Occult Files Of Doctor Spektor – Volume 01 Issue 04

“Seance At Spektor Manor”

Dusk settled over Spektor Manor; the graying light from the windows soon turned the rooms dark inside. Lakota Rainflower and her employer, Doctor Spektor, had welcomed two sullen guests an hour prior. Linda Gray, a young woman from an affluent family, sought Spektor’s expertise under pure duress. For you see, today was Ms. Gray’s twenty-first birthday, and she was about to die.

Around a mahogany table, the four sat preparing for a seance. Each one of the participants grasped the other’s hands in unison. Elliott Kane, a prominent psychic medium and well known to those seeking spiritual guidance, led the ritual. It would be he who channeled Linda’s long-deceased ancestor, one Nathaniel Gray – the man responsible for initiating a deadly curse on the Gray family in 1644.

“Death Between Floors”

The stainless-steel doors closed as three men shuffled to their chosen positions inside the elevator that evening. Each one glanced over nervously at the other two once the car began its climb methodically upward towards the selected floors. The office building itself was considered a true skyscraper compared to the older, turn-of-the-century relics that dotted the downtown skyline. Every unpressed button on the control panel, to them, was another second delay, making them more desperate to finish their business as the building closing time quickly approached.

Near the twentieth floor, the lights inside the elevator car began to flicker wildly. Then the sound of screeching metal brought the ride to a shuttering stop. It seems technology has sealed each man’s fate today. Now it would be up to a shady antiques dealer, a cursed soul, and a suspected killer to escape this prison in the sky. Will the men work together, or let their past get in the way? The clock is ticking, and a full moon is on the rise.

Reviewer Notes

I’m beginning to love these old issues of Doctor Spektor. Writer Don Glut had some good ideas here. Ghost swarms and stuck elevators have become a staple in modern horror. In 1973, however, this would have been a breath of fresh air in the age of tiring Dracula and Frankenstein plotlines. 

I wish the editors at Western Publishing would have given artist Jesse Santos more leeway in page design. Some of the Gold Key comics were hindered by strict panel layouts for one reason or another. The ghost scenes here would have been amazing if Santos didn’t have to cram all the action into the six-panel page format. It’s a shame, but he made it work, nonetheless. I give the Occult Files of Doctor Spektor #4 a rock solid four out of five stars. If you’re looking for some old-school horror comics to collect, you can’t go wrong collecting this series.

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