Prince Ra-Man
Prince Ra-Man | |
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maleficium and various magical artifacts |
Prince Ra-Man is a fictional comic book magician published by DC Comics. Mark Merlin first appeared in House of Secrets #23 (August 1959), and was created by Mort Meskin. Prince Ra-Man first appeared in House of Secrets #73 (July 1965), and was created by Jack Miller and Bernard Baily.[1]
Fictional character biography
Also known as the Mind Master, he was actually a Doctor Strange-style 'replacement' for a previous long-running series character in House of Secrets named Mark Merlin.[2] A blue suit and black bow tie-clad supernatural detective who lived in the small suburban hamlet of "Cloister" in a mansion on "Mystery Hill" that he had inherited from a stage magician uncle of the same name, Mark Merlin used its vast collection of occult literature and artifacts to battle those who would use the occult for evil ends with the assistance of his beautiful blond secretary/fiancee Elsa Magusson and his black cat Memakata who he found in the tomb of a pharaoh of the same name and whose body he could transfer his mind into with the help of an ancient cat-headed amulet.
When Mark Merlin is banished to the other-dimensional lost world of Ra by the lizard-masked villain the Gargoyle, using the
Although he longed to return to the peaceful paradise of Ra and Kranak's lovely dark-haired daughter Rimah, the bearded and brooding Ra-Man moved into the mansion, telling Elsa that Mark was dead, and vowed to continue his predecessor's work against the forces of evil. Riding around on his
The "Whatever Happened To Mark Merlin and Prince Ra-Man" backup story in DC Comics Presents #32 (April 1981) finally has Ra-Man reveal his full origin and true connection with Mark Merlin to Elsa whom he had kept it a secret from in the original series, with the Mind Master having been accidentally trapped in Memakata's body after a battle with Merlin's old archenemy Doctor-7 in the years since then.[7][8] Prince Ra-Man would later be killed in the last issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths. The only panel in which he appeared was his death scene, which was witnessed by the original Shade, the Changing Man.[9]
Later appearances
Ra-Man made a cameo appearance in Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man. He reappeared along with all the other characters who were killed in the Crisis, but the only parts of him that appeared where those that had not been destroyed by the antimatter wave. He appeared stuck on the wall in Arkham Asylum, begging for help.[10]
An aged, retired Mark Merlin appeared briefly in
In Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory, Zatanna met a floating fakir-like pale green-skinned, balding and big-headed being known as King Ra-Man in the process of investigating the coming Sheeda menace.[12] It is unclear if he is the same person as Prince Ra-Man or another more alien entity from his home dimension which is now referred to as the Interreality of Ra. He vowed that he would assume his 'Wrathful Battle Aspect' and fight the Sheeda. The 'six-sided sun jewel' of the original Ra-Man has now been replaced by the actual cube-shaped sun which, he points out, only looks hexagonal from a distance, which shines over Ra-Man's extra-dimensional realm as the direct source of his powers.
Mark Merlin's widow Elsa and Memakata reappear in
After
References
- ISBN 978-1605490557.
- ^ a b c Markstein, Don (2010). "Prince Ra-Man, Mind Master". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
The character came to be when powers within the company apparently decided Mark Merlin...wasn't working. Superheroes were what was selling, so that's what Mark needed to be replaced with. But instead of simply not using Mark Merlin anymore, and introducing something new where he'd formerly been, they attempted to retain whatever fans he may or may not have had by linking him to the new guy.
- ^ Haney, Bob (w), Baily, Bernard (p), Baily, Bernard (i). "The Death of Mark Merlin" House of Secrets, no. 73 (July-August 1965).
- ^ Haney, Bob (w), Sparling, Jack; Baily, Bernard (p), Sparling, Jack; Baily, Bernard (i). "Helio, the Sun Demon!" House of Secrets, no. 76 (January-February 1966).
- ^ Haney, Bob (w), Sparling, Jack; Baily, Bernard (p), Sparling, Jack; Baily, Bernard (i). "The Master of Yesterday and Tomorrow!" House of Secrets, no. 79 (July-August 1966).
- ^ Haney, Bob (w), Baily, Bernard (p), Baily, Bernard (i). "The Death of the Six-Sided Sun" House of Secrets, no. 80 (September-October 1966).
- Tiefenbacher, Mike (w), Saviuk, Alex (p), Colletta, Vince (i). "Whatever Happened to Mark Merlin and Prince Ra-Man?" DC Comics Presents, no. 32 (April 1981).
- ^ Wells, John (May 2013). "Flashback: Whatever Happened to...?". Back Issue! (64). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 51–61.
- ^ Wolfman, Marv (w), Pérez, George (p), Ordway, Jerry (i). "Final Crisis" Crisis on Infinite Earths, no. 12 (March 1986).
- , no. 23 (May 1990).
- ^ Brubaker, Ed (w), Castillo, Tommy (p), Von Grawbadger, Wade (i). "Dead Reckoning (part 3)" Detective Comics, no. 779 (April 2003).
- ^ Morrison, Grant (w), Sook, Ryan (p), Gray, Mick (i). "Talking Backwards Sdrawkcab Gniklat" Seven Soldiers: Zatanna, no. 1 (June 2005).
- ISBN 978-1401223137.
- ^ Robinson, James (w), Perez, Pere (p), Perez, Pere (i). "The Setup" Superman, no. 690 (September 2009).
- ^ Robinson, James (w), Dagnino. Fernando (p), Fernandez, Raúl (i). "Down Time" Superman, no. 692 (November 2009).
- ^ Rozum, John (w), Irving, Frazer (p), Irving, Frazer (i). "The Ninth Stronghold, Part Two: The Green House" Xombi, vol. 2, no. 2 (June 2011).
- ^ Orlando, Steve (w), Blanco, Fernando (p), Blanco, Fernando (i). Midnighter and Apollo, no. 1 (December 2016).
External links
- DCU Guide: Prince Ra-Man
- Mark Merlin/Prince Ra-Man at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
- Mark Merlin at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 13, 2016.