ANDREAS FLEC

Real Name: Andreas Flec

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Hermit

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Marie

Enemies: An angry mob of villagers

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The Monster" (as called by villagers); "The Monster Man" (on cover)

Base of Operations: His castle on the outskirts of an unidentified European village

First Appearance: Chamber of Darkness#4/1 (April, 1970)

Powers/Abilities: None. Andreas Flec seemed to be an ordinary human whose only distinguishing feature was that his face was deformed.

History: (Chamber of Darkness#4 (fb) BTS) - Because of his monstrous appearance, Andreas Flec had to spend the years of his life in the solitude of his castle, where he lived in contentment with his only companion, Marie.

(Chamber of Darkness#4) - One day, Flec rode into the nearby village and was immediately met with fear and suspicion by the villagers. There had been hard times for the village -- failure of crops, sickness, poverty -- and the superstitious people suspected Flec of being a sorcerer, fearing that he was the cause of their troubles.

Flec went to the tinker's shop and purchased a music box that he commissioned the tinker to build for him. The box played a strange tune that the tinker's wife suspected was for some devil's ritual.

As Flec mounted his horse-drawn carriage and departed the village, a crowd of people called after him with shrill shouts of hate. When some villagers accused Flec of almost running them down, the crowd was roused into an angry mob and went into action to rid themselves of Flec.

Meanwhile, Flec returned to his castle retreat and presented the music box to Marie, then he read to her favorite sonnets from a book of poetry as the radiant beauty sat serene and loyal, listening attentively to Flec's every word, giving Andreas Flec the perfect world. But unknown to Flec, two villagers were watching him through the window -- seeing how still Marie sat, they thought she was spellbound by Flec and was being held as his prisoner. The two villagers ran off to alert the others.

Later, Flec saw the mob of villagers carrying torches, pitchforks, and guns approaching his castle. Flec grabbed an antique pistol to frighten them off and protect Marie, but the mob battered down the door and, upon seeing the monstrous-looking man brandishing the pistol, they shot him. The mob rejoiced because "The Monster" was now dead and they had saved the girl...but when they looked down at Marie, they saw that "she" was only a manikin! At that point, they realized the sad truth -- all those years, shut away from reality, Andreas Flec had been living a delusional existence; he was only a tragic hermit, and the villagers saw it was they who were the monsters...

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby & John Verpoorten.

In trying to figure out what time-period this story took place, I would have initially placed it in the late 19th/early 20th century because no modern conveniences (i.e. automobiles, electric lights, etc.) were shown.

However, the cover of this issue (art by Marie Severin/Bill Everett), which features this story, shows quite an anachronism -- a young women wearing a mini-skirt and go-go boots! Although this character never appeared in the story itself (all of the villagers are dressed more conservatively), based on the cover alone, I would say that places the story of Andreas Flec in the modern era.

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
Andreas Flec/"The Monster"/"The Monster Man" has no known connections to:


Marie

The only companion of the reclusive Andreas Flec, she was actually just a manikin given "life" by his loneliness.

--Chamber of Darkness#4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


images:
Chamber of Darkness#4, Cover (main image)

p2, pan3 (head shot)
p4, pan5 (Marie sitting at table)
p7, pan3 (the truth about Marie revealed)


Appearances:
Chamber of Darkness#4 (April, 1970) - Jack Kirby (writer/pencils), John Verpoorten (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Giant-Size Chillers#3 (August, 1975) - reprint


Last updated: 10/28/06

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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