“Papa Don” Originally Published: “Secrets of Haunted House” issue 17, DC Comics, Oct 1979 Script: Greg Potter Pencils: Noly Panaligan Inks: Noly Panaligan Colors: ? Letters: ? Editor: Jack C. Harris Cover Art to ‘Secrets of Haunted House’ #17: Luis Dominguez (“LD”) Greater Comics Database Link: http://www.comics.org/issue/33737/ Submitted by: E.M. Tonner Preface

It seems as though Zombies are everywhere these days! But back in 1979, these shambling creatures of the undead were still a B-List Monster, associated with the powers of voodoo more than some necrotizing infectious disease. Romero’s zombie journeyman effort “Dawn of the Dead” had only just introduced the world to the concept of a Zombie Apocalypse the year before in 1978, but the seed had only just been planted in the public’s imagination. For most people, a zombie was still a reanimated corpse created through the powers of black magic with no appetite for living flesh or “B-R-A-I-N-S!”. Noly Panaligan is another of the Philippine artists working abroad at an economy rate for DC at the time. While we see traces of his true talent here, the overall look is best described as ‘rushed’. With work on many of DC’s horror titles and ‘Jonah Hex’ during this period, that should come as no surprise. His work has a cinematic quality and I really do like some of the angles... even if they were hastily done. Starting out as a teenager writing for Warren in the early seventies, Greg Potter went on to superhero comics for DC after the horror/mystery implosion of the early eighties. He co-created “Jemm, Son of Saturn” in 1984 for which he is best known. While the plot twist is predictable, I will admit that the idea of Papa Don is a good one. The use of the Harlem dialect and vernacular was ill-conceived in today’s world, but it was quite common in comic writing in the seventies.

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Afterword This story appears on my Best Horror Comics blog only because I remember it fondly as a kid. An avid, young, horror comic-book reader. The idea of that the neighborhood old-guy we pass by every day being a zombie was pretty cool for a 10-year old… “Papa Don” is one of those stories that sticks with you for some reason. It’s no masterpiece, but I still like it much more than that awful Luis Dominguez cover… Like most Code-approved stories, “Papa Don” is a morality tale, with the supernatural doling out last-minute justice to save the good-at-heart character led astray. This experience then puts the mortal on the path of the straight-and-narrow with a newfound acceptance of the supernatural. Pretty close to a lot of superhero story lines when you think about it… And how cool would it be to be saved by a vigilante zombie?! “I just find it interesting that kids apparently used to cry when Bambi's mother died. George and I both

held our breaths, and then cheered when she didn't reanimate and try to eat her son.”

~ Mira Grant

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