Triple-Threat of Obscurity: Master Man! If youre a comic book writer and you want to hedge your bets against creating a character destined to become obscure, Rule One might be to avoid calling that character Master Man. Exhibit A: Fawcett Comics Master Man from Master Comics #1 (March 1940) by Newt Alfred & cover illos by Harry Fiske. Master Man was stronger than untamed horses, swifter than raging winds, braver than mighty lions, wiser than wisdom, and as kind as Galahad. When he was a boy, he was weak, but a wise doctor gave him a magic vitamin capsule (the Vitacap) containing all known energy sources. After ingesting the capsule, the boy not only became the strongest man on earth, but also gained super-speed and invulnerability to everything except a lawsuit threat by DC Comics over Superman infringement that limited this MM to 6 appearances. Exhibit B: Quality Comics Master Man, villainous nemesis of Kid Eternity, in Kid Eternity #15 (May 1949) by writer William Woolfolk and art by Pete Riss. A reverse-version, chain-smoking Kid Eternity, Master Man was given powers similar to the Kids by a figure heavily implied to be the Devil. When Master Man said Stygia, he could summon any evil historical or mythological figure from Stygia to promote the cause of wickedness across the world. In this tale, he summoned such nefarious scofflaws as Rasputin, Torquemada and Batu Khan. The Kid countered him at every turn, and when Master Man tried to flee, his shadowy sponsor sent him into a pit of flames. Exhibit C: DC Comics Perry White as Masterman from Action Comics #278 (July 1961) by writer Jerry Coleman and artist Curt Swan. In this one-shot appearance, Perry White notices an alien looking plant in his home garden and decides to nosh on a piece of its fruit (!?). It grants him the same powers as Superman minus the weakness to Kryptonite and so he embarks on a masked hero career as Masterman. The spores of the alien plant being, however, take over his mind & body to use in preparing Earth for an invasion, which pits him against Superman. The alien influence is eradicated by Supergirl, using a piece of White Kryptonite which is deadly to plants, returning Perry to his unpowered normal state.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 01:51:21 +0000
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