Cursitor Doom

Identity/Class: Unknown - probably human with supernaturally based psychic abilities.

Occupation: Paranormal investigator.

Affiliations: Angus McCraggan (partner); the Steel Claw (sometimes associate - see comments), Danny Doom

Enemies: Kalak the Dwarf

Known Relatives: None known

Aliases: Amadeus Wolf, Septimus Drood

Base of Operations: Scotland, U.K.

First Appearance: Smash (I.P.C., 15 March 1969 - 31 January 1970); Spellbinders (under the name Amadeus Wolf)

Powers/Abilities: Psychic powers, including some telepathic ability. When his assistant was in mortal danger, he was able to call out to Cursitor who telepathically felt his distress several miles away. He was also able to use an ancient ritual to strike the attacker with an unknown force, even over the miles between them. 

History: Cursitor Doom is dedicated to fighting paranormal evils.

Comments: Cursitor (the brains) is assisted by Angus McCraggan, who he has hired to provide the brawn for his investigations.

Cursitor Doom was mainly written by Scott Goodall. Thanks to Scott Goodall himself for supplying this information.

Among the artists who worked on Doom were Eric Bradbury  (right) and Jim Baikie (below). Geoff Campion also did the art for one story. Among the other writers for the strip were Ken Mennell and Chris Lowder. Thanks to Jim Croasdale for this additional information.

Chris "Doctor TOC" points out that "Cursitor Doom also appeared in the framing sequences for Quality Comics 80's "Steel Claw" reprints, which implied that Doom and Crandell were known to each other of old."

He was reprinted in colour in Dez’s Spellbinders (alongside Slaine) for Quality under the unlikely name of Amadeus Wolf. He had also appeared in The Buster Book of Spooky Stories in 1974, with a beard and moustache added, becoming Septimus Drood, while Angus became the title character, his hair dyed black and with a dodgy moustache to become "Curtis Bronson, Ghost Hunter."

Bear Alley Books released a collected edition of all the original Cursitor Doom stories. I cannot recommend these stories, and hence this collection, enough - if you can track down one of the ultra rare copies that is. The beautiful art at the top of this page is by John Ridgway, from the cover of that collection, and is used with the kind permission of Steve Holland and Bear Alley Books.

The one story left out of that collection was Cursitor Doom's return in 2000 A.D.'s Action Special, a volume that revived a number of unused IPC characters for one-off tales. Cursitor was the only one not revamped, and thus the only one to escape being being horribly rewritten into a misconceived parody of his original self - his tale, written by John Tomlinson and drawn by Jim Baikie, was actually both faithful to the character and rather enjoyable. Sadly, it then turned out that the owners of 2000 AD did not, as they had believed at the time of publication, own the copyright on Doom or any of the other characters who were being revived, and so Doom's tale, The Man Who Died Every Day, is unlikely to ever be reprinted. However, you can see Jim Baikie's depiction of Cursitor below.

CLARIFICATIONS: None.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

Back to General UK Comic Book Heroes.

Back to UK Superheroes Main Page.

Home

All images and characters depicted on this site are copyright their respective holders, and are used for informational purposes only. No infringement is intended and copyrights remain at source.