Post by dans on Sept 5, 2020 23:08:19 GMT
Master Mystic is a public domain character who had only 1 published adventure. You can find it online at Comic Book Plus by searching for "Green Giant Comics". It is poorly written with almost no details about the hero, no backstory, no dialog, no characterization, no supporting characters. And it was displayed in three colors (red, black and white) so I don't really even know what his costume looks like!
This is my rewrite of that story. I added a few details, and there may be more to come - I'm working on an oath for him, and I may change his civilian identity, and if I ever write any more stories about him, I will add some backstory. So here it is...
Update: Read The Origin of Master Mystic
Master Mystic: The Ravages of Rango
The Mystic Spire In a remote location not far from Ashville, North Carolina, atop Mount Mitchell, the highest mountain in the eastern United States, stands a mysterious spire. Built from rough, unfinished blocks of granite mined from the famous Mt. Airy quarry 150 miles to the northeast, seemingly piled together without mortar, the spire towers high above the mountain's peak like an arm raised in triumph to the sky. This is the Tower of Serenity, home to Master Mystic. Even in the calmest weather, the peaceful wind caressing the rough granite produces whispers which promise to reveal all of the secrets ever known, if only one can hear them more clearly and distinguish one voice from the others... In high winds, the whispers raise to a cacophony of dueling, shouting voices, fearsome to hear. A large room inside the giant highly polished marble globe topping the spire is totally filled with advanced futuristic electronic gear, monitoring all of the electronic communications in the world, television, telephone, telegraph, radio and radar. And monitoring these incredible instruments is the mental marvel formerly known only as Alex Gael, the man with the most highly evolved mind known to this dimension's branch of humanity, who has recently determined to use his vast mental powers of mind over matter as Master Mystic, Guardian of the World! |  |
Rango
Not long ago in the European country of Slavonia, the evil genius Rango, would-be conqueror of the continent, labored day and night in his laboratory until…
"At last! I have succeeded! I have compounded this new drug, which will transform me into a GIANT! Revenge will soon be mine!" The bald, poorly shaven man pulled back the sleeve of his white lab coat, revealing that his arms and body were heavily covered in thick hair, and injected the contents of a large hypodermic needle into his forearm. He stood, trembling, for several seconds, and then his body started to exude a noxious, oily vapor. And then the building was destroyed as if by an explosion, as a 70 foot tall, giant ape-like monster burst forth!
Rango quickly devastated Bydańsk, the seaport capital city of Slavonia, where his lab was located. No building could stand against his overpowering might, and he seemed invulnerable to any weapons fire the Slavonic military could bring to bear. Before long, he decided that the United States would be a better target - he could conquer "First America, then the world!"
Maybe the giant Rango swam across the Atlantic. Master Mystic theorized that perhaps he climbed aboard an oil tanker in the Bydańsk harbor, threatened to sink the ship unless they took him to the US, and then sank the ship anyway, several miles offshore, and then swam the rest of the way. It was 1940 after all, and a lot of ships on the Atlantic were mysteriously going missing… Another theory is that perhaps the German military aided him, either on board a ship or even one of their giant zeppelins. In any case, he came ashore on the coast of South Carolina and began working his way north toward New York City.
"At last! I have succeeded! I have compounded this new drug, which will transform me into a GIANT! Revenge will soon be mine!" The bald, poorly shaven man pulled back the sleeve of his white lab coat, revealing that his arms and body were heavily covered in thick hair, and injected the contents of a large hypodermic needle into his forearm. He stood, trembling, for several seconds, and then his body started to exude a noxious, oily vapor. And then the building was destroyed as if by an explosion, as a 70 foot tall, giant ape-like monster burst forth!
Rango quickly devastated Bydańsk, the seaport capital city of Slavonia, where his lab was located. No building could stand against his overpowering might, and he seemed invulnerable to any weapons fire the Slavonic military could bring to bear. Before long, he decided that the United States would be a better target - he could conquer "First America, then the world!"
Maybe the giant Rango swam across the Atlantic. Master Mystic theorized that perhaps he climbed aboard an oil tanker in the Bydańsk harbor, threatened to sink the ship unless they took him to the US, and then sank the ship anyway, several miles offshore, and then swam the rest of the way. It was 1940 after all, and a lot of ships on the Atlantic were mysteriously going missing… Another theory is that perhaps the German military aided him, either on board a ship or even one of their giant zeppelins. In any case, he came ashore on the coast of South Carolina and began working his way north toward New York City.
Fight to the Finish
In his tower, Master Mystic was alerted to the arrival of the rampaging monster by his radio monitors. Before he responded, he raced into his meditation chamber where he took an instant to recite a focusing mantra.
My intent is just, my heart is pure, My will is strong, my mind is sure, I summon the power of mental might, To aid me in the cause of right! |  |
He willed himself to be immune to gravity, and was in the air within seconds, and raced to the New Jersey coast at his greatest speed. Along the way, he projected his voice to the cities in his path, reassuring the populace that "Rango will be destroyed!"
He landed in front of the monster, who was 10 times his height. "Rango, your rampage stops NOW, and you will pay dearly for the thousands you've killed!"
Rango merely roared in anger, and then, moving much faster than Master Mystic had expected, reached down and grabbed the tiny figure in front of him and squeezed, expecting to crush the body of the hero to a bloody pulp. He roared even louder as Mystic changed his body to insubstantial vapor and floated out of the monster's grasp.
Mystic concentrated and an aerial torpedo sprang into existence, which he then launched at the monster. Rango laughed as he caught it and threw it away: "Bah! A mere toy!" Slamming his hand into the rocky ground below him, he broke chunks of bedrock into boulders roughly the size of a living room sofa, and threw a half dozen boulders at the hero.
The boulders came to a halt, and floated in the air between Master Mystic and Rango for a few seconds, then simply fell to the ground.
"It pains me deeply to take any life, monster, but you have killed thousands, and to let you live will endanger many other thousands. By your own actions, you have brought your fate on yourself!" Small bolts of mental energy, made visible by Master Mystic, flashed from the head of the mental marvel and struck Rango in the forehead. They bored through his skull and into his brain, and then the flesh of the crazed colossus began to melt. Rango roared in panic, and turned to run, but his melting legs would no longer support him, and he collapsed into a quivering blob, which quickly seeped into the shattered ground… and then, the evil that was Rango was gone.