MR. OCTI

Real Name: Octi (presumably; see comments)

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (race unrevealed) (1950s era)

Occupation: Scout

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Brad Forest and his family

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Temporarily in the home of Brad Forest, somewhere in America;
   originally from the planet Orion II

First Appearance: Mystic#54/1 (December, 1956)

Powers/Abilities: His true form unrevealed, the extraterrestrial Mr. Octi had assumed a human appearance because he thought Earthlings might be shocked if they saw him as he truly was--it was unrevealed whether his human appearance was attributed to a physical shape-shifting ability, or to some form of mental illusion-casting.

   Mr. Octi also demonstrated the power of telepathy, and he could mentally overpower the brain and speech of at least one person at a time, such as when he dominated Brad Forest's mind--it was unrevealed if any of his abilities were a common trait of his race, or unique to Mr. Octi alone.

   Originating from a highly cultured race that abhorred violence, Mr. Octi came to Earth in a small spaceship (not depicted) to scout for a potential invasion by his people; but the passive alien was horrified by the violent entertainment that humans watched on television, so he terminated his mission and returned to his homeworld.

Height: Unrevealed; (human form) 6'2" (by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed; (human form) 190 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed; (human form) Brown

History:
(Mystic#54/1 (fb) - BTS) - (Per Mr. Octi's account) The inhabitants of the planet Orion II were very cultured, and they abhorred violence (Their idea of "sports" were communal singing and interpretive composing). When their small homeworld became overpopulated, they sought to find another planet to occupy; they considered Earth to possess all the resources they needed, so they planned to take control of the world.

   Mr. Octi assumed a human appearance, and he was ordered to spend twelve hours in the company of a representative family of intelligent Earthlings, so he could study them and learn the weaknesses and strengths of humans.

   With his people's invading space-fleet standing by and waiting for his report, Mr. Octi left Orion II in his spaceship and landed on Earth; under unrevealed circumstances, he went to a city and came into contact with scientist Brad Forest--Mr. Octi took control of Forest's mind.

(Mystic#54/1) - The alien mentally forced the scientist to take him to his home, and as they walked from the city to the suburbs, Mr. Octi informed Brad Forest of his mission--he assured Forest that his family would suffer no harm from his visit.

   When they reached the front yard of Forest's house, they saw the scientist's sons (see comments) playing cowboys and having a "shoot-out"--Mr. Octi found the boys' behavior to be barbaric.

   They went inside the house, and Forest introduced Mr. Octi as a fellow scientist to his wife, Mary, and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Tanley (see comments)--Mr. Octi was disgusted when he saw Forest and his wife "rubbing lips" (kissing).

   The Forest family and their "guest" sat down to eat dinner, but Mr. Octi was nauseated to learn that the meal would consist of the flesh of living animals and living plant life, rather than synthetics, so he excused himself from the table.

   After dinner, Mr. Octi joined the family in the living room, where the boys were watching a Western TV program (Kid Lariat)--he was horrified that the children were indoctrinated by such violence.

   When the boys went to bed, Forest changed the channel so he could watch a boxing match from Madison Square Garden--Mr. Octi found the pugilistic competition to be nothing but savagery.

   Taking Mr. Octi's revulsion into consideration, Forest offered to turn the television off...but then Mrs. Tanley came in to watch the wrestling matches--seeing the brutal bout between the two grapplers proved to be too much for Mr. Octi, so the alien released his mental hold on Forest and walked out of the house.

   Following Mr. Octi out the front door, Forest asked the alien why he had freed his mind; Mr. Octi replied that he was going to depart--he was overwhelmed by the savagery and violence of Earthlings, and he was going to report back to his planet and warn his people never to come near Earth!

   Mr. Octi made a bargain with Forest--he promised the scientist that the inhabitants of Orion II would not come to Earth if humans (when they attained space flight) would stay away from Orion II; Forest assured Mr. Octi that Earth people would never go to Orion II...not in his lifetime, anyway!

   Mr. Octi hastily left for the secret hiding place of the small spaceship that would take him back to his own planet; as he watched the alien walk away, Brad Forest was relieved--because of Mr. Octi's false impression of humans' true nature and way of life, Earth would be safe!

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Joe Sinnott (artist).

In this 4-page story--Who Steals My Brain--this character was always referred to as "Mr. Octi," which is why I included that title of courtesy throughout this profile.

