The best thing about
Golden Age heroes is that, no matter how
goofy the starting premise, within a few months they could get even
goofier.
Hence today's
Golden Age Idol, where we look at--
Sergeant Spook!!
(Please forgive the poor quality of these first few scans--you work with what you've got)
We start with the soon-to-be-aptly-name Sergeant Spook (he's
never given a first name, as far as I can tell). He's working in the lab to investigate a murder--apparently they don't have lab techs in this town...
But Spook is about to learn a hard lesson--
don't smoke in the lab!!
Oops!
Well, he's dead all right!
Except he's a ghost now!!
He's invisible to everyone, and can't be heard...
But he can still
touch things, and interact with the real world...
...which leads to a couple of issues worth of "let's watch an invisible guy toss crooks around":
But creator/writer/artist
Malcolm Kildale must have gotten bored, or realized how limited that premise was, because by his fifth appearance, Sergeant Spook suddenly realized that there were
other ghosts around town--and the were committing crimes!
And yes, the ghost of Jesse James' horse was there, too!
Well, Spook captured him--
but what do you do with a ghost prisoner? That's when things get really weird...
Ah, "
Dr. Sherlock"! Please don't sue us,
Doyle estate!
So yes, it turns out that "
Ghost Town," which contains pretty much the ghost of
everyone ever, is on "
the other side of town." Spook's new sidekick, Dr. Sherlock, explains the rules as he escorts the cop "
home."
Phew--there may be no heaven or hell in this universe, but at least the deceased have
democracy!
Well, this is kind of a
Riverworld-style mash-up, isn't it?
Wow, democracy and
no poverty?!? How can I sign up for
this afterlife?!?!
So, they have a
ghost trial for ghost Jesse James, in a
ghost court using
ghost rules!
Guilty, guilty, guilty!! (Along with
Ali Baba and his 40 thieves, whom Spook also subdues!)
Ah, but there is
unrest in Ghost Town, as a number of those who don't approve of post-life socialist democracy--
Julius Caesar, amongst others--use the trial as an excuse to revolt!
Napoleon leads their army--look, a ghost war map!!
Despite having
King Arthur and
The Duke of Wellington available, the good guys put Sergeant Spook in charge of their armies, in this cross-time, cross-cultures clash!
The good guy win, and Napoleon
finally realizes:
About time, short-stuff!!
So the series proceeded onward, with the discovery of
more Ghost Towns around the world, like:
Slave ghosts!!
And we learn that, even in the afterlife...
...American foreign interventionism is a rampant!
Which leads to Sergeant Spook kicking the (un)living crap out of
King Tut...
After that the strip settled into a very
weird groove, with a mix of Sarge Spook helping fight human criminals back home, dealing with uppity ghosts (like
ghost cavemen!!) and dealing with supernatural threats (such as the evil scientist "
Crazy Doctor Zorka" making zombies, thus trapping the dead people's ghosts!). Oh, and there was also plenty of
ghosts fighting gorillas!
The feature would continue for a long time in the pages of
Blue Bolt, and slide over to appear in other comics published by
Novelty Press. Eventually the strip was taken over by other hands, and
Sherlock Holmes Dr. Sherlock would be shuffled aside, and Spook would get a (living) boy,
Jerry, as a sidekick. The stories, sadly, got much less weird, and settled more into a crime-fighting/adventure groove, without the many famous ghosts and insane theology.
Still, Sergeant Spook is just sitting there, public domained, waiting for someone to revive him. Bonus: they could use the
real Sherlock Holmes now!!
All panels taken from Blue Bolt #1-#14 (1940-1941)
