In 1941, Harry Fowler had a promising career as a film writer with four successful
productions to his credit. World War Two changed everything for Fowler and,
upon his discharge from the army, he pursued a new career in public service.
By 1956, he was a well-regarded police detective on a West Coast police force
but the past had a way of returning to haunt him.
An early morning phone call launched Lieutenant Fowler on one of the most
bizarre cases of his career. An overnight jewelery store robbery had seemingly
been committed by a disheveled man called the Mad Maestro, virtually
replicating a scene from Fowler's first film, also called "The Mad Maestro."
Convinced that one of his former Hollywood colleagues might have a clue,
Fowler summoned producer Ben Gatewood, director Leif Conrad, public relations
man Danny Tell and the star of the movies, Otto Sands. Only three men arrived,
with Conrad reporting that Otto Sands had been incommunicado since escaping
from an insane asylum two years earlier. The revelation immediately made Sands
the prime suspect.
The string of robberies continued with the felon assuming the guise of Mister
Wink (from "The Indigo Vase"), the Black Knight and the
Phantom. Fowler was mulling the strange ticking that he'd heard during
his encounter with the Black Knight when he received stunning news from New
York — Otto Sands had died in 1954! Instantly, it all came together.
Leif Conrad had lied about Sands and the ticking sound belonged to a stopwatch,
enabling the obsessive director to time his duplicated scenes perfectly.
For his final act, Conrad planned to reenact the suicidal plunge into the
ocean from the conclusion of "Phantom of the City." Rushing to the
city bridge, Fowler shouted "Retake!" and manipulated the mad Conrad
into coming down until they could "shoot the scene all over again."
As the madman was taken into custody, Fowler theorized that Conrad had hoped
to use the stunts to revive his failed career but lost his final grip on his
sanity in the process (SHOWCASE #5, by Jack Miller and Mort Meskin).
The Mad Mod Witch
As it happens, I just did a piece on all the DC horror hosts for COMIC BOOK
MARKETPLACE #80 so I have a ready-made bio on the Mad Mod Witch. (Obviously,
I don't want to run everything here so the other hosts are off limits for
the time being. Enjoy the preview, though.)
Tiny skulls dangled from her ears and a necklace of bones surrounded her
scrawny neck. A patch covered her right eye, drawing attention away from the
wart at the end of her prominent nose. "Now don't let my appearance throw
you," she cautioned. "I'm not one of those square witches you've
seen before. I might be mad — but I'm also mod. See ..." she said,
exposing a bony leg, "fishnet stockings."
One month after Cain made his bow in Joe Orlando's HOUSE OF MYSTERY #175
(1968), it was editor Murray Boltinoff's turn to introduce a host with "Tales
of the Mad Mod Witch" in THE UNEXPECTED #108, a back-up to the title's
Johnny Peril strip. Dave Wood scripted the episodes, which a succession of
artists (beginning with Jack Sparling)pencilled.
As the horror hosts began to proliferate, Boltinoff began to regard them
as stale and dropped all such characters from his books. Neil Gaiman revived
the character in THE SANDMAN as the Fashion Thing, a witch who evolved with
the times.
THE MAD MOD WITCH (Earth-One):
DC Special #4
The Unexpected #108-112, 114-116, 140
The Witching Hour #13, 80
THE MAD MOD WITCH (a.k.a. THE FASHION THING; current):
The Dreaming #23
The Dreaming Special #1
Sandman (second series) #2, 22, 27 (behind the scenes), 42, 71
Maestro
Bandleader Swing Sisson matched wits with the first Maestro in 1948
(FEATURE COMICS #124).
Maestro II
Like Hector Bauer, concert pianist Payne Cardine was motivated by scathing
reviews of his performances. Adopting a costume festooned with musical notes
and assembling a gang, the second Maestro promised to "make my
musical performances more famous than those of any other virtuoso!" He
dutifully left cryptic musical clues to his next crimes for Batman and Robin,
confident that they wouldn't be able to figure them out. Indeed, the Dark
Knight was stumped but he soon solved the problem by taking another costumed
partner, the Sparrow, who possessed an unrivaled expertise on the subject.
The Sparrow was secretly music professor Ambrose Weems, whom Batman had disguised
to protect him from the Maestro's vengeance (1962's BATMAN #149).
Only a few months later, Batman faced another Maestro alongside the Justice
League — without leaving the team's Secret Sanctuary. This villain, whose
music controlled the motor responses of his victims and made them virtual
puppets, was the fictional creation of aspiring cartoonist Jerry Thomas (JUSTICE
LEAGUE OF AMERICA #16).
Maestro III
The third Maestro had far loftier ambitions than mere robberies. Using
his tyrano-baton, he stripped Superman of his memories and, using Lois Lane's
family as hostages, forced the Daily Planet reporter to coerce the Man of
Steel into a life of evil. The dapper Maestro, complete with a suit and tails
and a mop of white hair (plus Sivana-esque glasses, nose and overbite), also
possessed an emotion-manipulating keyboard that rivalled the Psycho-Pirate.
Using the device to fill the villain with remorse, Lois learned that he'd
intended to force Superman to lay the groundwork for missile bases in the
Latin American country of Santoro that would eventually lead to a nuclear
war with the United States (LOIS LANE #75).
(aka "Hornblower", "The Guardian", and as "Herald".
For a full biography, visit the excellent Titans
Tower
The Man Called Neverwas
Written by DC Boards poster <xanadude>
This was supposed to be one of the features in the expanded Dollar Size ADVENTURE
COMICS, but the DC Implosion left several inventory tales that were put in
there instead, and to my knowledge, this character never appeared outside of
being hyped in the first Dollar Size issue.
I think the Man Called Neverwhere has been handled in some earlier incarnation
of this thread - Round II or III, I think. I'll see if I can find it.
