IAN the MARTIAN

Real Name: Ian (last name unrevealed)

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Martian, 1950s era)

Occupation: Fugitive

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Earthlings (including Abner and Amelia Watkins)

Known Relatives: Philip Derek, Val Derek, unidentified father

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the United States;
   originally from the planet Mars

First Appearance: Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3 (August, 1956)

Powers/Abilities: Although a Martian, Ian appeared to be quite human, with the exception of having green hair (a trait common to the males of Mars -- apparently, this wasn't the case for Martian females, whose hair-color would be considered "normal" to Earthlings).

He demonstrated no paranormal powers of his own (see comments), but was able to pilot his father's "flying saucer" spacecraft.

Height: Unrevealed (6'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Green

History:
(Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3 (fb) - BTS) - For unspecified reasons, times were bad for the civilization on the planet Mars, so a Martian father took his young son Ian and infant daughter Val aboard a spacecraft and fled to Earth. After arriving and hiding his spacecraft and offspring in a cave, the father went out to find a job; but he learned that because of his green hair, he was regarded to be an alien -- hunted and despised by Earthlings, he was chased away by a mob and unable to find work to support his two children.

(Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3 (fb)) - The Martian father returned to the cave, and young Ian whined that he wanted to go home, but his father warned him that he must never return to Mars. The father decided that his only recourse was to put his children up for adoption by humans, so they could remain on Earth; he gave each of them the halves of a gold Martian coin attached to chain necklaces, so that they may one day find each other by reuniting the coin. He then blackened Ian's green hair (This hair-dyeing procedure wasn't necessary for the infant Val, whose hair hadn't grown in yet...and besides, she was a female, who wouldn't have green hair anyway -- at the time, little Ian was under the misapprehension that Val was actually a boy like himself, and thought her to be his younger "brother" -- see comments).

   One morning, the Martian father left the cave first with Val, then later returned alone (presumably having found suitable adoptive parents for her). That night, the father stopped a farmer and his wife--Abner and Amelia Watkins--who were driving along a country road, and he gave them Ian to adopt (see comments).

   But Ian didn't remain long with the Watkins couple, because his hair-dye began to wear off -- after noticing Ian's green hair, his adoptive parents believed him to be a Martian; when he overheard that they were planning to turn him over to the authorities, young Ian ran away and returned to the cave -- he found his real father was gone, although the spacecraft was still there.

(Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3 (fb) - BTS) - Ian somehow survived alone through the years, living by his wits and resorting to thievery to get by; but he was always pursued by police and constantly went into hiding in dark alleys. At some point, Ian's face and true nature as a Martian apparently became publicly known.

(Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3) - Eventually reaching manhood, the adult Ian was plagued by thoughts of loneliness, and he wondered what had become of his little "brother" Val. Tired of being hungry all the time, he decided to take his half of the gold Martian coin to a jewelry store to sell it, so he'd have enough money for food. But when the jewelry store's owner told him that Governor Derek had brought in a similar half-coin the day before to learn if the jeweler knew its origin, Ian (mistakenly) believed the governor to be his long-lost younger "brother"; he decided he'd force his "brother" to help him, otherwise he'd tell the world that Governor Derek was a Martian, too!

   After making his way to the state capital, Ian climbed through a window at the governor's mansion and confronted Governor Philip Derek. But when Derek saw Ian's half-coin, he revealed that the other half belonged to his wife! Derek called his wife, and she came to the room with their two sons (both of whom didn't have green hair). Derek's wife was wearing her half-coin necklace, so Ian compared it with his own half and joined the two pieces together, and they fit perfectly; Mrs. Derek explained that she didn't know how she came by the half-coin, because she had always had it for as long as she could remember -- at that point, Ian realized the truth: the infant Val was not his "brother," but was actually his sister!

   Upon learning the truth about his younger sibling, Ian decided to leave, and as he climbed back out the window, he promised the Dereks that he'd never bother them again.

   Some time later, Ian made his way back to the cave, where the spaceship was still hidden; he thought to himself that after so many years, he had finally found Val, but he couldn't bring himself to ruin her life by revealing that she was a Martian.

   As he climbed aboard the spacecraft and took flight to return to the planet of his birth, Ian thought that perhaps after all these years, conditions were now better on Mars...

Comments: Created by Carl Wessler and Paul Hodge.

Unfortunately, this 4-page story--Flee for Your Life!--didn't have much to offer in terms of full-body images for Ian; and because it was so brief, no information was available about the Martian civilization, other than they were advanced enough to have developed space travel.

As a youngster, Ian appeared to be maybe four years old; and as for little Ian not knowing that Val was actually a female... well, I guess he was too young for his father to give him that talk about "The Birds and the Bees" (...or rather the Martian equivalent thereof).

My guess is that Ian and Val's father had some sort of weak telepathic power that he used to "persuade" the minds of humans to adopt his kids -- this power probably required a great deal of concentration to use, and the distraction of being chased by a mob of humans prevented him from using it to protect himself in that instance. Ian and Val may also have had such a power, but they were too young to have ever been taught how to use it before their father disappeared.






It remains to be explained how so many different races/beings allegedly originated from Mars.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ian should not be confused with:

Philip Derek has no known connections to:

Abner and Amelia Watkins should not be confused with:

Ian and Val's father

Fleeing the planet Mars for unspecified reasons, this green-haired Martian father (name unrevealed) took his young son Ian and infant daughter Val aboard a spacecraft and traveled to Earth, in hopes of finding a better life for them and himself.

