PROFESSOR
MAHARISHI
PROFESSOR
MAHARISHI
Real Name: Unrevealed (surname possibly
"Maharishi")
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Land of Leftovers)
Occupation: At least posed as a seer
Group Membership: None known
Affiliations: Hugs,
Kisses, "Lucy";
he presumably had a number of acolytes
Enemies: Saurian
Holmes;
indirectly KISS
(Cat/Peter
Criss
Demon/Gene
Simmons,
Space Ace/Ace
Frehley,
Starchild/Paul
Stanley)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Buffoon with a
messiah complex," "that
Napoleon of prevarications and half-truths" (from Saurian Holmes)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
at least formerly the "House
of Cards" in the Land of Leftovers
First Appearance:
Marvel Comics Super Special#5 (1978)
Powers/Abilities:
Professor Maharishi posed as a man of wisdom, offering truth and
guiding others to peace. However, he typically spouted homilies and
offered vague information while accumulating great wealth from those
who sought his guidance.
There is not evidence that Maharishi was an actual professor or that he had any type of academic training...but there is also not evidence that he did not have such training.
He lived in a "House of Cards" and sat
upon some sort of floating hover-platform.
History:
(Marvel Comics Super Special#5 (fb) - BTS) - Under unspecified circumstances, Professor Maharishi arrived in the Land of Leftovers where -- according to an Elf with a Gun -- all of the symbolic figures of the 1960s lived out that decade again and again eternally.
Dwelling within his "House of Cards,"
Professor Maharishi
became the arch-rival of the logic-minded (but
dinosaur man-bodied) Saurian Holmes, who felt that Maharishi's
insidious influence infested the minds of an entire generation.
(Marvel Comics Super Special#5 (fb) - BTS) - Professor Maharishi sent his agent "Lucy" to Saurian Holmes' manor to kill him.
(Marvel Comics Super Special#5 (fb)
- BTS) - Pursuing the wizard Khalis-Wu,
the Darklord,
who threatened to obtain
ultimate power by harness the emotive energy at history's most famous
rock concerts and convert it into mystical energy, the super-powered
group known as KISS were banished from Woodstock in the 1960s by
Khalis-Wu and arrived in the Land of Leftovers. After Space Ace found
that he could not simply teleport them away, they encountered the Elf
with a Gun who advised them to seek out Saurian Holmes.
(Marvel Comics Super Special#5 - BTS) - Shortly after KISS had been invited into the house of and then met with Holmes, who agreed to help them, their conversation was interrupted when "Lucy" threw open the door and announced that she was there to kill Holmes for her master. However, after KISS' Demon blocked her blasts with his forearm guards, "Lucy" slew herself for her failure, dropping a card in the process. Holmes recognized it as the Fool card from the deck of Tarot, and his Computer Complex confirmed the card to have come from Professor Maharishi, and he led KISS to Maharishi's domicile, the "House of Cards." Although the door was locked, KISS' Space Ace vibrated his body through the door and then opened it and allowed the others through. Holmes then directed the group to go through another door to find their adversary.
(Marvel Comics Super Special#5) - Floating atop some sort of hover-platform, Professor Maharishi greeted his visitors, "I bid you welcome, truth seekers. If you choose to become acolytes, the secrets of the ages may be gleaned form my teachings. You have but to ask -- and it is yours. Is that not correct, Saurian Holmes?"
Saurian instead
denounced Maharishi's very existence as an affront to truth, "...the
sacrifice of man's precious mind for a fortune-cookie philosophy."
Maharishi countered that Holmes offered endless questions with no
answers, while he himself was an island of solace in a troubled sea of
humanity, but Saurian
denounced him as a buffoon with a messiah complex. 
As the Demon grew impatient, Starchild fired a blast
to force the truth from Professor Maharishi. Caught in the blast's
effects, Maharishi exclaimed, "The
truth -- hah! At best, it's a marketable item, a profitable commodity
on which I've built my empire. And so long as there are fool out there
who want it sold in a bottle -- I shall prosper forever! I peddle
homilies for a fortune and smile serenely as I dispense vapid cliches
as profundity. And now that the youth has forced me into revealing my
true secrets, my assistants, Hugs and Kisses, will see to it you
spread
them no farther!"
As KISS fought the battleaxe-wielding
Hugs and
Kisses, Saurian and
Maharishi grabbed the other by the throat, but Holmes nonetheless choked
out, "You
can no longer seek refuge behind your facade, Maharishi. Destiny has
written that our clash was inevitable. Truth shall endure." In
response, Maharishi exclaimed, "You
are blind, Holmes. Men disdain the truth. They seek the elixir of lies
I offer to escape its deadly shackles."
As the conflict caused the "House of Cards" to
collapse around them, Professor Maharishi insisted that Saurian
release him to avoid being crushed.
However, Holmes refused, noting that he would die happily knowing that
he had eradicated Maharishi's dominance from that land.
(Marvel Comics Super
Special#5 - BTS) - After the house collapsed and apparently slew
Saurian and Maharishi, Ace noted that he had suspected that it was
Maharishi's influence that had prevented them from teleporting them
out of that realm, and he subsequently transported them to Khalis-Wu's
next target at a discotheque marathon.
Comments: Created by Ralph Macchio, Alan Weiss, John Romita Jr., and Tony DeZuniga.
Professor Maharishi is an
homage/parody of Sherlock Holmes' arch-rival Professor James Moriarty,
whom Holmes dubbed "the Napoleon of Crime."
His name is a reference to the Sanskrit word/title
Maharishi (literally meaning "High Seer", which
referred to the highest order of Indian sages or seers, those who
engage in research to understand and experience nature, divinity, and
the divine context of existence, and these experiences' governing
laws...or so Wikipedia tells me...
And, the term Maharishi is most closely associated
with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, born Mahesh Prasad Varma. You can look
him up for more information.
As it is extremely unlikely that we will learn more
about Professor Maharishis, I would speculate that his first name might
by Jarma.
The Maharishi looks like the form
Khalis-Wu had taken while posing as a hippy at the Woodstock concert.
Every time I review this comic, I initially make the mistake that they
are the same character.
As the beings in the Land of Leftovers lived out the 1960s over and over again, it seems reasonably likely that Saurian Holmes and the Maharishi were restored to existence after KISS' departure.
This profile was
completed on 03/04/2024, but its publication was delayed as it was
intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory
event to represent KISS.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Professor Maharishi was loosely based on:
 
