Shankar said, 揇on抰 cry Bablu. I will teach you to read and write. Very soon you will be as good if not better than your classmates.?From the loft the older boy took out all the books and kids magazines that he had read years ago. The kids magazines were in Hindi and in English, and Shankar’s favourites were Chandamana, Champak, Twinkle and Target. There were fairy tale books, from the Grimms Brothers to Hans Christian Anderson. There were several volumes of Panchatantra for kids, 慚ahabharata for kids? And, best of all, he still had his entire collection of early reading books. These would be ideal for getting Bablu to practice his reading. 揝hankar thought to himself, 揟here is enough reading for kids here for Bablu to get over his fear of reading and writing.? Shankar went to the stationary shop which kept kids magazines, books, craft kits for kids in the 4-8 age group and worksheets for kids up to Class VIII. He bought two interesting worksheets. One worksheet taught the Hindi alphabet. Each letter had a picture of a bird, animal, eatable, flower or tree next to it. There was also a story attached to each letter. The English worksheet was also similar. Bablu had a great time colouring the apple while chanting A for apple. Shankar read out the story of William Tell and the apple. He also read stories from Hindi kids magazines like Champak and Chandamama and from English kids magazines like National Geographic Kids’ magazine. When he wanted to reward Bablu for working hard he would read from his favourite fairy tale book for kids. Two months later, Bablu returned from school with a beaming face. He kept his school bag on the chair and without eating his lunch ran to Shankar抯 school bus stop. The moment Shankar got off from the school bus Bablu hugged him hard. He rattled on, 揝hankar bhaiya, the principal praised me in the school assembly today. She told everyone that I am one of the best students in her school now! I have become the monitor of my class.? Shankar picked up Bablu and did a war dance right there and then. Now Bablu has another wish. He wants to work on the computer like Shankar. He wants to visit reading websites for kids, and he wants to play the online treasure hunt games that his Shankar bhaiya plays. Go for it, Bablu!

Later in 1940, Fate watched the unfolding events in Nazi Germany from his tower in Salem. Three American mystery-men, Batman, the Flash, and Green Lantern, lay captured by Adolph Hitler and his summoned Valkyries. Using the powerful magics at his command, Fate summoned four other mystery men and with them lay siege to the Nazi fleet invading England. The heroes then freed the captured comrades and pursued Hitler’s forces to America. There, with the aid of Superman, the heroes thwarted Hitler’s attempted assassination of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. At Roosevelt’s behest, the heroes formed the Justice Society of America, of which Fate became a charter member (DC Special #29).

Early in 1941, Doctor Fate encountered a powerful scientist named Ian Karkull. Karkull had invented a device that allowed him to become a living shadow, immune to Fate’s magic. When Fate destroyed the device that allowed the transformations, Karkull was defeated, trapped in his shadow form (More Fun Comics #69). Shortly thereafter, Wotan used his powerful magics to summon Karkull to free Wotan himself from his trance. Together, the two established a base in the Arctic, building weaponry to wage war on Earth. Fate tracked them to Arctic, destroying the city, but the two villains escaped (More Fun Comics #70).

In July 1941, Karkull gained a means to view the future, allowing him to identify the next eight successive Presidents of the United States. Selecting an elite cadre of super-villains to assist him, Karkull moved to assassinate each of these future statesmen, thereby disrupting American history. The Justice Society, including Doctor Fate, intervened. Only one of Karkull’s associates, Wotan, was successful in killing his target. (The identity of his target, a young boy, has never been revealed.) In a final confrontation with Karkull, the Spectre destroyed the villains shadow form, bathing the assembled heroes in a bizarre radiation. This radiation, in time, would serve to extend the lives and vitality of the assembled heroes well into their advanced years (All-Star Squadron Annual #3). Karkull was never heard from again.

In 1942, Kent Nelson became more and more at odds with the sharing of his existence with Nabu, the Lord of Order within the helmet. When the Spectre was captured by the extra-dimensional sorcerer Kulak, Nelson allowed Kulak to capture the Helm. When Kulak donned the Helm and was confronted with Nabu and the loss of his own third eyesight, the villain was flung into limbo, taking Nabu and the helmet with him. Kent Nelson then resumed the identity of Dr. Fate with much more limited powers, and wearing a truncated helm (More Fun Comics #72, All-Star Squadron #28-29).