Manhunter 2070
The universe of 2070 A.D. was much different that it is now, as Mankind had
reached the stars with the invention of the Bridwell Drive. All of the planets
in the Solar System had been visited and colonized, as well as many neighboring
star systems and even galaxies. Corporate trade flourished in rare metals
and ores not found on Earth, and this naturally brought out a criminal element,
with space pirates acting much like their ancestral counterparts did in the
days of the Spanish Main. To counter this, a new group of people, known as
Manhunters (no relation to the alien robots created by the Guardians of the
Universe, nor Paul Kirk, Dan Richards, or Mark Shaw) came into being, working
either as police for the giant companies and corporations, or as free-lancers,
much in the same way as bounty hunters operated in the Old West. Starker was
one such Manhunter, working from a plush space satellite orbiting Jupiter,
bought with the proceeds from his successful and high-paying career. Starker
is assisted in his work by 17001, a robot computer more familiarity known
as Arky. Arky's memory banks were programmed with all known data on every
known criminal, and acted as Starker's futuristic Alfred Pennyworth.
Starker has had six recorded adventures. "Incident on Krobar 3"
has the bounty hunter apprehending the murderer of a young girl's grandfather,
killed in a crooked card game. "Planet of Death" follows Starker
as he tracks down three killers to the planet Pheidos on the outer edge of
the Andromeda Galaxy. The three criminals had escaped and killed the crews
and passengers of two space ships, and were looking for a notorious pirate's
lair on Pheidos, which was also known for its hostile animal and plant life.
Starker managed to bring back one killer alive, the other two succumbing to
the fauna of Pheidos.
"D.O.A." revealed how Starker became the man he is. Seventeen years
earlier, his father had been killed by claim-jumping space pirates after hitting
a rich didanium deposit. The pirates took him along as galley help, and Starker
spent his time training and plotting his revenge. He eventually overcame the
entire crew, killing those responsible for his father's murder and turning
everyone over to the authorities. The reward for the combined crew amounted
to over two million credits, earning him the instant reputation as the richest
bounty hunter in the universe.
Starker was forced to have a Space Duel on an uncharted planet that used
high-tech gladiatorial combat as a source of entertainment. Starker freed
himself and a friend and made the calls to have the Federation end the bread
and circuses' attitude of the planet's ruling class.
"Beware of Red-Haired Greenies" was the advice Arky gave to Starker
about the inhabitants of the planet Sodan, where thievery was looked on as
an honorable pastime. Starker was on the hunt for Wallen, an embezzler who
had stolen two million credits from Trans-Planet Mining. Finding that Wallen
had been fleeced by some dishonest card players, he and the embezzler went
after the crooks who took the money. Starker managed to kill the aliens and
recover all the money, but then he encountered a red-haired green woman lying
unconscious on their way to town. Starker forgot Arky's advice and fell into
a trap, which left him unconscious, and his attackers moved off with Wallen
and the money. As Starker lie in the sand, a band of caveman-like creatures
moved closer, and one raised his stone age above the unconscious man...
And that was it for Starker's final adventure. Starker did make one more
appearance, showing up in the time and dimension tossed crowd when an alien
tried to use the entire Earth as a weapon in its war against another planet
in SHOWCASE #100.
Appearances:
Showcase #90, 91-93, 100
Manhunters Around the World
"Manhunters Around The World" was just what the name says,
a series about detectives and law officers from anywhere on the globe. There
were no recurring characters. This series ran in STAR SPANGLED COMICS #94-120,
WORLD'S FINEST #59-61 and SHOWCASE #5. Reprints can be found in DC SPECIAL
#10 (from SHOWCASE #5) and DETECTIVE #422, 444 & 445.
The Maniaks
A humor feature starring a group of rock musicians, by E. Nelson Bridwell
and Mike Sekowsky. They ran in several issues of SHOWCASE in the '60's, one
of which had real-life celebrity Woody Allen attempting to star them in a
movie, but didn't get any further.
The Maniaks were Flip, Jangle, Pack Rat and Silver Shannon and they
appeared in SHOWCASE #68, 69 and 71.
Marvin and Wendy
FIRST APPEARANCE: Super Friends #1 (Nov. 1976)
Marvin and Wendy were first introduced in the debut season of the Super Friends cartoon. They subsequently appeared in the comic book, until in both mediums, they were replaced by Zan and Jayna, the Wonder Twins.
Wendy Harris is the niece of Harvey Harris, the private detective who taught Bruce
Wayne (while he was wearing the Robin costume to disguise his identity) almost
everything he knows. Harvey figured out Bruce's identity before he died.
When Wendy expressed an interest in super-heroics, Bruce had the Hall of Justice
built in Gotham City to accomodate her.
Marvin White is the son of Dan White and the original Diana Prince, who sold her identity to Wonder Woman in her first appearance.
Somehow Marvin had learned of his mother's connection to Wonder Woman (either
by snooping through his mom's diary or by connecting U.N. trouble shooter
Diana Prince's uncanny resemblance to his mother). Wonder Woman made marvin a Junior Super
Friend along with Wendy, and he named his pet Wonder Dog after the heroine.
While Wendy and Marvin often needed to be saved from the bad guys, they occasionally managed to save the Earth themselves! They defeated the World Beater,
who had ambushed every other super-hero on Earth-One. They realized
that x-rays could weaken him like kryptonite weakened Superman and disguised themselves in suits of armor. The World Beater tried to find out
what their hidden weapons were by creating x-rays, thus creating his own downfall.
They later met the Wonder Twins,
and defeated Grax while the JLA and the future Global Guardians were
battling his alien monsters.
Excerpt from Super Friends #1 (Nov. 1976)
Written by E. Nelson
Bridwell
Obviously, these kids are being trained for careers in law enforcement by the
Super Friends. The Hall of Justice is their training academy. But since it would
hardly have been built for only two young people, it stands to reason that the
super-doers plan to train others some time in the future. Wendy and Marvin are
a kind of pilot program.
