Super-Mystery Comics (Vol. 3) #6
Doctor Nemesis
It’s lunchtime at Mercy Hospital when Doctor Jim Bradley asks Nurse Mary Strong out on a date. She tells him that she has been invited to Doctor Clark’s for dinner this evening and asks if he’d like to come along, saying she has never been to Doctor Clark’s before and she’d be happier if Jim joins her. That evening, Jim and Mary arrive at Doctor Clark’s apartment, Mary has suggested they show up in their work clothes so they have an excuse to leave early, just in case. At first, Doctor Bradley is refused entry since he is uninvited, but the butler decides to make an exception when Mary threatens to leave if Jim isn’t allowed in. However, as soon as Mary walks in, the butler shoves Jim down the stairs outside of the apartment. The butler then locks the door and forces Mary into the dining room. While outside, Jim recovers from his tumble down the stairs and decides to crash the party, as Doctor Nemesis. Changing into costume, Doctor Nemesis scales the side of the building in order to get inside.
By this time, Mary is forced into the dining room where the other guests demand to know what’s going on. That’s when Keene, Doctor Clark’s lawyer, enters the room and tells them while his client is old and eccentric, this dinner get together is only intended for those who have been gathered. He tells them that Doctor Clark has died and that his last wish was to have his heirs sit down and have dinner together. Other than Mary and Dodd the butler, the others are explorer Frank Jason, Hollywood actor Jimmy Fleming, and Doctor Ogden a colleague of Doctor Clark. Some of the guests can’t understand why they have been invited because they hardly knew the doctor. Keen tells them that while that may be the case, Doctor Clark knew them all well as he has named them in his will. To Frank Jason, he leaves the contents of an envelope he left in his desk drawer. When Frank opens the desk drawer everyone is shocked that it is rigged with a shotgun that fatally shoots the explorer. Outside, Doctor Nemesis continues to climb up the side of the building and hears the gunshot. Panicked, the other attendees try to escape but the door is locked and the windows covered with a metal screen. Watching from outside, Doctor Nemesis witnesses as Jimmy Fleming tries to remove the screen only to be electrocuted. Doctor Ogden tries to use the phone to call the police and discovers that the line has been cut.
That’s when Dodds hears a knock at the door and goes to answer it. When he opens the door, he is knocked out by a punch from Doctor Nemesis. Forcing his way into the dining room, Mary is happy to see the masked hero. Suddenly, the lights go out for a moment. When they come back on, Doctor Nemesis figures they can learn the identity of the killer by questioning the butler. Unfortunately, when they enter the hallway they discover Dodd’s lifeless body hanging from a noose. Using his powers of deduction, Doctor Nemesis narrows the possible killer down to Doctor Ogden and Keene the lawyer. To learn the identity of the killer, Doctor Nemesis suggests injecting both men with his truth serum. Doctor Ogden steps forward to receive the injection, saying that an innocent man has nothing to hide. However, when Nemesis tries to give him the shot, Ogden is able to flip the hero over his shoulder. Ogden then pulls a gun and tells Nemesis that he can die with the others. However, Nemesis is faster than Ogden and he quickly kicks the gun out of the killer’s hand and once Ogden has been subdued, injects him with the truth serum.
Unable to help himself, Doctor Ogden reveals that he set this whole thing up to kill all the people he hated most. First, he killed Doctor Clark because he had famed that Ogden though he deserved. Frank Jason married Ogden’s wife after she divorced him. Lastly, he blamed Jimmy Fleming for stealing a film role from his son. Then, after Mary Strong rejected his son’s love, Ogden’s son committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a car. After murdering Doctor Clark he set up the phony will reading and the death traps to make it look like Clark killed everyone from beyond the grave. After giving his confession, Ogden is turned over to the police.
Recurring Characters
Doctor Nemesis, Mary Strong
