GEORGE FARREN

Real Name: George Farren

Identity/Class: Human (1950s era)

Occupation: Scientist, inventor

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Two unidentified policemen

Enemies: Beetles, unidentified visitor

Known Relatives: Susan (daughter), unidentified wife

Aliases: "Fool" (as called by unidentified visitor)

Base of Operations: His home/workshop in an unidentified American city

First Appearance: Mystic#53/5 (November, 1956)

Powers/Abilities: An inventive genius who was interested in criminology, Farren built a machine that could detect the mental-patterns of criminals. He kept a handgun in his workshop.

Possibly suffering from some form of entomophobia (fear of insects), Farren had a dislike of beetles.

Farren was a devoted family-man who cherished his wife and daughter--when his daughter was endangered, his love for her gave him the inner strength to overpower the paralyzing mental abilities of an evil intruder.

Height: 5'10" (by approximation)
Weight: 160 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

History:
(Mystic#53/5 (fb) - BTS) - The past of George Farren is unrevealed, but sometime after he married, he and his wife eventually had a daughter.

   Years later, in an effort to help law-enforcement combat crime, Farren began working on a machine that could detect criminal mind-patterns.

(Mystic#53/5) - One night, Farren invited two police officers into his workshop and showed them his nearly-completed machine--upon hearing about the device's potential capabilities, the lawmen were impressed that it would be quite an asset for locating and apprehending criminals. Farren promised them that he'd have the machine finished for a test by the next day.

   After the cops left, Farren's wife and daughter came in the workshop. While Farren kissed little Susan goodnight, his wife offered to make him something for supper; but Farren told his spouse he wanted to finish his work on the machine, and suggested that she not wait up for him.

   The hours passed as Farren continued his work late into the night, and at 1:00 AM, he was finally finished with the machine. Wanting to give the device a short trial test to make sure all was in order for the demonstration, Farren activated it and was pleased to find that it worked--because of the lateness of the hour, there weren't too many people on the almost deserted streets, but the machine's video screen displayed the brain patterns of those that were.

   But then the screen showed an incredibly exaggerated pattern of a criminal mind--Farren was shocked, for no man had ever been known to have a brain of such scope and magnitude! Suddenly, the evil of that superior brain seemed to focus and probe at Farren's own mind, and it learned that he had a dislike of beetles--to his horror, Farren found himself surrounded by a swarm of giant beetles! But realizing that the insects were merely illusions, projected from that evil mind to weaken his willpower, Farren resisted, finally convincing himself that the beetles weren't real. The insects vanished, and Farren was wearied from his traumatic experience, so he was about to call the police to get help.

   But at that moment, an unidentified visitor entered Farren's workshop and revealed himself to be the possessor of that powerful mind. The immortal stranger revealed scant details about his background (see comments), then boasted that soon he would use the tremendous wisdom and power his mind had accumulated to enslave the world.

   Farren pulled out his handgun and ordered the intruder not to move--using the power of his mind, the visitor instead paralyzed Farren where he stood and the inventor was helpless.

   But then there were the sounds of tiny footsteps beyond the workshop door, and a little girl's voice calling for her Daddy--desperately trying to protect his daughter from danger, the immobilized Farren pleaded with Susan not to open the door. But the distraction drew the attention of the evil visitor--he turned his back to Farren, and as his hand reached for the doorknob, he vowed to "take care" of the child so she did not arouse others.

   Upon hearing the visitor's veiled threat to his daughter, Farren broke free from the spell that had frozen him--now able to move, he ran up to the visitor and clubbed him from behind with the butt of his handgun, and the visitor fell to the floor.

   With the menace of the evil intruder ended, Farren called out to his daughter behind the door--he told her that everything was all right, and that there was nothing to be afraid of...now. He lovingly assured Susan that he'd never let anything hurt her, and the little girl went back to bed.

   As he stood over the prostrate form of his fallen foe, Farren credited his love for his daughter for giving him the strength to overcome the spell of the sinister visitor.

Comments: Created an unidentified writer and Robert Q. Sale.

This story--He Walks the Night!--was only 4-pages, so there were very few details provided.

The evil stranger was never identified, but two captions referred to him as "the visitor".

The visitor's true nature was never revealed. Considering his connection to the Egyptian gods, maybe his powers were supernaturally-based; and as for his immortality, maybe he drank from the Pool of Blood and was once a member of the Immortal Nine.

Or maybe he was mutant--his illusions of giant beetles reminded me of the giant insect illusions created by mutant Roger Carstairs.

And since he claimed to have originated in ancient Egypt, maybe he had some connection to Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur), Shamaz, or Pharaoh Rama-Tut.