But why these two kids particularly? That is a good question, and I have done
quite a bit of thinking on the subject.
The first scripts sent to us made Wendy
Bruce Wayne's niece — and, absurdly, had her openly referring to the Caped
Crime-fighter as "Uncle Bruce,"
while he introduced her to people who were not supposed to know The Batman's
identity as "my niece."
At the time, Bruce was believed to have been an only child, though later it
was revealed that he had a brother. However, due to brain damage, this sibling
had been institutionalized since infancy and so could not be Wendy's father.
He is now dead.
As far as the TV scripts go, Wendy has no last name (nor does Marvin). The
kids are not related, but are only referred to as friends. I therefore set out
to figure out their full names and origins.
Wendy Harris, I decided, was the young lady's full name. She is a niece,
not of the Batman, but of a detective named Harvey Harris. This man gave young
Bruce Wayne his first crack at real detecting when Bruce was in his teens.
As you probably know, Bruce's parents were killed by a criminal when he was
a small boy. He swore to devote his life to tracking down their killer and
other hoodlums. Eventually, he was to avenge their deaths. By the time he
reached his teen years, he was itching to get a crack at some genuine detective
work. He made a fancy costume, similar to that which he later created for
Robin, so Harris would not know his identity. Years later, when Harris dies,
he left a sealed letter to be delivered to Bruce, revealing that he had indeed
known who he was — for Harris was certainly one of the all-time greats in
the field.
Readers of DC mags may recall another Wendy Harris on the parallel world of
Earth-Two, where the Justice Society members live. She is not married to Rex
Tyler (The Hourman). Since many people on Earth-Two are older than their Earth-One
doubles (Superman, Batman etc.), perhaps this is the Earth-Two version of our
Wendy.
Marvin, I decided, is Marvin White — no relation to Perry White. His
father is Daniel White, inventor, and his mother is the former Diana Prince.
Hold it, you say — isn't Diana Prince Wonder Woman?
Well, not quite.
When Wonder Woman first came to America, she had no secret identity. Then
she met a young nurse who was her exact double. This was the real Diana Prince
— a remarkable coincidence, since Wonder Woman is Princess Diana of Paradise
Island. Miss Prince was sad because her fiancee, Dan, was going to South America,
but hadn't enough money for her to go along. The Amazing Amazon had recently
made some money doing her "bullets-and-bracelets" bit on stage,
so she bought the other Diana's credentials. Since she was herself a trained
nurse, with even more skill than her double, no harm was done by this imposture.
Ever since then, Diana White has known Wonder Woman's secret, though she has
told no one.
There can be no doubt Marvin was brought up to consider Wonder Woman the world's
number one heroine. He even named his dog Wonder, in her honor. And thus,
she would have a special interest in Marvin because of his mother. Just as
the Batman would feel he was paying back Harvey Harris by helping his niece.
»
FEATURED APPEARANCES:
Super
Friends #1-6
The Masked Ranger
The Masked Ranger, alas, appeared in MORE FUN #36-41, issues which
are not available on microfiche. He SOUNDS like a Lone Ranger knock-off but
I have no way of confirming that.
The Master Electrician
The Master Electrician wreaked havoc with machinery within Midway
City, enabling him and his gang to loot the metropolis' bank. As further protection,
he used artificial lightning to render them invisible. Though hampered by
Mavis Trent in the guise of Hawkgirl, Hawkman managed to defeat the villains
(MYSTERY IN SPACE #88, due to be reprinted soon in HAWKMAN ARCHIVES).
The Ending Battle storyline now featured in the Superman titles has
introduced a new villain named the Master Jailer. What many readers seem not
to realize, however, is that another version of this character existed before
the Crisis.
The original Master Jailer was introduced in SUPERMAN [1st series] #331 (Jan
1979). He was Carl Moosie Draper, a Smallville native who harbored an obsession
with Lana Lang that dated back to the days when he was a fat, seemingly slow-witted
teen.
As an adult, Draper developed his body and his mind. He became a scientific
genius capable of designing cells that could hold even the most powerful super-villains.
He created the high-tech Mount Olympus Correctional Facility, which Superman
encased in a bubble and set on an anti-gravity platform so it could float
20,000 feet above the Earth. Supes dubbed it Drapers Island, but Lana, who
was present for the grand opening in her pre-Crisis role as a TV newswoman,
preferred Superman Island.
When that nickname stuck, Draper became embittered and took on the Master
Jailer identity to capture both Lana and Supes. He was defeated, of course,
and locked up in his own prison. He later escaped and was hired by enemies
of Supergirl to use his abilities to defeat her. Draper also used his scientific
know-how to commit thefts.
Actually, the Master Jailer was Drapers second villainous identity. Years
earlier, Superboy built Kator, a robot meant to test his powers. Kator, however,
developed a mind of his own and almost killed the Boy of Steel before being
destroyed. What Superboy did not know, was that Kator somehow arranged for
his powers to be transferred to Draper. The two teens battled until Pa Kent
shut off Kators powers. Superboy then erased Drapers memories of the fight.
The Crisis rendered him non-existent.
Fact is, there already WAS a post-Crisis Master Jailer BEFORE Geoff Johns
introduced him in "Ending Battle". The Carl Draper of the post-Crisis
DCU called himself "Deathtrap" and was in the Superman titles circa
ten years ago. I'm not sure whether Geoff Johns is aware of this character...
OR the fact that the OTHER "re-introduced" villain, Neutron, has
been seen SEVERAL times post-Crisis, both in Superman books and other titles.
In his latest appearance, it seems like he and Superman meet for the first
time and that is not the case. The new Master Jailer appears to be a totally
different person, but he wears a variation on the original's costume.
Created by Steve Ditko, they first appeared in Charlton's BLUE BEETLE #4.
