Though I loved superheroes above all, the concept of an ordinary person routinely encountering and overcoming fantastic situations also had a distinct appeal.
Enter Mark Merlin, a supernatural investigator who inherited his calling from his uncle, a stage magician called “The Mighty Merlin.”
Merlin first appeared in House of Secrets 23 (Aug. 1959), and went on to investigate sorceresses, sea monsters, shape-shifters, beast queens, creature cities, mountain monsters and test-tube terrors,
“The same year as Mark’s debut, DC gave the Flash his own title and introduced Green Lantern,” noted comics historian Don Markstein. “More superheroes followed, and as they proliferated, Mark Merlin, never a particularly noticeable character, gradually looked less and less interesting. They tried to spiff him up a little in (House of Secrets) 60 (June 1963) by giving him the power to switch bodies with a cat. A similar move seems to have added some interest when they turned Congo Bill into Congorilla, but this time it didn’t.”
In The Sinister Skull of Doctor-7! (House of Mystery 65, March-April 1964), writer Arnold Drake and artist Mort Meskin pushed Merlin a little further into superhero territory by pitting him against a returning archenemy, Doctor-7. Their battle atop a giant phrenology skull model echoed Batman’s familiar giant props (by then abandoned in Batman’s New Look, ironically enough).
The evil magician had been previously seen in Doctor-7, King of the Supernatural (House of Secrets 61, July-August 1963)
In House of Secrets 73 (Aug. 1965), DC transported Merlin to the alien dimension Ra, gave him the power of telekinesis and returned him home in the body of another man as Prince Ra-Man.
So Mark Merlin finished as — finally and briefly — a superhero.
Meanwhile, in Tomahawk 91, the intrepid frontier fighter discovered an Indian Tribe Below the Earth!, complete with giant salamanders.
I wonder if anyone has ever journeyed to the center of the Earth without finding giant monsters there?
Mark Engblom wrote:
ReplyDeleteDC deemed him important enough to return for a single panel in Crisis on Infinite Earths, if only to show his ignoble end.
Joseph Lenius wrote:
ReplyDeleteMark Engblom, as far as I'm concerned, CRISIS is a "Mopee," and "Mr. Silver Age," Craig Shutt, should have given it that dubious award.
Bob Doncaster wrote:
ReplyDeleteMark Merlin retired after the success of his Ramen noodles business.
ReplyDeleteDan Hagen
Jeff Fields wrote:
Resisted the urge to point out how often Ra-Man found himself in hot water...well, resisted for a little while...😉
Jim Harris wrote:
ReplyDeleteJeff Fields Yes, he really used his noodle to get out of boiling water.
Jeff Fields
ReplyDeleteJim Harris Superman had Kryptonite; Green Lantern had the color yellow; Ra-Man had excessive levels of MSG...
Bob Hughes wrote:
ReplyDeleteI've read all the Mark Merlins. I really have to sit down and read Silver Age Tomahawk.
Chris Juricich wrote:
ReplyDeletewhat? I had no idea that Mark Merlin had transformed himself into Prince Ra-Man! Same guy? I recall not loving Mort Meskin's work back then, but with a less jaundiced and mature view, I came to truly appreciate his yeoman like qualities as a storyteller.
Cheryl Spoehr wrote:
ReplyDeleteWhen I began reading comics seriously, there were less then a dozen true costumed/super heroes regularly published. DC had the most, Archie had three, Harvey had one.
I appreciated the distinctions between someone like Mark Merlin and the regular masked crew. It was similar with the Challengers, were they super? Or just plain clothes heroes?
Then as Marvel comics came to be, it seemed that everything was thrown into the bag of super hero laundry, and comics were all the same. I hated the way they killed Mark Merlin,I gniting the body and soul of Prince Ra.Man. (yeah, I know, noodles). I did purchase his adventures, but wished they had left him Mark Merlin.
Ironically, I never read that many Mark Merlin stories... I knew him primarily from these ads.... but could not find the comic... but that issue with the big head, yeah, got that one, and it was as good as any glitter hero's adventures.
Philip Rushton wrote:
ReplyDeleteMark Merlin was the opposite side of the coin to Detective's Roy Raymond: instead of debunking all the supernatural phenomena he encountered Mark invariably discovered they were real.
Edward Lee Love wrote:
ReplyDeletePrince Ra-Man, too obscure for even the Forgotten Heroes.
I read some Mark Merlins, I think they were reprinted in some The Phantom Stranger comics. I had not even heard of Ra-Man until his "Whatever Happened To..." feature in DC Comics Presents. I didn't have anything against the character but it seemed a waste of an interesting detective hero. Then, they killed off the poor prince in Crisis on Infinite Earths. I did get an older House of Secrets a couple of years ago that featured Prince Ra-Man going up against Eclipso, a natural since they shared the same comic.