HARRY SIKES

Real Name: Harry Sikes

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Criminal fugitive

Group Membership: Unkillables (Marjorie Brink, Immortalis, Madcap, Scavenger, Vic Slaughter, Suicide, Yi Yang)

Affiliations: Corruptor, Flip, Professor Hogarth (until he killed him), Wolverine (Logan/James Howlett);
formerly Contagion (Winsor)

Enemies: Contagion (Winsor), police officers;
formerly Wolverine

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: Menace#3/4 (May, 1953)

Powers/Abilities: Harry Sikes was mutated by a rejuvenation serum which gave him the ability to heal from any mortal wounds instantaneously, allowing him to live forever; it even allowed him to survive without the need for food or air. Sikes also carried a standard handgun.

History: (Menace#3/4) - Listed as Public Enemy #1, criminal Harry Sikes was on the run from the law. Hiding in an alley, he narrowly eluded two cops. Looking for another hiding place, he came upon an old, dark brownstone house with the front door wide open. Sikes raced inside and slammed the door shut behind him. Thinking the house abandoned, he was surprised to see lights on upstairs. Walking up the stairs and through a doorway, Sikes found a fully stocked laboratory and an elderly man lying on the floor. The man identified himself as Professor Hogarth, who was working on his experiment when he had a stroke and collapsed to the floor. Sikes demanded to know what kind of experiment Hogarth was working on, and Hogarth explained he'd invented a serum which could rejuvenate the tissues of a human body -- one sip of the serum would enable a man to live forever. When Sikes found the serum, Hogarth begged Sikes to let him have it, but Sikes shot him and drank the serum himself. Sikes felt a change immediately -- he felt younger, stronger, as though he'd never die.

The two cops heard Sikes' gunshot and went in through the window to investigate, so Sikes made a run for it. As he raced out the door, Sikes felt a bullet hit him in the chest, then another one hit him in the thigh, but he kept running. As Sikes looked down, he noticed that his wounds were gone! The serum had worked! The cops continued their foot chase when Sikes ran across the street and in front of a speeding truck. The truck hit him and threw him a block away, but Sikes got up, unhurt -- further proof that the serum worked!

After fleeing the police, Sikes climbed aboard a freight train bound for Louisiana, where he planned to hide out in the bayou country until he was forgotten -- he figured he could hide there for years because he had forever to live.

A week later, a guide led Sikes into the swamp, and he assured Sikes that nobody on Earth could ever find him except for the guide himself, so Sikes shot him in the back. Walking through the swamp and daydreaming about his future, Sikes was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice his feet sinking in the mud. As he continued to sink deeper and deeper, he realized it wasn't mud -- it was quicksand! He struggled (to no avail) to get out, but continued to sink further down. As the sand got into his mouth...nose...throat...lungs, he continued to stay alive, and Harry Sikes realized his horrific fate -- he would have nothing but an eternity ahead of him, buried at the bottom of a pit of quicksand while worms devoured his flesh.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#1) - Marjorie Brink tracked down Harry Sikes for Winsor. Arriving in the Bayou swamps Brink monitored Suicide and Vic Slaughter retrieving Sikes from the quicksand pit. Sikes was left in a mindless state.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#2 - BTS) - Winsor controlled Sikes with Corruptor's sweat and sent him against Wolverine.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4 (fb) - BTS) - Winsor tested Scavenger's life force absorbing powers on Harry Sikes, who recovered quickly, but couldn't comment on the experience because he was still mindless.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#2) - When Wolverine returned to the night club where Winsor had attempted to gain control over him the previous night, Sikes attacked him and got his limbs cut off by Wolverine. Wolverine decapitated him and tossed his head away after defeating Madcap.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#3) - Healed up Sikes joined the other Unkillables in the lab after Wolverine was finally caught and listened to Winsor's ramblings.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#4) - Winsor tested a new virus on Sikes because he had the most powerful healing factor.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#6) - Sikes sat in a corner in Winsor's office when Wolverine attacked. After Winsor was gone Marjorie Brink used Corruptor's sweat, which Winsor had put on her pencils' rubber to control her, to force Sikes to feel better again, returning Sikes' normal mental faculties to him.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#11) - Winsor infected Sikes with a virus that left him a withered husk.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#12) - Winsor's son Flip telepathically aided Sikes to heal. Sikes then joined Wolverine and the other Unkillables in devouring Winsor to end his threat. Afterward Sikes and Marjorie Brink decided to keep the other Unkillables in line by turning them into a mercenary crew.





Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely.

This story ("You're Gonna Live Forever") was reprinted in Weird Wonder Tales#8 (February, 1975).

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
Harry Sikes has no known connections to:

  • Mister Immortal, of the GLA, who has similar powers @ Avengers West Coast#46
  • Slugger Sykes, former owner of Replicus @ Thor I#141
  • any other characters with similar names

Professor Hogarth has no known connection to:

  • Jeryn Hogarth, founder of the Heroes for Hire @ Marvel Premiere#24
  • Hoggoth, of the Vishanti; first mentioned @ Strange Tales I#116
  • any other character with a similar name

Professor Hogarth

A chemist who created a rejuvenation serum, he unfortunately suffered a stroke before he could test it on himself and collapsed to the floor. He would have starved to death if not for being found by fugitive Harry Sikes. Hogarth told Sikes about his serum, and after Sikes found it, he killed Hogarth.

--Menace#3/4

 

 

 

 


images: (without ads)
Menace#3, p17, pan1 (main image)
  p23, pan6 (head shot)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#3, p12, pan4 (with Unkillables)
Menace#3, p20, pan2 (Professor Hogarth)


Appearances:
Menace#3 (May, 1953) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Joe Maneely (artist)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#1-2 (February-March, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#3 (April, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Axel Alonso (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#4 (May, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#6-7 (Juliy-August, 2011) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Wolverine: The Best There Is#11-12 (January, 2012) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)


First Posted: 06/09/2006
Last updated: 06/23/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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