An ancient cult residing in a small coastal nation of Asia, the Men of the
Mask were based deep in a hidden lair within the much-feared Mountain of Mider,
named for a demon or god that had once been offered human sacrifice. This
mountain was actually atop a long-dormant volcano, and jets of volcanic gas
and flame were still harnessed within for the cult's sinister purposes.
In the modern day, the cult membership was made up of former soldiers, slavers,
prisoners, and merchants(!) hiding out from the law. They greedily coveted
a fabulous treasure said to reside somewhere in the bowels of the mountain.
The cultists wore flowing robes and demonic-looking masks (hence the name).
the rank-and-file wore the Red Masks of Violence; their leader, the White
Mask of Death.
Searching for his old mentor, archaeologist Dan Garrett (who was the original
Blue Beetle), Ted Kord journeyed to the tiny Asian nation and stumbled across
the cult. As the Blue Beetle, Ted was captured and interrogated by the cult's
leader, who revealed that most of their fearsome reputation was a sham and
that the modern cult was mainly common criminals. the Beetle was pitted against
a giant statue of Mider whose many swinging "arms" were animated
by volcanic gas channeled from below.
After freeing himself and learning that the "Garrett" captured
by the Men of the Mask had been an impostor, the Beetle barely escaped the
destruction of the cult's headquarters, when a cache of explosives reawakened
the volcano and the entire mountain erupted in flames. Apparently the entire
membership was trapped within and suffered a grisly death.
The Mercenaries
The Mercenaries were Gordon (a one-eyed white American), Philip "Prince"
Edwards (a black Englishman) and Horst Brenner (a blonde German). They were
deserters from the French Foreign Legion who sought greater excitement and
riches around the world. They were introduced by Bob Kanigher and Vicatan
in G.I. COMBAT #242 (1982) as a present-day counterpart to World War Two-Korea-Vietnam
fare comprising most of the book. Eventually, the venerable "Haunted
Tank" was bumped from the book altogether and the Mercenaries took the
lead (#282; 1986). Unfortunately, the bland adventures of the trio did not
take hold and the more interesting mix of characters in the Haunted Tank returned
in #285.
The Mercenaries appeared in G.I. COMBAT #242, 244, 247, 249, 251, 253, 256,
258, 261-263, 265, 268, 271-274, 278-284 and 286, plus an entry in WHO'S WHO
'86 #15.
Metalhead And Headhunter
These two heady villains appeared in BATMAN #486 and #487 respectively, circa
1992. Both were basically devices intended to wear Batman down and set the
stage for the whole "Knightfall" story arc.
Metalhead
He was a guy dressed in a costume that covered his entire body except for
his eyes. He had spikes on his face and fists and had a barbed whip-like device
mounted on his head. Amazingly, he could flail that barbed object around very
well, using it to slice people. Aside from some old kung-fu movie where a
baddie used his pig-tail as a whip, I don't think anyone has ever done this.
I certainly question whether it could be done in real life.
Metalhead wanted to find Black Mask to join his gang. He was a bit late as
Batman had just busted the gang and Black Mask was in hiding. That didn't
stop Metalhead from cutting up a few people in some bars, trying to track
Black Mask.
Meanwhile, Batman, who was still determined to find the missing Black Mask,
was rushing around town with blood trickling out of his nose, which apparently
had been broken earlier. Despite his injuries, Bats rejects attempts by Alfred
and Tim to help him. In a state of exhaustion, he slugs it out with Metalhead,
suffering several wounds in the process. After knocking off the spikes protecting
Metalhead's face, Bats nails him with a punch in the face and knocks him out.
We never found out who Metalhead is. If he ever appeared again, I didn't
hear about it.
Headhunter
The very next issue, Batman is still in a state of exhaustion and is again
going head to head with a new baddie. This time, Headhunter was a mohawked,
punk rock-looking hit-man with a leather jacket, bandoliers, knives and sharpened
teeth. The gangsters describe him as a "dead man", meaning he was
a psycho who didn't care if he lived or died. But he was a skilled fighter
and marksman and his speciality was nailing all of his targets with just two
shots in the head.
Surprisingly, his target was not Batman. It was Commissioner Gordon. That
didn't stop Batman from rushing out to stop him and Bats narrowly saves Gordon's
life after Headhunter ambushes him. Headhunter uses his two scoped pistols
to shoot Batman's batarangs in mid-air and later cuts Batman with his knives
but in the end, Batman takes him rather easily and Gordon is saved. Again,
I don't know if this character ever appeared again.
Headhunter appeared in the "battle of Metropolis" splash in Infinite
Crisis #7 (2006).
The Microwave Man
The Microwave Man from ACTION COMICS #487-488 who was supposed to be Earth-One's
first super-villain. Anyone have any info about him? Such as who did he face
in his early career? What did his uniform look like, and how did he get his
abilties?
Without digging through my old comic collection, I can recall that Microwave
Man was a supervillain in the 1920s-30s. (Did people back then even know what
a microwave was?)
He used machines to tap into microwaves that he used to fly, create force
fields, blast objects, etc. He seemed to engage mainly in bank robberies.
He had no opponents as there were no superbeings around at the time.
Amazingly, his microwave antenna was able to contact a passing alien space
ship and the aliens agreed to let him join them on their tour of the galaxy.
Decades later, Microwave Man returns to Earth and finds a world awash with
superbeings, where Superman is now the biggest superhero in the world. The
elderly Microwave Man still possesses his microwave powers however and after
the aliens grant him a boon of returning his lost youth, the guy tries to
finally pit himself against someone else with superpowers.
Because there are so many microwave devices in modern times, Microwave Man
was much more powerful than before. He seemingly defeats Superman, then drops
dead, his last wish fulfilled. It is then revealed that Superman let Microwave
Man defeat him so that the guy could die in peace after proving that he could
hold his own against a real superhero.
