre" Part 1

Our final terror tale for Halloween 2023 begins in a multiverse far from those of Marvel and DC...

...specifically, the multiverse of Gold Key Comics!

Yep, It's The Purple Zombie and "The Lurker" aka the Golden Age Heap, both of whom we told you about yesterday!

Count Wulfstein had appeared as a host (as Dr Spektor originally did) in short stories in Mystery Comics Digest.

The other characters shown had already appeared (as villains) in this series and had all been killed!

Note that Parade founder/host Tom Fagan, who usually appears in these tales, isn't in this story, replaced by Thomas Sikes.

Do We Have to Tell You...to be Concluded...TOMORROW!

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Countdown to Halloween 2023 Who Are Doctor Spektor, The Purple Zombie, and The Heap???

Our final Rutland Parade tale for this year involves neither DC or Marvel characters!

Our protagonist is Doctor Adam Spektor, a researcher into the occult, who started out as a host-narrator for short stories in Gold Key's Mystery Comics Digest, but quickly graduated to his own comic, where he used mystical artifacts and his arcane knowledge to battle mystical menaces head-on!

Aided by his magic-skeptical "friend and companion" (interpret as you will) Lakota Rainflower, Spektor encountered all the classic monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula, werewolves, mummies, evil sorcerers and sorceresses, etc.), including one he met before who lays a trap for him in this week's story!
Doctor Spektor ran from 1972 to 1975, and, except for a 2014 Dynamite Publications mini-series rebooting the character, hasn't been seen since!
Among the antagonists are two who are not Gold Key characters, but do date back to the Golden Age of Comics!

The Purple Zombie wasn't a zombie at all, though he was revived from the dead!
Nor was he a mystic-themed character!
Resurrected and now possessed of enhanced strength and limited invulnerability, the man named Zoro retained his intellect and conscience instead of being a mindless servant to the depraved scientist who experimented on his corpse.
He enjoyed a long, if weird, run in Novelty's Reg'lar Fellas Heroic Comics during the Golden Age, but hadn't been brought back since...until this week's story!
Not so with the other Golden Age character...The Heap, who was the first ongoing swamp-based monster in comics!
Debuting in the Sky Wolf feature in Hillman's Air Fighter Comics, The Heap quickly received his own strip, which continued even after the book was re-titled Airboy and survived until the book was cancelled at the end of the Golden Age.
Much like the later Man-Thing, The Heap tended to wander mindlessly into situations where he, inadventantly, ended up helping people...who would fear and hunt him due to his appearance.

He's referred to in this tale as "The Lurker" because another company, Skywald Comics had recently revived the character...but had extensively-altered/updated him.
Since Skywald now had the trademark for "The Heap", this story's version, based on the Golden Age incarnation, had to use another name!

Now That You Know a Bit More About the Players, Be Here Tomorrow for the Story Itself!

Countdown to Halloween 2023 AVENGERS "Night of the Collector" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...The Mighty Avengers, exhausted from the epic "Avengers/Defenders War", answer a psychic summons of danger at the Rutland Halloween Parade.

While half the team falls prey to The Collector (disguised as the parade's founder/host Tom Fagan), the other half of the group is exploring the hamlet, looking for clues...

Loki eventually got his marbles (well, most of them) back and continues to bedevil the Marvel Multiverse to this day.

Who is...

...and What Part Does He Play in Our Final Rutland Halloween Parade Tale?
Find out on Monday as We Explore Another Corner of the Multiverse!
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Avengers

Epic Collection

Avengers/Defenders War

(which includes this tale!)

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Countdown to Halloween 2023 AVENGERS "Night of the Collector" Part 1

 When Last We Left Our Heroes...

...well that (and our LINK) certainly-covered those plot points, eh?

So let's get to the action from Marvel's Avengers #119 (1973)...

Who, in 2023, can't sympathize with forgetting to turn off the burglar alarm after a long day?

Fanboy Footnotes:

1) You'll note the footnote reference in panel 1 to the previous Marvel heroes'/heroines' visits...including the one which overlapped Thor and The Beast with the Justice League of America!
2) The real-life Tom Fagan was one of the founders of the super-hero incarnation of the Rutland Halloween Parade.

His comic multiverse counterpart appears in almost every comic set at the parade.

In DC books he dresses as The Batman.

In Marvel titles, he wears the garb of NightHawk, originally a member of the Squadron Sinister, later a member of the Squadron Supreme (both created to be a counterpoint to DC's Justice League of America, so Nighthawk is Marvel's Batman surrogate!)

Wow, that was fun...

Note: at this point in Marvel continuity, neither The Collector's real name (Taneleer Tivan) nor the fact he was one of the Elders of the Universe, were known!

To Be Concluded TOMORROW!

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Avengers

Epic Collection

Avengers/Defenders War

(which includes this follow-up tale!)

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