Paul Levitz Talks Diversity, Surreality & Mythology in "Doctor Fate"

[CBR News]

In what he considers his best work in years, the former DC Comics publisher pushes past the Golden Age for a Ditko-esque and modern superhero tale.


Full article here.

[CrimsonRain666]

One question...is Khalid Ben-Hassin still Doctor Fate in the Earth 2 book? Just wondering since this Doctor Fate takes place on a different Earth with no connection to the Kent Nelson Dr Fate or Khalid Ben-Hassin Dr Fate.

[Charles J. Baserap]

Yes, the decision to make Dr. Fate a guy named Khalid is very revolutionary...so revolutionary, in fact, it was done a few years ago in Earth 2.

[MythicalChicken]

After that nonsense yesterday with Helena Bertinelli, this is the other more positive end of the spectrum: better representation that's new, and when you think of it, actually makes MUCH more sense than the original.

[K. Jones]

Aside from the odd fact they're both called Khalid (seriously, that's editorial left holding the bag), I rather like how he maintains a "K.N." name, and Nassour has similar phonetics to Nelson. But anyway, I'm sold on this one and have been from the get-go. I hope Levitz really nails it, because when he's good, he can be really good, and all the collab, playing on his hometown, and utilizing the fact he's got some history in the ages of comics, too, work for this character I think.

[ChaoticScholar]

I have been wanting to read a Fate solo for years. I'm game.

[Tony]

I don't know if this will be Great, but I really want it to be. Doctor Fate is a long time favorite of mine going back to when I first started reading comics. It's a shame Dr Fate and Dr Strange have such a hard time finding an audience. You'd think with all the love stuff like Harry Potter gets it would be a blockbuster of a title.

[Raptor13]

One question...is Khalid Ben-Hassin still Doctor Fate in the Earth 2 book? Just wondering since this Doctor Fate takes place on a different Earth with no connection to the Kent Nelson Dr Fate or Khalid Ben-Hassin Dr Fate.

This is what I'm most concerned about. I had really grown to like that Khalid and was hoping to continue with him in Society

[Factor]

I wasn't the biggest fan of the more recent comics I read from Levitz, but this one does sound interesting.

[ultraaman]

I'm gonna give it a try. Now that the new52 is over, I'm glad to see some stylistic diversity in the DC line.

[K. Jones]

I've been doing some major homework for my Multiversity essay-writing, and really getting into detailed knowledge of just where characters and creator runs fit into what periods of time, and I think Levitz being a Bronze Age writer (writers who shook off some of the Silver Age to get back to the Golden Stuff, but were REALLY aware of those previous incarnations of characters and constantly using them), and THE Bronze Age dude who went on to be the publisher and had to be even more aware of the historical context of the DCU should make for some interesting Doctor Fate storytelling.

Like, as much as this looks like an almost Spider-Man-esque, slightly Marvel-esque, and yeah, quite Ditko riff, we're talking Levitz, and I don't think he's going to be afraid to reach back into the original Adventure Comics shorts and take anyone who was a somewhat notable "Doctor Fate Villain" (those crooks and evil magicians) and use those names and characters - bring them up to date to fit this new Doctor Fate status quo. The same might apply to some of the super-hero friendships and match-ups we saw with Fate in the sixties and early seventies, when every other issue of any mainstream cape, they were teaming up with their Earth-2 counterpart, crossing dimensions every week like a revolving door.

My point is some of those classic DC writer tics, like wanting to use a vintage character for their good aspects - their name, recognition, cool design - should be a pretty cool and special thing. You want to balance that with "all-new" characters and content, but there's more than enough Golden Age stuff to mine, and especially for a guy like Fate, who has had revitalizations over the years but not exactly ones that stripmine his publishing history for the good parts.

[rightsuperhero]

In what he considers his best work in years, the former DC Comics publisher pushes past the Golden Age for a Ditko-esque and modern superhero tale.


Full article here.

I'm not surprised but it is still disheartening to see a Muslim passing as an indigeneous Egyptian. Unless this new Doctor Fate is part 'Black' I wonder how he can be related to the Ancient Gods of Egypt? (According to the preview). The Muslims came into Egypt between AD 640 and 709.

[K. Jones]

I'm not surprised but it is still disheartening to see a Muslim passing as an indigeneous Egyptian. Unless this new Doctor Fate is part 'Black' I wonder how he can be related to the Ancient Gods of Egypt? (According to the preview). The Muslims came into Egypt between AD 640 and 709.

Comics being comics and magical, immortal destiny type characters being that, one imagines he's got that whole "secret strain of the bloodlines of ancient egypt" thing going and at some point that'll pop in. I mean, it's a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. A LOT of us humans have DNA that goes back to Egypt.

[rightsuperhero]

Comics being comics and magical, immortal destiny type characters being that, one imagines he's got that whole "secret strain of the bloodlines of ancient egypt" thing going and at some point that'll pop in. I mean, it's a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. A LOT of us humans have DNA that goes back to Egypt.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1018145955.htm
Most tests trace only a few of your ancestors and a small portion of your DNA, Tests are unlikely to identify all of the groups or locations around the world where a test-taker's relatives are found, Tests may report false negatives or false positives, Limited sample databases mean test results are subject to misinterpretation, There is no clear connection between DNA and racial/ethnic identity, Tests cannot determine exactly where ancestors lived or what ethnic identity they held.

Despite being in the African Continent Africa today's Modern Egyptians claim to be only Arabs and not Africans.

They also dissolve their heritage by making no mention of when they first appear and has gone as far as to remake King Tut into their own Modern day image which is fair skin with a pointed nose despite the fact that king Tut as always being seen as a dark skinned African.

Today. The modern day Egyptians are having their cake and eating it too.

[ChaoticScholar]

Now I'm craving Hawkman books that lead to a Fate team up