A
pair of forelock-wearing, large and muscular, shirtless,
battleaxe-wielding warriors serving Professor Maharishi, they
emerged
at his command to slay KISS to prevent them from revealing to
others
that he had confirmed himself to be a charlatan while under the
truth
influence of the beam from Starchild's black star eye. As the place began to collapse on them, the Demon and Space Ace punched down Hugs and Kisses and fled Maharishi's "House of Cards," which collapsed, apparently crushing Hugs & Kisses, as well as Holmes and Maharishi. --Marvel Comics Super Special#5 Note: I'm not really sure which is Hugs and which is Kisses. Naming characters OFTEN goes from left to right or front to back...but the one closer to the group during the introduction was the one on the right... |
 |
 
She
wore a pair of kaleidoscopic eyes that allowed her to track
targets
and wielded some sort of gun or blaster.Sent by Professor Maharishi to kill Saurian Holmes, she arrived just as he told the newly-arrived KISS that even with diligence and devotion, no answers were assured. Kicking open the door, she replied, "But one thing is certain, Saurian Holmes. Your moments of life are numbered. The master has ordered your death, and I am here to kill you!" Firing her gun, she instructed Holmes not to move as her kaleidoscopic eyes would follow you wherever you go. KISS' demon used his forearm guard to block her the bullets/projectiles/blasts while telling her that he would like to pluck those lovely orbs from her head. However, having failed her master, she considered her life forfeit and resolved to end it in disgrace, dropping a card as she dropped to the ground, dead. Impressed with his would-be (would-have-been?) assassin's death via self-induced trauma, Saurian identified the card as the Fool card from the deck of Tarot, after which his Computer Complex identified it as having come from Professor Maharishi. --Marvel Comics Super Special#5 Note: She's a girl with kaleidoscope eyes...clearly an homage to the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." It makes me wonder if she could fly, too... |
 |
 |
 
The
exterior of Professor Maharishi's domicile looked like a house of
cards, although it did have a non-card-roof.Starchild vibrated through its locked door and let the rest of KISS as well as Saurian Holmes. The subsequent conflict caused the house to collapse, as houses of cards are wont to do, and only KISS escaped. --Marvel Comics Super Special#5 |
Appearances:
Marvel Comics Super Special#5 (1978) - by Ralph Macchio & Alan Weiss
(co-scenarists), Ralph Macchio (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler),
Tony DeZuniga (inker), Richard Marschall (editor)
First posted: 09/18/2026
Last updated: 03/24/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
� 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!