scans_daily

One of the cool things about DC's long and varied history (and habit of buying other companies' characters) is that you can find almost any kind of oddball character type if you just look hard enough. For example, DC made a stab at the magical girl subtype years before such characters suddenly became popular in America. These scans of "The Enchantress of Terror Castle" are from Adventure Comics #417, (3 pages of 9), but it's a reprint from Strange Adventures #187 (April 1966.) Incidentally, the first Japanese magical girl anime and manga began appearing in 1966 too, a case of congruent evolution....

Okay, attractive girl with a slightly odd name. Check. Attractive slightly older fellow she's interested in. Check. Mysterious goings-on, check.

The "monsters" turn out to be partiers in costume--the invitation didn't mention that this was a masquerade, but the owner is providing outfits for anyone who didn't bring one. Most of the costumes tend towards the grotesque or occult themes.

June spots a tapestry depicting a minotaur about to attack. It's remarkably lifelike, and June goes upstairs to get a closer look, while Alan tries to find where the spare costumes are.

A gong sounds, a breeze blows out the torches, the minotaur begins to glow, and scary noises fill the castle. But surely it's all part of the evening's entertainment? Meanwhile, a pivoting wall throws June into a secret chamber.

Girl is the Chosen One, check. Magic activation phrase, check. Transformation sequence, abbreviated but check. Hot new outfit and slight appearance change, check. Kooky magic powers, check. Cute talking animal, *phonograph needle rip* oh heck no. Dzamor (as its name was later retconned to be) is downright creepy in appearance--it's no wonder it later turned out to be a bad guy.

Out in the main hall, the guests are using a table as a battering ram on the uncannily closed door, not noticing that the ceiling has become weakened, and the jolts are making it crumble. The Enchantress makes a suit of armor grow. With a little magical manipulation, it holds up the ceiling. But now the minotaur's hands come out of the tapestry and try to grab people. June uses a chain weapon to "handcuff" the creature. She then overhears the practical jokers who rang the gong and set up some of the spooky incidents, though they didn't plan on actual monsters.

The Enchantress realizes the gong must be the key, and strikes it again. The minotaur is forced back into the tapestry. Relieved, Alan tries to hit on the Enchantress, making June a bit jealous of herself. (Secret Identity shenanigans and romantic complications, check.) But as the crowd surges outside, Alan suddenly remembers who he came to the dance with, and calls for June.

As soon as the others are looking away, June turns back into her normal self, but with the vanishing of the Enchantress, the armor shrinks back to its original size, and June is barely able to escape before the castle collapses. Alan and June drive away, with the fellow wondering who that striking woman he briefly met was.

There were a couple more Enchantress stories by the same creative team, but they didn't catch on to a good formula, and the character lay fallow until Supergirl needed a magical foe. In that story, the Enchantress was well-intentioned, but foolishly trying to suck all the magical power in the world into herself. Later stories had her become an outright villain, but that development will perhaps be covered in a different post.

To compare, here's a character most of us think about when we see the phrase "magical girl." This sketch (from today's Springcon!) is by Andrew Dobson, creator of "Formera."

That just leaves the Supergirl story from this issue unscanned...

Your thoughts and comments?

Suggested tags
char: Enchantress/June Moone
char: Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino
creator: Andrew Dobson
creator: Bob Haney
creator: Howard Purcell
publisher: DC Comics
title: Adventure Comics

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darkblade

Hmm interesting. I've heard Mary Marvel mentioned as an influence of the genre but I haven't heard of Enchantress but she does fit very well.

skjam

She just fell by the wayside. Heck, she was in a team called "The Forgotten Villains" at one point.

katzedecimal

She was such a thorn in the side to the Suicide Squad that Captain Boomerang had to clock her out, once.

digicom

She was also a regular in Shadowpact, of course.

icon_uk

The Supergirl story where she went bad is an interesting one, because the only reason she cast the spell was a once in a lifetime chance to remove all evil from the world, and Supergirl STOPPED her.

Yes, she sent into limbo then, but to be fair, she was then revived to be in the Suicide Squad for almost it's entire run, and was in Shadowpact since then too.