In regards to the visitor's fate: The last words of Farren's soliloquy in the final story panel (So, I have destroyed you!) would seem to imply that he killed the visitor; maybe Farren originally shot the visitor, but the Comics Code objected to the violent depiction, so the panel was redrawn with Farren only pistol-whipping him.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
George Farren has no known connections to:

The unidentified visitor has no known connections to:

Mrs. George Farren and Susan Farren

They were the wife (first name unrevealed) and daughter of inventor George Farren, and he loved them both dearly.

Late one night, Susan awoke and went to her father's workshop, just as a sinister intruder with extraordinary mental abilities had paralyzed her father. But when the evil visitor threatened Susan, Farren managed to overcome the paralyzing spell, then protected his daughter by clubbing the visitor with his handgun.

--Mystic#53/5

George Farren's machine

It was a device created by Farren to help police locate and apprehend criminals.

When activated, the machine displayed squiggly lines on its video screen, which represented people's mind-patterns--criminal minds were represented by an S-shaped pattern. The operating range of this device was unrevealed.

If his machine proved to be successful, Farren envisioned a future where the mind-patterns of criminals would be recorded and placed on file like fingerprints.

Late one night, after completing the machine, Farren activated it and was shocked to see a huge S-pattern displayed on the screen, which indicated an extremely powerful criminal mind.

Shortly afterward, Farren received a visit from an evil stranger whose superior mind had caused that exaggerated display.

--Mystic#53/5

Beetles

For some unrevealed reason, inventor George Farren disliked beetles.

When his machine detected the presence of an incredibly powerful evil mind, the possessor of that mind mentally probed Farren's own mind and learned that he disliked beetles. Immediately afterward, Farren was attacked by a swarm of giant beetles.

But Farren quickly realized that the insects were only an illusion that was projected by the evil mind to weaken his willpower.

Farren finally managed to convince himself that the insects weren't real, and the giant beetles vanished.

--Mystic#53/5

unidentified visitor

His name and true nature unrevealed (see comments), he was a mysterious stranger endowed with extraordinary mental abilities, including some degree of telepathy, illusion-casting, and the power to dominate the minds of others.

He claimed to have walked the Earth since the days of ancient Egypt, where he had been a priest of Isis and discovered the secret of immortality. He believed that "The First Law of Man" is survival, and he survived by killing any who got an inkling of his secret. He planned to use his power to enslave the world.

But his presence was inadvertently discovered by inventor George Farren, whose machine detected his powerful mental patterns.

He first probed Farren's mind, and learned that the inventor disliked beetles, so he projected an illusion of giant beetles to weaken Farren's willpower; but Farren was able to resist the attack.

He then went to Farren's workshop, where he used his superior mind to paralyze the inventor; but when he threatened Farren's daughter, the immobilized inventor was able to overcome his paralysis, then clubbed the evil visitor with his handgun.

The unidentified visitor's final fate remains unrevealed. (see comments).

--Mystic#53/5

images: (without ads)
Mystic#53/5, p1, pan1 (Main Image - George Farren, standing behind machine)
Mystic#53/5, p3, pan2 (Headshot - George Farren, surrounded by illusory beetles)
Mystic#53/5, p4, pan1 (George Farren (left) holds unidentified visitor at gunpoint)
Mystic#53/5, p4, pan5 (George Farren clubs unidentified visitor with the butt of his handgun)
Mystic#53/5, p4, pan7 (standing over fallen unidentified visitor, George Farren credits his love for his daughter for giving him the strength to overcome his paralysis)
Mystic#53/5, p2, pan1 (Mrs. Farren and Susan; George Farren)
Mystic#53/5, p2, pan2 (George Farren holding Susan; Mrs. Farren)
Mystic#53/5, p2, pan3 (George Farren embracing his wife)
Mystic#53/5, p1, pan2 (George Farren explains his machine to two unidentified policemen)
Mystic#53/5, p2, pan5 (George Farren looks at video screen as he first activates his machine)
Mystic#53/5, p2, pan6 (George Farren's machine detects mind of unidentified visitor)
Mystic#53/5, p3, pan3 (unidentified visitor's illusory beetles attack George Farren)
Mystic#53/5, p3, pan6 (unidentified visitor enters George Farren's workshop)
Mystic#53/5, p3, pan7 (unidentified visitor)
Mystic#53/5, p4, pan2 (unidentified visitor paralyzes George Farren's will)
Mystic#53/5, p4, pan4 (distracted unidentified visitor turns to threaten Susan (behind door), thus breaking spell that held George Farren frozen)

Appearances:
Mystic#53/5 (November, 1956) - unidentified writer, Robert Q. Sale (pencils and inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 10/12/2020
Last updated: 10/12/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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