MARVEX
Real Name: Marvex
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Fifth-Dimensional) construct (World War II era)
Occupation: Aider of human interest
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Clara Crandall, Jim Hansen
Enemies: Bolo and the Fifth-Dimensional beings, Spike Green, Brad Lewis, Dr. Narr, von Crabb
Known Relatives: Bolo (creator, deceased)
Aliases: The Super-Robot
Base of Operations: Unspecified city; 1940s
First Appearance: Daring Mystery Comics#3/7 (April, 1940)
Powers/Abilities: Marvex's body is made of a "strange metal" called "super fabri-steel", presumably of Fifth-Dimensional origin, which makes him practically indestructible. He is extremely strong, and can pull a car for miles with no apparent strain. He is also fast enough to keep up with a speeding car, and can jump at least as high as a thirteenth-story window. The "delicate mechanism" in his brain which gives him sentience also gives him a high degree of intelligence. He can broadcast radio messages. Despite his rugged construction, strong physical abuse can temporarily disrupt his functioning, and he is susceptible to magnets. He sometimes wears normal 1940s street clothes.
History: (Daring Mystery Comics#3/7) - In 1940, Bolo, a scientist in the so-called "Fifth Dimension", observed humans on Earth and determined that they would make excellent slaves. Consequently, he used "super chemicals" to bring life to a powerful mechanical humanoid body, naming the robot "Marvex". However, Bolo had unwisely given his intended slave free will, and Marvex rebelled at the idea of allowing the beings of the Fifth Dimension to enslave him or any other robots they might create. He slew Bolo and his associates, and began to tear the laboratory apart. In the ensuing destruction, a powerful explosion somehow transported Marvex bodily to Earth.(Daring Mystery Comics#4/5 (fb) - BTS) - Marvex's humanlike head was replaced with one of a much more streamlined, mechanical design.
(Daring Mystery Comics#4/5) - Marvex and Crandall discussed Crandall's friend Jim Hansen, who had been convicted of murder and sent to Death Row. Crandall was sure Hansen was innocent, but all the witnesses who could have helped clear his name had mysteriously vanished. As Marvex left Crandall's home, he came across a bank robbery, which he quickly foiled. The police came and took the robbers -- Spike Green and his gang -- prisoner. However, as Marvex left the scene of the crime, he was caught in a steel net by some of Green's other henchmen and dragged behind their car. The rough treatment temporarily deactivated Marvex, and he did not awaken until they had thrown him off a boat into the harbor. The shock of the cold brought Marvex around, and he freed himself, heading up to the boat. There, he overheard that Green was planning a jailbreak before Jim Hansen (in the same cell block) would be able to identify him as the real killer. Having heard all he needed, Marvex defeated all of the thugs on the boat and called the harbor police. He then commandeered their car and headed for the prison.
Just as Marvex reached the warden's office and told him what he'd heard, Green started a riot in the mess hall, and he and a band of prisoners fought their way into the office. They managed to overpower Marvex through sheer numbers, carried him to the electric chair, and bound him in. Then they turned on the power and left. However, Marvex was impervious to electricity and broke free, beating the convicts to the prison gate. There he fought them long enough for the guards to recapture them, and personally caught Green, protecting him from the guards' bullets so that he could confess to the murder of which Hansen had been convicted.
(Daring Mystery Comics#5/5) - Marvex located and apprehended the members of Brad Lewis' east side mob who were planning a bank robbery. The newspaper coverage of the event prompted the roboticist Dr. Narr to prepare a trap for Marvex, so that he could study him. Narr sent Marvex a note which led the robot to the old hill tower, where he was trapped in a net and carried into the tower by several of Narr's robots. When they removed him from the net, however, Marvex quickly smashed them. Narr incapacitated him with a magnetic ray and placed him on a similarly-magnetic table, preparing to dismantle him. In desperation, Marvex contacted Crandall by radio, and she quickly tracked him to the hill tower, where she smashed Narr's control panel. This not only deactivated the magnetic table, but sent Narr's robots into an unguided destructive rampage. Marvex saved Narr from his own creations, then destroyed them. Enraged at the destruction of his robots, Narr tried to kill Marvex and Crandall, but accidentally fell to his death through one of the tower's high windows. The pair left shortly before the damaged tower collapsed in a fireball.
