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Purple Scar. The Purple Scar was created by John Endicott and appeared in four stories in Exciting Detective in 1941 and 1942, beginning with “Medals of Murder” (Exciting Detective, Fall 1941).

The Purple Scar is a Costumed Avenger. Dr. Miles Murdock is "the most brilliant young plastic surgeon of his time." Murdock is handsome and successful, but he is forced to deal with the horror of his brother John, a policeman, being killed and mutilated by gangsters, who destroy his face with acid. Murdock is the one to identify his brother in the morgue, and this drives Murdock to swear to fight crime in the name of his brother. Murdock makes a mask based on the police photographs of his dead brother's face. The mask was a perfect duplicate, with "torn, acid-destroyed tissues, features almost totally eaten away, eyes only empty shriveled sockets, mouth a twisted slash." Then, aided by a group of helpers, he puts on his mask and fought crime.

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