This post is brought to you by Strange Detectives by G. W. Thomas. This collection of weird Mystery stories features Victorian sleuths to Pulp era ghostbreakers like the team known as the Athenodorians. Led by the sinister Baron Von Klarnstein, investigators include his daughter, Orestia, and Paul McNab who delve into the occult happenings known as “The Case of the Phantom Legion”. Strange, invisible monsters are attacking people in the streets of 1926. The Athenodorians tackle this horror amidst a traveling circus in Michigan, where not all will return alive.
Comic strips appear and disappear all the time. If they catch on, like an obscure indy comic called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they become icons. Many do not. “Danny Merlin: Son of the Wise” was one of these. It ran two pages at a time for seventeen segments in TV21 #39-55, a British weekly, from June 20 to October 10, 1970. The creators are unknown. Unlike the most popular strips in this comic, Danny did not have a old TV show to support it. The Belle of Ball was Star Trek, now a cancelled show, which got most of the covers. Also included were Tarzan, who’s show ended two years earlier. The Saint with Roger Moore and Irwin Allen’s Land of the Giants, also recently cancelled. The comic filled out the rest with strips that did not have shows, like “Danny Merlin”, including “S. N. O. R. K. E. L.” ( a diving comic) and “Forward From the Back-Streets” (about football). There were also the obligatory football centerfolds.
“Danny Merlin” was the sole supernatural comic in TV21. The basic idea was that a long-lost ancestor of Merlin the magician would continue his work in modern times. Through his spirit guide, Astra, he inherits a magic ring that powers his many trips through the astral plane. In phantom form, Danny and Astar take on evil doers and their monsters. And that’s where things get interesting. The unnamed writer and artist did a pretty good job of conjuring some cool opponents for Danny Merlin. (Any relation to Mark Merlin?)
The story starts with Danny suffering from haunting dreams in which he sees a creepy island with a cave. Later he sees a picture of the place in a shop window. On the back of the picture is a label saying “Merlin’s Island, Cornwall”. Danny goes to Cornwall and finds the island cave where a strange voice calls to him. He enters to find a skeleton bearing a ring. The mystic voice informs him that the ring is his, but it comes with a legacy begun by Merlin long ago.
Now comic fans, you may have made a few connections here already. You might recall how Captain Marvel goes to a cave and inherits the powers of S. H. A. Z. A. M., or that the Green Lantern has a ring or that the Invisible Ibis had a wand that gave him powers. These old American comics may have provided inspiration but the feel so far is more Arthurian. Danny is Merlin’s kin and inherits the mantle. He is “The Son of the Wise”. Having taken the ring, the skeleton disintegrates. Danny returns home to be visited by a ghostly figure, Astar, his spirit guide. In ethereal form, Danny and the ghost fly off in search of Danny’s first test, to face off against the Black Magician. This is the first villain of piece.
The Black Magician is watching the duo in his crystal ball. The evil one sends a hairy demon to attack Danny’s sleeping body. The lad confronts the magician in his spirit form, losing in a battle of magic. Only the ring can save him. The Black Magician is killed and Danny wakes up in his bed. He has survived his first test. We learn that Danny’s sleeping body is his weakness.
The comic’s short length only allowed us two more story arcs. The first has Danny taking on a ruthless millionaire named Smollett, who kills his brother for his wealth using magic. The supplier of Smollett’s black arts is a Burmese witch-doctor. Maung Kya. Danny checks his material body into the care of the phantomly Guardians of the Fortress (no longer a liability) , then goes after Smollett. Maung Kya raises demons, killer winds and even two-headed dogs to get Danny but the lad manages to find Excalibur, Arthur’s old sword. This will come in handy because the witch-doctor becomes a many-headed hydra. Danny acts as hero, slaying the beast.
The last story arc has Danny homeless when his bed-sit burns down. He goes to Farley Rectory, a creepy, and reportedly haunted house. Danny meets spooky Mr. Toombs, the caretaker. Danny goes to bed, after reading about the history of the house. While asleep, he is attacked by a severed hand. There are written warnings and actual ghosts, the souls of trapped monks. Toombs is desperate to get rid of Danny and tries to kill him with a battle axe. The caretaker finally blows up Farley Rectory with TNT. The truth is revealed. Toombs wants gold buried under the house. Danny confronts him and the evil doer is zapped by lightning. The souls of the trapped monks are released and Danny is ready for his next adventure. After the grander scope of the last arc, this one is cozier, resting in a host of ghost story cliches.
There aren’t any more, of course. In the tradition of cancelled comics everywhere, the creators finish then wait for an audience that doesn’t exist to write in and demand more. It’s too bad. Danny had a lot of potential. His abilities allowed for different kinds of stories, which some ghostbreakers don’t have. There are straight Horror, a more Fantasy edged tale and an old ghost story (in October, of course). Seventeen episodes is simply not enough to explore everything Danny Merlin could have been.
Conclusion
Survival in the mean streets of comicdom is based on popularity. If readers bought the comic to see what would happen next to their favorite characters, you went on. In the British Weeklies, this meant fame for “Judge Dredd” and “V Is For Vendetta”, but oblivion for “Danny Merlin”. After seventeen issues the numbers weren’t there and Danny got the boot. Later TV21 would drop most of their comics for Marvel reprints so Danny’s days were numbered no matter what. I enjoyed his brief excursions into the world of the ghostbreakers, all the same. Like others before him, his adventures were not many but worth remembering.
NB. I have been informed by Lew Stringer that Danny was drawn by Geoff Campion. I can’t claim to have any knowledge of Geoff, being a Canadian stuck with mostly American comics, but I had a feeling it was drawn by a solid professional. Campion’s artwork was probably the number one draw for me after the presence of monsters. Thanks, Lew.
Mythos Horror at RAGE m a c h i n e
Leave a Reply