The remnants of the east side mob, seeing the explosion at the old tower, assumed Marvex was dead and went to the docks to steal a shipment of gold. They killed the guards and boarded the ship, but Marvex arrived in a nick of time and stopped them. Shortly thereafter, Crandall arrived with the police, and Lewis and his mob were arrested.
Comments: Created by an unknown writer and artist (possibly Allen Simon).
Clara seems to be a good influence on Marvex. When he first arrives in our dimension, he goes out of his way to kill the criminals he encounters, as well as his own creators, but by his last appearance, he tries to save the life of Dr. Narr even though the doctor abducted and tried to dissect him.
When Bolo and company are initially looking at Earth, they declare that they're going to make the humans their slaves, but then Bolo proceeds to make Marvex instead, and plans to make more like him. Perhaps he simply meant he was going to make slaves in the image of the humans; he does, after all, give Marvex a very human countenance. In fact, Marvex looks almost exactly like William Shatner, despite the fact that Shatner himself would have only been nine when this story was published. At any rate, I suspect that Marvex had his head redesigned intentionally to look less human, as he seems to have a bit of a complex, declaring loudly and inappropriately to Clara at the end of every story that he is a robot, not a human.
Room 307 of the Eastern Building is on the thirteenth floor. Go figure.
Tentative identification of the creative teams for Marvex's appearances as per The Grand Comics Database Project.
Unfortunately, my copies of the DMC stories are black-and-white photocopies from the commercially-available microfiche. If anyone has the ability to replace the images in this profile with better, color images, please contact us.
Clarifications: Marvex the Super-Robot has no known connection to:
Clara Crandall
Clara Crandall was the daughter of a scientist who was working on new battleship armor for the US Navy. When spies destroyed her home and killed her father, she met Marvex, who saved her and recovered the plans. Crandall quickly became Marvex's best friend and willing assistant in his war against crime. She even saved his life at one point when, alerted by his radio-transmitted SOS calls, she tracked him to Dr. Narr's tower and freed him from a magnetic table. Although it is not clear, she may have had romantic designs on Marvex, although his acute awareness of his mechanical nature prevented any exploration of the subject.
Crandall demonstrated no noteworthy abilities, although she was brave and a decent shot with a revolver.
--Daring Mystery Comics#3/7 (Daring Mystery Comics#3/7, Daring Mystery Comics#4/5, Daring Mystery Comics#5/5
Bolo
Bolo was a member of a technologically-advanced race of large-headed humanoid beings who lived in the Fifth Dimension. He seemed to hold a position of authority, or at least respect, among his kind. He was inspired to create a robot slave by observing humans, but his creation Marvex rebelled, and killed Bolo.
Bolo was a skilled inventor and researcher in the robotic sciences. He wore a device of unknown function on his head which appeared to project energy of some kind. He may have had psionic abilities. He was physically weaker than Marvex.
Bolo's Fifth Dimension does not seem to be related to the Fifth Dimensions of either Diablo or Xemu, but so little of it is seen (mainly some mysterious smoke and the interior of Bolo's lab) that it cannot be ruled out.
--Daring Mystery Comics#3/7
Images:
Full shot - Daring Mystery Comics#5/5, p29, panel 4
Head shot (Shatner version) - Daring Mystery Comics#3/7, p46, panel 1
Head shot (later version) - Daring Mystery Comics#4/5, p36, panel 1
Clara Crandall - Daring Mystery Comics#5/5, p32, panel 3
Bolo - Daring Mystery Comics#3/7, p46, panel 2
Daring Mystery Comics#3/7 (April 1940) - unknown (script), possibly Allen Simon (pencils and inks)
Daring Mystery Comics#4/5 (May 1940) - unknown (script), Allen Simon (pencils and inks)
Daring Mystery Comics#5/5 (June 1940) - unknown (script), possibly Jack Alderman (pencils and inks)
Last updated: 06/24/06
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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