That sounds weird but once upon a time, DC superheroes were real big on letting
people die in peace.
Mind-Grabber Kid
"Want to see more of the Mind-Grabber Kid?" the final caption
of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #70 asked. "Let us know ... because we sort
of like him." Reaction to teenager Lucian Crawley's ridiculously costumed
alter-ego, whose envy of the JLA provoked an alien attack on the team, was
tepid at best. His introduction also marked an end to Denny O'Neil's initial
humorous slant on the series, replaced by a more somber approach in the subsequent
accounts of the devastation of Mars (#71), the death of Larry Lance (#74)
and the betrayal of Snapper Carr (#77). Still, if the Mind-Grabber Kid was
not the sensational character find of 1969, he was not entirely forgotten
either.
A Mark Waid-scripted sequence in 1992's JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY #8 had the
Kid show up in a line-up of potential new members for the Conglomerate:
"'Kid'? How old are you?"
"Thirty-one."
"Next!"
From the other end of the revival spectrum came 1995's PRIMAL FORCE #10,
written by Steven Seagle. In this one, a drooling Lucian Crawley, cured of
his "delusions" of being a super-hero at the cost of his sanity,
was liberated from the Kadmon Psychiatric Convalescent Home by the occult
organization known as the August. By page seven, Lucian had embraced the dark
side, acquiring the new name of Mind Eater. With his powers amplified
to enable him to possess other people's brains, Mind Eater spent the next
few months fighting various members of the Leymen before taking a nasty chest
wound from Claw in #12.
Mind Grabber Kid reappeared in Seven Soldiers: Bulleteer #3 (2006).
Only appearance: ALL STAR COMICS #50 (12/49-1/50) Mr. A is a criminal, not
a hero. A graduate of Midwestern U. (class of '38) alongside one Jason P.
Garrick, Ted Kincaid commits crime at the same time as the ten-year reunion
(actually a year late!) based on geology (crime foiled by Hawkman and the
Atom), meteorology (foiled by Doc Mid-Nite and Black Canary), zoology (foiled
by Flash and Wonder Woman) and metallurgy (foiled by Green Lantern). However,
at some point in the "small team" proceedings, the JSAers are captured,
but rescued by a mysterious stranger, who turns out to be Paul Turnbull, another
classmate of Garrick's. Turnbull had predicted in his yearbook that he would
become Mr. Alpha and commit crimes based on the sciences he studied. Kincaid,
who had lost all his money on the stock market, remembered this and sought
to make Turnbull the scapegoat.
Mr. Alpha wore a blue and red costume with a belt with an "A" as
its buckle. He was referenced briefly in AMERICA VS. THE JSA #4, referred
to as Fred, not Ted Kincaid. Garrick reported that Kincaid "went straight"
after he'd served his jail sentence.
Mr. Conan
How about Mr. Conan from Sekowsky's METAL MEN? Didn't he mentor the group
while Doc Magnus was crazy and trying to kill them?
Mister E
Name: Eric
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 175lbs
Eyes: Unknown
Hair: Black
Family: None
Residence: Boston, Massachusetts
Occupation: Historian
Group Affiliation: None
First Appearance: Secrets Of Haunted House #31
Current Status: Active
Vertigo Information: Although Mister E is now clearly based in the Vertigo
Universe, he sometimes appears in the official DC Universe. Sometime in the
future, Mister E will approach the heroes of Earth and urge them to band together
and destroy Doctor Fate. Mister E has knowledge that the Helm of Nabu will
become corrupt over the ages and pose a threat in the distant future. The
heroes of Earth will mock Mister E's theories and consider him quite mad.
He was a member of the Trenchcoat Brigade, who took Tim Hunter through the
Time Stream in the original BOOKS OF MAGIC 4-parter. He later had a 3-issue
limited series with great art (by John K. Snyder, I think), which was later
taken out of continuity when the Books of Magic became monthly. He then showed
up in the Trenchcoat Brigade mini-series.
Powers: Mister E has the special abilities to see the good and evil in people's
souls. Mister E also has the abilitiy to travel to any place that he wishes,
even though he is totally blind. Mister E is an average hand-to-hand combatant
and sometimes uses his wooden cane in battles. On occasion Mister E has used
a handgun loaded with silver bullets and sometimes carries wooden stakes.
In addition he has the ability to walk through time, a skill tought to him
by an older version of himself walking back to the late 80's from the end
of time and his encounter with death (books of magic mini #4)
Limitations: Although Mister E. is totally blind, it rarely effects his ability
to "see" using his innate powers. His limitations are unknown.
Principle Adversaries: Unknown
Appearances:
Books Of Magic v1 #1-2 (Jan - Feb 1991)
Books Of Magic v1 #4 (Apr 1991)
Mister E #1-4 (Jun - Sep 1991)
Secrets Of Haunted House #31 (Dec 1980)
- First Appearance
Secrets Of Haunted House #32-41 (Jan 1981 - Mar 1982)
Surely Mr. Originality is from a "..Meanwhile" column c.1985,
written by some fan. The story told of how the fan left "The House of
Ideas" in search of the long departed Mr. O.. No physical appearance
by said charcter....
It had begun on a balmy September day when Barry Allen's lunch was interrupted
by a gang of motorcyclists who assaulted a man named Andrew Rutherford in
the street. As the Flash, Barry rushed the victim to an ambulance and apprehended
the trio. Unknown to the hero, Rutherford had blinked out of existence a moment
before the attack and was replaced by another man who, in turn, vanished from
the ambulance and left bank president Michael Taylor in his place.
Meanwhile, the Flash was rushing to the Security Federal Bank, where Rutherford
was supposedly locked in a vault. The only person the Scarlet Speedster found,
though, was pop star Cosmo Puree, who'd materialized there in the midst of
an airplane flight to Metropolis. The profit motive, at least, had finally
been explained. The vault had been looted of millions! Trying to make sense
of the bizarre events, Flash sped to the location of the plane, creating an
updraft to catapult him into the still airborne craft. This time, he caught
up with the man at the heart of the mystery. Gray at the temples and clad
in a purple shirt, he vanished again — supplanted by Arturo Basura.
