Showcase No. 55, page 23

I always disliked images of Dr. Fate in his original metal helmut with a full mask which somehow showed expressions in the mask - I believe this only occurred in pages from Showcase No. 56, since part of the story line involved the power of the Psycho Pirate to mess with the emotions of others, even super-heroes. The first piece of art by Murphy Anderson which I ever owned (purchased at the one and only Disneyland comic convention, 1971, for a whopping $15, was one of those terrified Dr. Fate pages.

A few years later, in the very early 1980s, a dealer at the San Diego Comic Book Convention (at the old S.D. Convention center, before it was known as ComiCon) had most of the interior pages by Anderson for the first Showcase issue featuring Dr. Fate and Hourman (No. 55). I had actually seen these the year before but didn't have enough money left by then to buy one that year (for the price of $50). But, believe it or not, in those days silver age art was not terribly hot, and the same dealer had most, if not all, of the same pages for sale, at the same prices, the following summer in San Diego. I picked this page out of the group, primarily because of the close up images of a thoughtful Hourman and a very expressionless Dr. Fate -- just the way he should always be seen when wearing that full mask! The image of Solomon Grundy also factored into my decision.