DIAMOND JACK
Created by Gus Ricca
Appears in Slam-Bang Comics #1-7, Wow Comics #1 (Fawcett, 1940)
Fawcett Comics was a font of magic words and expensive goods. The line boasted, among others, ancient Egyptian sorcerer Ibis the Invincible and his all-powerful golden Ibistick (which would be a good nickname for a dick, consider it for yourself or your loved ones). It boasted a veritable card catalog of magic words between the Shazam clan and their foes. And there are others in the same vein, but less well-known -- but still mighty magical -- were characters like Boy Wizard Atom Blake and necromancer of the nightlife, Diamond Jack!
Speaking of magic words, these are the first words spoken by Diamond Jack in his feature, to a gang of armed crooks. I think we can all agree that this is very badass.
Gifted a powerful enchanted diamond by an unnamed magician some years prior, Diamond Jack takes it upon himself to use the ornament solely “to aid the worthy.” And that is more or less it for the origin! Everything after this introductory paragraph in DJ’s inaugural adventure is glamorous nightclubs and Jack using his magic gem to enact bizarre punishments on weird crooks.
And weird they can be! The criminal and the supernatural underworlds of Jack’s stamping grounds appear to rub shoulders at every level of society. The stage magicians at the nightclubs which Jack so often frequents know him as a legitimate and powerful wielder of “real magic,” for instance. At the behest of a trio of cheap thugs, a skid row witch battles Jack with dragons of smoke. The socialite Queen of Vampires, Maria, even manages to turn Jack, briefly, into a dreaded nosferatu! Little wings grew out of the back of his topcoat. It was adorable.
More bizarre foes included The Green Devil (“Master of the Dead Men of Death Island”), the ancient idol Khor, and The Sky Demon (backed up by an air force of winged gorillas).
“In many ways, that gunman knew me better than I know myself …”
Like fellow Fawcett Comics magician-hero Ibis the Invincible, the powers conferred upon Jack by his magic accoutrement are seemingly limitless. At the very least, the gem has made Jack “physically strong and mentally beyond all mortals,” but that represents only the tip of the iceberg. A partial list of powers manifested through the diamond include, but are not limited to:
Turn Bullets into Flowers
Turn Gunsmoke into Snakes
Change Guns to Candy
Punch Crooks in Face
Heal Wounds, Grant Long Life
Impersonate Smoke Demons
Neutralize Spellbooks
Extract Vision from the Dead
Turn Zombies to Ash
Turn People Into Ferns
Materialize Tigers From Nowhere
Summon Lightning
Cure Paralysis
Awwwwww SUFFRAGETTE!
If the diamond’s raw magical energy fails to prove sufficient to crush crooks and evil magicians on its own, Jack is also outfitted with a few magic words -- “KZAT” places a magical sword in his hands, “KZAR” creates a parachute out of nothing, and “ADKEHL” creates a destructive blast and is also the sound you make when you try to hold in a sneeze.
This is what everyone who asks to see the manager in a restaurant thinks they look like…
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