"Whoever this guy is," remarked the speedster, "He's got the
most original getaway gimmick I've ever seen ... which is why I think I'll
dub him Mr. Originality."
Running his hands through his hair that evening, Barry found himself chastised
by Iris for ruining the styling he'd just had done at Rasmussen's House of
Hair. In the blink of an eye, Barry had his connection. All the men had been
at the hair stylist on the same day that he'd been there. Making a quick trip
to the salon, the Flash learned that only two appointments for that day had
yet to become entangled in Mister O's scheme — himself and magazine editor
Julian Black (also a pen name for a certain FLASH editor named Schwartz).
Black agreed to be observed by the Scarlet Speedster for any sign of activity
but, when the villain made his move, the Flash lunged too quickly, before
Mister O had fully materialized. He immediately teleported to a safer location
— only to find himself in a jail cell with the Flash outside holding
his belt pouch of hair.
"Far as I could tell from his confession," Barry explained to Iris,
"It's a form of telekinesis — the power to move material objects
— he recently discovered he possessed. By holding a natural part of a
person's body — like hair — and concentrating hard — he could
switch places with that person. After mulling over how to profit from his
new-found power, he decided to pull perfect crimes." Using the bits of
hair from his customers at the salon, the cosmetologist launched a new career.
Having deduced much of this, the Flash had sped to jail, guaranteeing that,
when Mister Originality used Barry Allen's hair, he'd end up in a cell (1975's
THE FLASH #238, by Cary Bates & Bob Rozakis, Irv Novick and Frank McLaughlin).
These days, Mister O has another career — as a prison barber.
Weird But True Factoid: The only character from this story to appear again
— sort of — was Cosmo Puree, whose Greatest Hits ("Just $6.98!")
were hawked on a late-night TV commercial in BATMAN FAMILY #14's Man-Bat episode.
The Molder
The Batman was investigating a string of strange robberies that were besieging
Gotham City, not knowing that they were being perpetrated by the Molder, a
super-villain who wants to bring about "the age of plastic". He
created a small army of "Plastoids" (polymer plastic conditioned
with DNA and bio-genetic plasma) to rob a subway train and stop the Batman,
who was almost killed by an on-coming train. He was saved by the timely intervention
of Plastic Man, who was in town tracking the Molder on a case of his own.
They pursued the Molder, but he evaded them both, rending Plas limb from limb
and bogging down Batman's whirly-bat with a plastic web. the Molder's next
crime was to cover City Hall in a cocoon of plastic, which used catalytic
molecules to increase in size to inundate the city. the Molder also sprayed
Plastic Man with the catalyst, which caused his body to do the same thing.
Batman's arrival didn't help things, as he was soon caught in the virtual
quicksand of Plas's expanding body. A police sharpshooter with a bazooka began
firing charges into Plastic Man's body in hopes of stopping his rapid growth,
but only succeeded in severing his head and shoulders from his body. Plas
landed, by chance, in the Molder's laboratory, where he drank some of his
memory plastic, which allowed him to regain control of his body. This freed
the Batman, who knocked the Molder off the roof and into Plas's malleable
hands.
Appearances:
The Brave and the Bold #76
Monsieur Maestro
Monsieur Maestro may well predate all of the others but virtually
nothing is known of his criminal career. Today, he resides in an extended
care facility (1999's ACTION COMICS #756).
Mooglie Ned and Ropus
Written by Richard Meyer
After Greg Saunders' first appearance on an Australian tour in Brisbane,
he donned his Vigilante gear to head out to a cattle station owned by Ed Hughes,
a man that he had helped out back in the States. While surveying Ed's property
and the cattle round-up (the "muster of the mob" according to Ed), one of
his drovers (Australian slang for "cowboy") discovered a huge diamond. He
also attracted the attention of some bushwackers, Mooglie Ned and Ropus, who
shot the man in the back. As he fell, the drover stashed the diamond in the
pouch of his kangaroo companion Katie, who hopped off into the outback. Ned
and Ropus were prevented from following when the plane carrying Ed, the Vigilante,
and Stuff spied the action and tried to come in for a landing. The bleak landscape
prevented that, and parachutes carrying the two heroes and their motorcycle
landed them safely and they took up the pursuit. After driving through a fire
set by the crooks to cover their escape, the Vigilante and his young friend
returned to the main site of the "muster". Stuff was perplexed as to why the
other drovers didn't seem to want to do anything about the murder, but Vig
reassured him that it was just that "Aussies don't show emotion much". Soon
after, Katie returned to the round-up, and started "playing" with Stuff.
While Ed was showing off the skill of his masked friend to his Aussie drovers,
Stuff discovered the diamond in Katie's pouch. Mooglie Ned and Ropus found
the teen and knocked him out, taking him and the diamond. Katie went and attracted
the Vigilante's attention and soon there was a big chase with the Vigilante
on his cycle, Katie, and the other drovers on horseback pursuing the murderers.
Mooglie Ned hanged Stuff from a tree to slow down the Vigilante, but Vig didn't
need to stop to get his partner down - he shot the rope holding him and Stuff
landed on the back of Katie. Taking a card from his Australian hosts, the
Vigilante brought down Ned and Ropus with a boomerang. The men were captured
and brought back to the authorities, and the diamond was to be given to the
family of the murdered drover.
Appearances:
Action Comics #128 (reprinted in The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever
Told hardcover)
Moonbow
First Appearance:
Fury Of Firestorm #48 (June 1986)
Bree Brandon was a college student at Vandeemer University with Ronnie Raymond.
