Zero, Ghost Detective

Zero, the Ghost Detective wore no mask, had no other name, and was an expert in the ways of the occult. His powers were mostly investigative, but on occasion he demonstrated some true supernatural talent. As the feature’s title indicated, his cases usually involved war against the “criminal denizens of the phantom realm.” His clients referred to him as “Mr. Zero,” and he operated from an official high rise office. His first case involved the ghostly return of three brothers, who in their youth had made a pact—if one of them were to die, they must return in the form of an ogre, to care for the others. In their adulthood, one of the brothers died, returned as the ogre, and killed a brother. Zero unearthed the body and drove a stake through its heart. (Feature #32)

A fellow mystic, Madam Aura, sent him into the spirit world after a young woman, where he used his “ring of the moon” to affect the spirits under moonlight. (#38) Several times he performed an incantation by drawing a circular pattern—or zero—that transported him into the past, and also summoned ghosts. (#41, 44) 

He defeated the giant ghost of Joe Rucks by talking at him. By repeating the word “evil” (“live,” backwards—the one thing a ghost cannot do), Zero reduced the ghost in size. From there, Rucks continued to shrink with every word uttered. (#47) 

Sometimes he was summoned by law enforcement, as in the case of the Gibson Street Ghoul, a mysterious ghost bent on vengeance. (#50)

Zero didn’t seem to have much of a personal life, but once he and a “girl friend,” Julie, indulged in a favorite pastime: reading epitaphs. In this case, he met Xavier Jones, a chemist who invented a “ghost disintegrator.” (#57) He later used the machine on the spirit of a werewolf. (#71) 

He had one known relative, a niece named Sally, to whom he paid an impromptu visit. Conveniently, he was able to save her sorority from a killer ghost. (#58) In a story that predated the first appearance of Superman’s boyhood girlfriend, Zero helped Lois Ugar summon her deceased twin sister, Lana! Lois was sweet on Zero. (#66)

In his final adventure in 1943, he defeated the possessed mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh, Rutatutakhmen. (#72)

Powers

Usually Zero did not demonstrate any real magical abilities, though he was the master of many magical artifacts like the “ghost disintegrator” and the “Q-Ray” detector.

Zero described himself as an “ally” with death, which gave him powers to battle the supernatural undead. (Feature #48) Sometimes he drew a circle—or “zero”—on the ground as part of a spell to affect ghosts. He dispelled ghosts with a mere gesture, and caught glimpses of the future.