LARA

Real Name: Lara

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

Occupation: Spy

Group Membership: Martian Intelligence Service

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Doctor Klopheim, Perry Maxwell

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unidentified American city; originally from Mars

First Appearance: Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3 (December, 1954)

Powers/Abilities: Although appearing to be a beautiful human woman, Lara was actually a Martian. She was skilled at using her feminine wiles to seduce and distract Earth scientists, presumably to hinder Earth's technological progress (see comments).

She (like others of her race, apparently) was normally invisible to human eyes; she could only be seen by Earthlings who were wearing eyeglasses fitted with special lenses.

Height: Unrevealed (5'6"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (110 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Black

History:
(Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3 (fb) - BTS) - After somehow being transported from Mars to Earth, the invisible Lara began her mission. She first sought scientist Doctor Klopheim, and secretly substituted his eyeglasses with another pair that had special lenses, so that only he would be able to see her. Lara then initiated a romantic relationship with Klopheim; but whenever he took Lara out on dates in public places, other people (who didn't have the special lenses) saw only Klopheim appear to be talking to himself and thought him to be insane. Klopheim was eventually confined behind the bars of a mental institution.

(Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3) - Lara moved on to her next target: Perry Maxwell. She found the homely little scientist working in the laboratory late one night; when Maxwell temporarily removed his glasses and lit a cigarette, the invisible Lara replaced them with an identical pair with special lenses. As Maxwell put the glasses on and prepared to go home, he suddenly saw the beautiful Lara, who invited him to come over and kiss her. And so the lonely Perry Maxwell's first (and only) romance began, and from that moment on, he was a changed man; the next day, he could hardly wait to leave the lab, because he had a date with the gorgeous Lara!

   Maxwell took Lara to dine at a fine restaurant, where they conversed at a table for two--the other restaurant patrons stared, but Maxwell assumed they were looking at Lara because she was so beautiful. When the couple began to dance with each other, Maxwell continued to get odd looks--from the perspective of the other restaurant patrons (who weren't wearing the special lenses to see the invisible Lara), Maxwell seemed to be dancing with himself! [with apologies to Billy Idol] That night was the most glorious night in Perry Maxwell's life, and when the time came to say good night, he took Lara to her home and asked to go out with her again the next night; Lara happily agreed and told him she wanted to see him every night. The days rolled into weeks, and all Maxwell could think of day and night was his lovely Lara; but he neglected his work at the lab, causing the project to fall way behind schedule, much to the chagrin of his fellow scientist coworkers.

   A month after Maxwell had first met Lara, he took her to a movie theater; in the middle of the film, he pulled out an engagement ring and proposed to her, and Lara excitedly accepted his proposal. But the other theater-goers were annoyed by Maxwell's constant chatter with the invisible Lara, and thought him to be insane, so a police officer was summoned--when Maxwell insisted that he was just talking to his (unseen) fiancee, the cop took him into custody.

   An hour later, despite his insistence that he was sane, Maxwell was taken to a mental institution and locked in a cell with a group of madmen; he saw Lara outside the bars of the cell and begged her to help him, but Lara only laughed.

   Then Maxwell was approached by fellow inmate Doctor Klopheim, who revealed Lara's true nature to him; as proof of his claim, Klopheim told Maxwell to look at Lara with his glasses off. After Maxwell removed his glasses, Lara seemed to have vanished.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Al Eadeh.

In this 4-page story--Dream Girl!--Perry Maxwell was the protagonist, so very little was revealed about Lara. Perhaps this Martian Mata Hari also had some sort of psychic power to manipulate men's emotions; additionally, maybe she was only mouthing her words and telepathically "speaking" to Maxwell, which would explain why nobody else seemed to hear her voice when they talked to each other in public.








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

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Lara has no known connections to:

Perry Maxwell has no known connections to:

Doctor Klopheim has no known connections to:

Perry Maxwell

A bespectacled American scientist, he was working to develop an atomic engine that would be used for a spaceship for the first trip to Mars.

But the short and homely man had nothing in his life beyond his work, and he longed to be able to attract a loving woman. He momentarily removed his eyeglasses, and when he put them back on, he saw the beautiful Lara for the first time. Maxwell immediately began a romantic relationship with Lara, and he neglected his work. But whenever he took Lara out on dates, he got odd stares from other people, because he seemed to be talking to himself.

Maxwell was eventually thought to be insane, then taken into custody and locked in a mental institution; he encountered fellow inmate Doctor Klopheim, who told him the truth about Lara--she was an invisible Martian, and she had replaced Maxwell's eyeglasses with an identical pair with special lenses, which allowed him to see her. To prove his claim, Klopheim told Maxwell to take off his glasses--when Maxwell did so, Lara seemed to vanish.

--Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3

(Comment: Considering his facial features, maybe Perry could be considered a prototype for Harvey Elder, aka Mole Man.)

Doctor Klopheim

Klopheim (first name unrevealed) was an American scientist working for the government on a top secret atomic missile project.

The invisible Martian spy Lara had replaced his glasses with an identical pair that had special lenses, which allowed Klopheim to see her.

Klopheim began a romantic relationship with Lara, and eventually discovered that she was a member of the Martian Intelligence Service; but since he was the only one who could see her, he was deemed to be insane and locked behind the bars of a mental institution.

Later, fellow scientist Perry Maxwell was locked up with Klopheim after also being similarly involved with Lara.

Klopheim revealed the truth about Lara to Maxwell, then proved it by having him remove his own glasses--after doing so, Maxwell "saw" that Lara was really invisible.

--Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3

images: (without ads)
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p3, pan2 (main image - Lara)
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p4, pan5 (headshot - Lara; Perry Maxwell and Doctor Klopheim behind bars [background])
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p2, pan4 (Lara; Perry Maxwell [background])
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p4, pan6 (Lara; Perry Maxwell and Doctor Klopheim in barred cell [foreground])
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p4, pan7 (Lara seems to vanish as Perry Maxwell removes special glasses)
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p1, pan2 (Perry Maxwell removing his glasses)
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p2, pan6 (Perry Maxwell embracing Lara)
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p3, pan3 (Perry Maxwell talking with invisible Lara in restaurant, as other patrons stare at him)
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p4, pan2 (Perry Maxwell locked behind bars in mental asylum)
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3, p4, pan4 (Doctor Klopheim)

Appearances:
Journey into Unknown Worlds#32/3 (December, 1954) - unidentified writer, Al Eadeh (pencils/inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 07/30/2025
Last updated: 07/30/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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