But because of his hair color, Earthlings immediately regarded him to be an extraterrestrial, so he had to flee back to the cave where he hid his children and spacecraft.

Having no way to support his family, the father decided to put his two children separately up for adoption by humans, so they could at least remain on Earth; he gave Ian and Val the halves of a gold Martian coin, so that they might one day find each other by reuniting the coin.

He found new adoptive parents for each of his children, but his whereabouts afterward were unrevealed, although he left his spacecraft hidden in the cave.

Other than his green hair, he appeared quite human; but it's unrevealed if he had any additional powers (see comments).

--Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3

Martian coin

Presumably Martian currency, it was split in two by a Martian father; after attaching the pieces to chain necklaces, the father gave the two half-coins to his young son Ian and infant daughter Val, so they would be able to identify each other when the half-coins were reunited. The Martian father then separately took his children to be adopted by Earthlings.

After reaching adulthood, Ian eventually reunited his piece of the coin with Val's, but the the fate of the halves afterward was unspecified -- perhaps Ian left the completed coin with Val before he left Earth.

--Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3

Abner and Amelia Watkins

An older married couple, Abner was a farmer, and Amelia was a housewife.

They were driving along a country road one night when they were stopped by a stranger (a Martian father) who gave them his son Ian to adopt (see comments).

But shortly after taking Ian into their care, Abner noticed the boy's hair was growing in green. Suspecting that Ian was a Martian, Abner and Amelia were planning to turn him over to the authorities; but Ian overheard them talking, and he ran away before his adoptive parents could do so.

--Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3

Philip Derek

The governor of an unidentified state in the USA, Philip was married to Ian's adult younger sister, and the couple had two sons; he was unaware that his wife was actually a Martian.

His wife had mysterious gold half-coin since she was a child, so Philip took it to a jewelry store to find out its origin; however, the jeweler didn't know any information about it either.

One night, a green haired Martian (actually Philip's brother-in-law Ian), broke into their home, in search of his long-lost "brother"; initially believing Philip to be his sibling, the Martian soon left after learning that his sister was Philip's wife.

--Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3

Val Derek

When she was only an infant, Val and her older brother Ian where brought to Earth from their native planet Mars by their father. Pursued and hunted by Earthlings, their father realized that his only recourse was to put his two children up for adoption by humans so they could remain on Earth; but before he did so, he gave them each the halves of a gold Martian coin, so that they might one day find each other by reuniting the two pieces.

Their father first took Val and found adoptive parents to raise her -- the details of her life afterward are totally unrevealed, but as she was so young at the time, Val was completely unaware of her Martian heritage.

At some point after she reached adulthood, Val married Philip Derek, who would become the governor of an unspecified American state; the couple would also have two sons.

Val still had the mysterious gold half-coin that she had had since she was an infant, although she couldn't remember how she got it; her husband took the half-coin to a jewelry store to discover its origin, but even the jeweler couldn't provide them with any information about it.

Shortly afterward, a green-haired Martian (actually Val's older brother Ian) broke into their home, in search of his lost younger "brother"; but when the Martian fitted his own half-coin to Val's, he secretly realized that he'd been mistaken about the gender of his younger sibling, so he left and promised to never bother the Dereks again.

(Comment: Actually, her first name was never mentioned when she was an adult -- it's always possible that her adoptive parents could have changed her name when they accepted the infant Val from her Martian father.)

--Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3

Ian's spacecraft

A "flying saucer"-type vessel of Martian design, it was capable of at least interplanetary travel.; it was quite simple to operate (as exemplified by Ian being able to fly it, even though he had no formal training).

When the Martian civilization was experiencing unspecified troubled times, it was originally used to transport a Martian father, along with his young son Ian and infant daughter Val, from Mars to Earth. Once on Earth, it was hidden in a cave for several years.

When he eventually reached adulthood, Ian used it to return to the world of his birth, in the hopes that conditions were now better on Mars.

--Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3

images: (without ads)
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p2, pan7 (main image - adult Ian, hiding from police in alley way)
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p2, pan5 (headshot - young Ian in cave; spacecraft [background])
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p3, pan2 (adult Ian, holding half of gold coin)
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p4, pan7 (adult Ian aboard spacecraft, heading to Mars)
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p1, pan1 (Martian father in cave; spacecraft [background])
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p1, pan3 (Martian father puts half-coin on infant Val; young Ian [foreground])
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p1, pan2 (one half-coin on necklace, held by Martian father's hand; infant Val and young Ian in cave [background])
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p2, pan1 (Abner and Amelia Watkins in car, young Ian in backseat; Martian father [foreground])
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p2, pan2 (Abner and Amelia Watkins; young Ian [background])
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p3, pan7 (Philip Derek [background]; adult Ian entering through open window)
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p4, pan2 (Philip Derek [right]; adult Derek holding coin-half)
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p4, pan3 (Val Derek entering room, with her two sons behind her)
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p4, pan4 (Val Derek, as adult Ian fits two half-coins together; Philip Derek [background])
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3, p4, pan7 (adult Ian aboard spacecraft, flying out of cave)

Appearances:
Strange Stories of Suspense I#10/3 (August, 1956) - Carl Wessler (writer), Paul Hodge (pencils/inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 07/30/2026
Last updated: 07/30/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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