Shortly thereafter, Fate encounter Mister Who, a powerful scientist who developed the “Z” Solution that bestowed upon him tremendous strength and the ability to grow to gigantic proportions (More Fun Comics #73). Mister Who became a recurrent adversary for Fate, dogging him individually and during his membership in the All-Star Squadron (More Fun Comics #74, 79, All-Star Squadron #51-55).

By 1943, Nelson grew weary of the War and left the Justice Society (last appearance: All-Star Comics #21). Shortly thereafter, he sought a more human existence and entered medical school, using his advanced knowledge from Nabu to accelerate his education (More Fun Comics #85). For some undisclosed period of time before the end of World War II, Fate interned with Dr. Emmett Roland, a famous surgeon. To what extent Nelson pursued his medical career beyond the level of intern, if at all, is unknown.

Virtually nothing is known of Doctor Fate’s life in the years immediately following World War II. At some point he married Inza Kramer and she took up residence in Fate’s tower in Salem. He abandoned the practice of medicine and returned to his father’s field of study: archeology. At some point during these years, Fate also retrieved the Helm of Nabu and resumed his co-existence with the Lord of Order.

When the Justice Society reformed in 1963, Fate returned to active membership (Justice League of America #21). Privately, he supervised a series of archeological expeditions funded by chemical magnate and colleague, Rex Tyler (Hourman). The two worked together as mystery-men as well, defeating Solomon Grundy (Showcase #55) and the new Psycho-Pirate (Showcase #56). Throughout the next twenty years, Doctor Fate became a steadfast member of the JSA, participating in virtually every case. Neither he nor Inza aged during this time, held youthful by Fate’s magic.

A key element in the successful generation of the true potential of Fate was the triad. However, Nabu’s desire to be the dominant force precluded him from allowing a third person, notably Inza, into the joint entity formed by himself and Kent Nelson. In the early 1980s, Earth entered the “Kali Yuga,” a time of great flux in reality’s mystical forces, and said to herald the final Age of Man. This challenge put Fate directly into play against the Lords of Chaos and forced Nabu, for the first time, to allow Inza into the Fate entity. This combination allowed progress in pushing back the tide of Chaos foretold in the ancient prophecies (The Flash vol. 1 #305-313).

Shortly after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, life in Salem changed. In events yet untold, the strain of the Chaos war and the Crisis led Inza to suicide and aged Kent Nelson to a point closer to his chronological age. Nabu recognized the loss of his long-time host and allowed Kent Nelson to die, choosing Eric Strauss as a new host (Doctor Fate limited series #1-4). Over time, the new hosts proved unsuccessful; Eric Strauss was killed by Darkseid’s forces (Doctor Fate #12), and his co-host, Linda Strauss, also succumbed to the strain. During this time, the Nelsons enjoyed an afterlife existence in which they appeared to live out normal lives, even raising children. They sacrificed this existence, however, and returned to the land of the living to again join with Nabu as Doctor Fate. In their second incarnation, Inza became the dominant form, giving Fate a feminine appearance. Ultimately, through mechanisms as yet undescribed, the two began forming the joint male Fate again.

During the crisis known as Zero Hour, initiated by Parallax, Doctor Fate led the Justice Society in its initial strike on Extant. The resulting battled cleaved the Fate entity in two, flinging the Helm and Amulet of Nabu to the far ends of the globe, and aging Kent and Inza Nelson to extreme senescence (Zero Hour #3). In the aftermath, the artifacts of Nabu were recovery by Jared Stevens, who assumed the mantle of Fate, and the Nelsons once again entered the afterlife (Fate #0). Whether the Nelsons are truly dead or will ever return again remains unknown.

Initially, Doctor Fate was Kent Nelson, the the son of an archaeologist who died discovering the tomb of the mystical being Nabu. The orphaned boy was trained by the ancient entity in the arts of magic. However, after the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline, DC introduced several new versions of Doctor Fate. These included: Eric and Linda Strauss, a man and woman who could merge to form Doctor Fate; Inza Nelson, Kent Nelson’s reincarnated wife; a mercenary named Jared Stevens who used Nelson’s weapons but called himself simply Fate; a resurrected Hector Hall, the son of Justice Society of America members Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and Kent V. Nelson, grand-nephew of the original,[1] who begins his journey as Doctor Fate in Las Vegas, with no awareness of his family’s connection to mysticism.

The revivals prior to Kent V. Nelson were relatively short-lived. Doctor Fate’s appearances in other media and comics set outside the continuity of the DC Universe (for instance, in the DC animated universe) tend to be of the original Golden Age Kent Nelson incarnation