She was studying both acting and journalism... and, as a lark, fought organized
crime dressed in her Moonbow costume, taking their money for her use; which
gave her a bit of a criminal reputation. When actually captured by one of
the groups whose deliveries she had messed up, she was unable to escape them...
until Firestorm happened by to save her (and let her go since he recognized
her as his fellow classmate). Bree was around here and there, covering events
as a campus report, and appeared to be working on Circe's side during her
recent attack on New York and Wonder Woman (which may have just been her working
undercover, since, in her brief time as Moonbow, she was considered to be
a criminal).
Appearances:
Fury
Of Firestorm #48 June 1986 "Moonbow Rising"
Fury
Of Firestorm #49 July 1986 "Justice: Lost And Found"
Fury
Of Firestorm #60 June 1987 "Secret Identities" (as Bree Brandon)
Firestorm,
the Nuclear Man #70 *April 1988 "Time-Wrecked" (as Bree Daniels?)
Wonder
Woman [2nd series] #174
(It seemed to be Bree in Firestorm #70, but, with no explanation, they were
calling her "Bree Daniels").
The Moondancers
1st app: WORLD'S FINEST #295 (September 1983)
This all female trio made only one appearance in a 1983 issue of World's
Finest. At the time, Batman and Superman's friendship had been fraying due
to the events that led Batman to quit the Justice League and form the Outsiders
and this issue showcased how their bond had changed and also how it remained
as strong as ever.
The real names or origins of the Moondancers were never revealed. They were
following the orders of a mysterious benefactor (whose identity was later
revealed in that issue) but it was clear that they were working with him for
a common purpose and were not his underlings.
The three members were:
Crescent Moon: silver haired pilot of a crescent-shaped flying platform.
Harvest Moon: muscular redhead with the power to grow to ten feet.
New Moon: a black woman who could fire freezing blasts, as cold as the dark
side of the moon.
The three were radical pacifists who had been secretly sabotaging military
satellites. Batman was brought in to investigate and meets with three men
— a Carl Sagan-like astronomer, a gung-ho military general and a soft-spoken
Japanese scientist — who are all possible suspects as being the brains
behind the plot. The next time the Moondancers attack the launch of a military
satellite, Batman clashes with them, holding his own. Before escaping, Crescent
Moon hit Batman with some sort of gas provided by their benefactor. She thought
it would merely knock him out but instead, he is stricken with an incurable,
fatal illness.
Despite their estrangement, Superman is summoned to the missile base to save
Batman. He determines that the only way to cure his old partner is to find
some power source not of this Earth. So he flies off into space and plucks
"the heart of a comet" out to use it as a cure for Batman.
As he uses the extraterrestrial power source, the Sagan-lookalike, the general
and the Japanese scientist all look on, very interested. Batman is cured but
is still weak so Superman leaves him at the base and flies off to fight a
crimewave that broke out in Batman's absence.
The mysterious benefactor is then shown telling the Moondancers that he gave
them the deadly weapon to use against Batman, knowing that Superman would
be forced to find some invaluble new power source that he can use. Despite
their misgivings about their ally, the Moondancers follow his instructions
to obtain the new power source. They sneak into the rocket base and overpower
the still-recovering Batman, taking the power source with them. But Superman
and Batman follow them and soon have the Moondancers on the ropes.
That is when their mysterious benefactor reveals himself — the Japanese
scientist, who it turns out, is a survivor of Hiroshima and is still unhinged
by the event. He tries to use his weapon with the new power source, to destroy
the missile base but Superman stops him. The scientist, now hysterical, rushes
into the flames of his shattered weapon but is saved by Crescent Moon.
The Moondancers tell Bats and Supes they never meant any harm but only wanted
to bring about world peace. While disagreeing with their methods, Batman and
Superman apparently decide to let them go with a warning. "You better
not let us catch you doing this again," Superman says.
"Don't worry, you won't catch us," the Moondancers reply.
That was the last we saw of them. Whether this adventure is still within
continuity is questionable. Of course, if anyone ever needs some radical peace-nik
group for a story, the Moondancers are still there for the taking. You could
even expand their membership: Full Moon, a werewolf, Hunter's Moon, a sniper,
Blue Moon, an empath, etc.
They were seen during Animal Man's visit to "comic book limbo":
ANIMAL MAN #25 (July 1990), "Monkey Puzzle".
Mopee
Mopee was a diminutive version of Julius Schwartz, with tufts of red
hair on his balding head and a green robe. He was a Heavenly Helpmate, commanded
by his superiors to bestow super-speed on one Earthman. Unfortunately, Mopee
was supposed to use an item owned by the recipient to transfer the power —
and the chemicals that transformed Barry Allen into the Flash belonged to
the Central City Police Department. Because of the technicality, Mopee returned
to Earth in December of 1966 and stripped the Flash of his speed. At Barry's
insistence, Mopee restored his powers after the police scientist bought duplicates
of the chemicals so that the imp could replicate the accident. After Mopee
had done so and returned home, Barry realized that there was still a hole
in the Helpmate's story: the duplicate accident that created Kid Flash (THE
FLASH #167, by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene).
Ultimately, the whole episode has to be written off as one of those nightmares
that Barry was famous for having. One can only wonder what the newlywed Iris
Allen thought when her husband talked in his sleep about THIS adventure.
As John noted, Mopee also turned up in 1984's AMBUSH BUG #3.
The official account of Barry Allen's origin has been reaffirmed multiple
times over the past three decades, most recently in Waid and Augustyn's 1997
LIFE STORY OF THE FLASH. As in SHOWCASE #4, Barry gained super-speed after
an errant bolt of lightning struck his chemical work station and doused him
in its contents. The account was modified slightly to include a mention of
the subject of the police scientist's scrutiny that evening, a hallucinogenic
street drug named ... Mopee.
Moximus
The sorcerer of Pompeii who gave Supes a load o' heartache in 1980's SUPERMAN
#343.