The black-haired boy was confirmed to be Brad Forest's son because he addressed Mary as "Ma," plus he had the same hair-color as his parents; but I'm only assuming that blond-haired kid was Forest's other son--he could have just been a playmate of Brad's son who was spending the night at their place.

Since his homeworld was Orion II, maybe Mr. Octi had some connection to Orion Rex.

Mr. Octi's disgusted reaction to television reminded me of the Poppupian Impossible Man, who had an entirely different reaction when he discovered the boob-tube (@ Fantastic Four I#177).

And I wonder if the name of Brad Forest's mother-in-law--Mrs. Tanley--was meant to be a secret reference (Mrs Tanley... MrS Tanley... Mr Stanley... Mr Stan Lee).

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Mr. Octi has no known connections to:

Brad Forest has no known connections to:

Brad Forest

A scientist working on space flight, he lived with his family in the suburbs.

While Brad was walking home from the city, his mind was overpowered by Mr. Octi, an extraterrestrial from the planet Orion II; Mr. Octi was scouting for a potential invasion by his people, and the alien wanted to spend some time with Forest's family so he could study the strengths and weaknesses of humans.

Brad was forced to take Mr. Octi to his home and introduce him to his family--although Brad could still maintain some degree of autonomy and go about his daily routine, he was unable to tell his family the truth about Mr. Octi, because the alien was controlling his brain and speech.

But after being exposed to the family's "savage" behavior and "violent" television viewing habits, the passive Mr. Octi found Earth to be unsuitable for his highly cultured people.

Mr. Octi released Forest from his mental control, then promised the scientist that his people would not come to Earth if humans (when they attained space flight) stayed away from Orion II; Brad assured the alien that Earthlings would never go to Orion II... at least not in his lifetime!

As he watched Mr. Octi hastily walk back to his hidden spaceship, Brad was relieved that Earth was spared from an invasion because of the alien's false impression that he had of humans.

--Mystic#54/1

Brad Forest's family

The relatives of scientist Brad Forest, they included his wife Mary, his two sons (names unrevealed (see comments)), and his mother-in-law Mrs. Tanley (first name unrevealed).

One evening, Brad came home with Mr. Octi, whom he introduced as a fellow scientist--unbeknownst to the family members, their "guest" was actually an extraterrestrial who was in control of Brad's mind, and the alien came to Earth to study a human family and gather information for an invasion by his people.

When they first arrived at Forest's home, Mr. Octi saw the boys playing cowboys in the front-yard and having a "shoot-out"--Mr. Octi found the boys behavior to be barbaric.

Mary had just cooked a delicious dinner of fried chicken, beef kidney pie, vegetables, potatoes, raw salad, and apple pie--the nauseated Mr. Octi turned down the meal because it consisted of the flesh of living animals and living plant life, rather than synthetics.

Mr. Octi was in the living room when the two boys were watching a Western TV program--Mr. Octi was horrified that the children were indoctrinated in such violence.

Later, Mrs. Tanley came in to watch the wrestling matches--the televised bout between the two grapplers proved to be too much for Mr. Octi, so he released Brad Forest from his mental control and left Earth.

The Forest family's behavior and television viewing habits left the passive Mr. Octi with the false impression that humans were too violent for his highly cultured people.

--Mystic#54/1

images: (without ads)
Mystic#54/1, p1, pan1 (Main Image - Mr. Octi's human form)
Mystic#54/1, p2, pan3 (Headshot - Mr. Octi tells Brad Forest about his planet and his mission)
Mystic#54/1, p4, pan3 (Mr. Octi (right) appalled by wrestling match on television; Brad Forest (left), Mrs. Tanley (background))
Mystic#54/1, p4, pan5 (Mr. Octi tells Brad Forest that his people will not invade Earth)
Mystic#54/1, p1, pan1 (Brad Forest)
Mystic#54/1, p4, pan7 (Brad Forest watches Mr. Octi walk away to his spaceship)
Mystic#54/1, p2, pan6 (Brad Forest kisses his wife Mary, Mrs. Tanley (background); Mr. Octi (right) watches in disgust)
Mystic#54/1, p2, pan7 (Mary Forest, Brad Forest, Mrs. Tanley, Mr. Octi at dinner table)
Mystic#54/1, p3, pan5 (Brad Forest's sons watch television; Mr. Octi, Brad Forest (background))

Appearances:
Mystic#54/1 (December, 1956) - unidentified writer, Joe Sinnott (pencils and inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 05/30/2019
Last updated: 05/30/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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