Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: street and smith, walter gibson

Blackstone and the Water Wizards, Super Magician Comics at Auction

Blackstone the Magician unravels a Water Wizard mystery at Fort San Felipe, a historic Spanish fortress in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

Shadow creator Walter Gibson likely wrote most of the Blackstone stories in Super-Magician Comics from 1941 until Gibson's 1946 exit from Street & Smith over a contract dispute.  A magician himself who had a long association with Blackstone, Gibson leaned into his love of all things magic in the title.  Many of Gibson's plots drew from his historical knowledge of the practices and legends of magic around the world.  We've discussed examples of this here over the years, most recently in Blackstone vs Wizards of Logan Rock. Super Magician Comics V3#10 (Street & Smith, 1945) is another noteworthy example of Gibson's fascination with history, and there's an F/VF copy up for auction in the 2024 July 21-23 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122430 at Heritage Auctions.

As usual with Gibson Super Magician Comics stories, the title page blurb of the story sets the scene: "On a narrow neck of land, jutting into a tropical lagoon, stands an ancient Spanish fort — today it is garrisoned by soldiers of a Central American Republic, and it is besieged by invisible enemies whose power only Blackstone the Magician can dispel."

The ancient Spanish fort on a narrow neck of land jutting into a tropical lagoon can only mean Fortaleza San Felipe, a historic Spanish fortress in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.  The fort was built 1725-1733 to defend the City of Puerto Plata from invaders, and has had a rich history in the centuries since.  It was occupied by U.S. Navy forces 1916-1924, and numerous news reports of subsequent times indicate that it still functioned as a U.S. Navy yard into the WWII era.

The storyline hangs on the notion that there was still a weapons store at the fort during WWII.  As Blackstone arrives at the fort during a goodwill tour, local authorities are shocked to find that the weapons store has been raided by Water Wizards who seem to have supernatural powers.  Because of the rich history of this region, "Water Wizards" is a reference to the Itzá, a Mayan ethnic group who rose to power in the northern Yucatan peninsula — associated today with Chichen Itza, ("mouth of the well of the Itzás," and in some contexts containing a gateway to the underworld) and its famous historical sites such as El Castillo.  The word Itzá itself can be translated along the lines of "enchanter of the water," "water sorcerer," or "water wizard."

Interestingly, the story uses the same framework that can be seen in Blackstone vs Wizards of Logan Rock. Blackstone finds that the magical elements in play here are being faked by foreign interlopers, in a bid to use local beliefs and legends to foment insurrection in this WWII era.

It's another clever story by Gibson which shows his love for the history and legends associated with the practices of magic around the world, with a cover by Charles Coll.  There's an F/VF copy of Super Magician Comics V3#10 (Street & Smith, 1945) up for auction in the 2024 July 21-23 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122430 at Heritage Auctions.

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