Multi-Face
An accident on the set of a Magna Productions movie brought Supergirl to
the rescue. After seeing the attention given to the female star that she saved,
Supergirl decided to give up her super-hero career to be a normal human girl.
Even her cousin Superman wasn't able to sway her decision, and her foster
parents were letting her take a year off from college and were also sending
her to Europe, so her next stop was Paris. Superman went to see Wonder Woman,
flying above Paradise Island until he caught her attention. Meeting him in
the sky above, the Man of Steel explained the situation with Supergirl, who
was shocked that the Maid of Steel would consider abrogating her responsibilities.
Superman asked Wonder Woman to talk to her in an attempt to change her mind
on the subject, a chance that Wonder Woman jumped at.
Even Wonder Woman was slightly swayed by the romantic sights of gay Paris,
but quickly got down to the matter at hand. She went to Supergirl's last known
address, which was Anatole's, hoping to give the young woman a good talking
to, but found Supergirl inside, playing the role of a fashion model to the
hilt, even having her own gigolo (though I kinda doubt that the more popular
definition of that word was in play in this instance). Wonder Woman met Supergirl
in her dressing room and did her best to convince her of her duty, but both
the Amazing Amazon and the Maid of Steel ended up playing dress-up with all
the wonderful clothes that Supergirl had acquired as a model. A Frenchman
named Andre walked in on them and declared his love for Wonder Woman on the
sight of her in a designer gown, sweeping the Amazon off her feet. Both Wonder
Woman and Andre and Supergirl and her man, Henri, walked the streets of Paris
soaking in the atmosphere and romance ... while trouble brewed on a small
island known as Ile D'Amour, where "Operation Armageddon" was being
put into operation.
In separate planes, Andre and Henri flew with their women to the "Isle
of Love", which neither heroine knew was the secret base for the super-villain
known as Multi-Face. He was believed to have been killed in a prison escape,
but instead an accident during the break gave him the power to change his
features at will into any other human or animal face. His "Operation
Armageddon" was nearing readiness, and he would launch his plan within
twelve hours when he intercepted an international cargo rocket freighter.
However, Multi-Face's look-outs discovered that both Supergirl and Wonder
Woman were on the island, and he decided to try to get them to leave by threatening
the lives of their male companions.
Andre and Wonder Woman stood at the drawbridge of Andre's family home, when
the drawbridge began falling down. Not wanting to ruin the mood or Andre's
perception of her, Wonder Woman waiting until he was about to kiss her (and
his eyes were close) to shove the drawbridge back up at super-speed. On the
island's secluded beach, Supergirl had to solve a similar predicament, with
falling boulders nearly killing Henri, who was saved by a "girl"-like
throw by Supergirl of a ball they were playing catch with.
With Supergirl and Wonder Woman handling the threats so easily, Multi-Face
believed they had made a fool of him. He decided to use their own abilities
against them and tackle them with one challenge after another to keep them
from getting close to Multi-Face's real objective. Soon, while Wonder Woman
and Andre were relaxing at a restaurant (apparently this island isn't quite
as secluded or unpopulated as a criminal mastermind could probably have wanted),
she spied a boat on fire in the bay. In order to save the boat and still not
appear unfeminine, she asked Andre to play Cyrano and Roxanne. Andre, who
makes a point of noting he will be playing Cyrano, went underneath the balcony
to "state his case" as it were, while Wonder Woman flew out to the
bay and saved the ship, returning just as "Cyrano's" monologue ended.
As Multi-Face's rocket freighter was due to dock on the island soon, his
operatives quickly put another diversion into place, with Supergirl spying
a plane in trouble over the island. Her towel went over the edge of a cliff
and Henri volunteered to go get it, allowing her to restart the plane's engine.
She just happened to notice Multi-Face's complex near the center of the island
and used her x-ray vision to check it out, just as the rocket freighter flying
near the island was hijacked and diverted by Multi-Face. She didn't want to
investigate any further because she wasn't a super-heroine anymore (even though
she had brought her Supergirl costume with her), but did start looking at
the rocket freighter, only to notice that Henri had retrieved her towel but
was now trapped on a small ledge.
While Supergirl was checking out the rocket and wishing that the authorities
were there instead, Wonder Woman saw the Maid of Steel in the air and thought
she was in trouble. She tricked Andre into getting a flower for her from the
bottom of a ravine (where he found himself trapped and too embarrassed to
ask for help), and she started to go after Supergirl, but was interrupted
by the appearance of a strange disc controlled by Multi-Face. The disc attracted
the metal of her bracelets and trapped her on it, reversing its path and taking
the Amazon to Multi-Face's lair. He sprayed Wonder Woman and the disc with
a green liquid manufactured from green kryptonite, and sent the disc into
the air to confront Supergirl. The disc neared the Maid of Steel and she began
to grow increasingly weaker from the radiation. She did, however, begin to
come to her senses about being a super-heroine, seeing as how Wonder Woman
had come to her aid when she saw her having difficulties.
Supergirl used the last of her heat vision to melt the gold bars inside the
rocket, moving the rocket enough with the last of her strength to pour the
molten gold out and cover Wonder Woman on the disc. That blocked enough of
the kryptonite rays that Supergirl regained her powers. The gold had also
overloaded the flying disc, which fell back into Multi-Face's headquarters,
crashing through the ceiling and freeing Wonder Woman in the process. The
two heroines made short work of Multi-Face and his men, and returned to their
boyfriends still wearing their costumes, explaining to them that they had
to return to their real lives and their relationships with Andre and Henri
were over. Superman was very happy to have his cousin back as a super-heroine,
though he was as clueless as ever to what had really happened.
I think it can be assumed that this character bears no relation to the Multiface
that appeared in SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #19.
Appearances:
The Brave And The Bold #63
Original text copyright DC
Comics unless otherwise noted. Used without permission.
