Number 2356: The last sorcerer

This story from Ibis #3 (1945) is drawn by comic book journeyman Gaspano “Gus” Ricca, and written by veteran scripter Bill Woolfolk.

A boy comes home from school, tells his mom he’s hungry, yet she sends him to clean the attic while he waits for dinner. He does it willingly. (That would not have happened in my house when I was that youngster's age.) The boy finds a book from his grandfather’s collection on how to conjure up Karlan, the sorcerer. (It seems a thick book considering the spell for conjuring Karlan is printed on one page.) The title of the story is “The Last Sorcerer,” and as you who have followed this blog for a long time already know, there are more sorcerers in comic books than anywhere else in the universe.“Last” sorcerer, indeed!

Said sorcerer has not been conjured in 3000 years, and is holding a grudge against Ibis for being part of a council of Egypt that “decreed his death” — yet Karlan summons a demon from Purgatory, which is apparently where Karlan has been for 3000 years. As you probably know, Purgatory is a Catholic belief, which just shows...what? That writer Woolfolk was raised Catholic? I have no idea, except he was not ancient Egyptian.

Posted in: Pappy Comics