Manic Monday--Ghosts-Busted

Hmmm, I've been writing about ghosts a lot lately, haven't I?

Speaking of which, there's this, from the Ask The Answer Man column in Justice League Of America #168 (1979):

Oh, yes, Ghosts:

Starting in 1971, Ghosts was part of DC's ongoing horror line-up.

But unlike the rest of their horror mags, DC hype always contended that these stories were really, actually true...and advertised that fact on every single cover for the first 74 issues:

And as Bob Rozakis tells us in that Answer Man answer, the Ghost writers actually (snort) researched all these true (guffaw) ghost stories themselves before turning them into comic book stories that DC then challenged us to read each month.

Hey, why not, right? If Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International and Ghost Hunters IN SPACE can go on for years and hundreds of episodes without actually, you know, finding a ghost, and still claim to be real, than I suppose DC isn't any crazier to have maintained that all of their stories were true. Besides, it amuses me to no end to think of writers like Leo Dorfman and and John Broome "researching" all their spooky stories.

Ah, but in a supernaturally ironic bit of bad timing, one month before this Answer man column, DC had dropped the claims that the stories in Ghosts were true, starting with the cover of #75:

Well, "new" at least rhymes with "true." right?

It seems that no one told Rozakis that they were going to drop the "true" claim for Ghosts. I've never heard any explanation as to why they did, either. Heck, within a couple of years, DC went even farther away from "these stories are true," as Dr. 13 The Ghostbreaker, professional ghost-debunker, became a regular regular feature in Ghosts.

Speaking of Dr Thirteen, have you ever noticed his career followed the Scooby Doo arc? During his initial run, 13 always--always!!--managed to prove that the ghosts or supernatural phenomena were fake, just as the gang in the Mystery Machine always--always!!--found that whoever was haunting the old amusement park was a crook or scam artist. Frankly, Scooby Doo helped me form the basis of my healthy sense of skepticism.

But modern day? Both Franchises became less Scully and more Mulder. Dr. 13 was turned into a kooky crank. He was teamed with the Phantom Stranger & the Spectre, dated Zatanna, has a daughter who is a sorceress...and is portrayed as an idiot to be skeptical when he's surrounded by magic. And modern Scooby Doo? Now the ghosts and mythical beasties and witches are often real. Sigh...

So, DC stopped selling Ghosts as real at about the same time that Dr. Thirteen and Scooby Doo stopped portraying the supernatural as always a scam. I have no idea what, if anything that means. But hey, it's Monday.