Mark Merlin
| Prince Ra-Man | |
|---|---|
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | (as Mark Merlin) House of Secrets #23 (August 1959) (as Prince Ra-Man) House of Secrets #73 (July 1965) |
| Created by |
Mort Meskin (writer and artist) Jack Miller (writer) Bernard Baily (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Mark Merlin |
| Species | demigod |
| Place of origin | Egypt (first incarnation), Ra (second incarnation) |
| Notable aliases | The Mind Master |
| Abilities | Mind-over-matter powers (levitation, ), invisibility, mastery of 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.
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. 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 mystic oil lamp of Imhotep, he gains mind over matter powers from an emerald-like six-sided jewel that represents the strange hexagon-shaped green sun that hangs above the ancient Egyptian-style realm and which grants all who dwell there immortality. However, he cannot return to Earth in his own body, so the kindly Kranak, a scientist-sorcerer who had led his persecuted peace-loving followers to the alien refuge of Ra over 4000 years ago, uses a potion to reincarnate Merlin's spirit and memories in the body and brain of a long-dead young wizard named Prince Ra-Man, a hero whom ancient legends proclaimed as the son of the sun god for whom their pyramided planetoid was named. The reborn Ra-Man is able to go to Earth in his place and defeat the Gargoyle with his mighty "mental beam" which gives him control over virtually all non-living matter, allowing him to telekinetically levitate objects and to transform stone, metal and even the air itself into other shapes and forms under his command.
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Wikipedia