CARL TERREL

Real Name: Carl Terrel

Identity/Class: Human mutant (Pre-Modern era)

Occupation: Unrevealed (see comments)

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Justin Ford

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unidentified city, somewhere in America; temporarily in Boonetown

First Appearance: Spellbound I#30/1 (October, 1956)

Powers/Abilities: Terrel was a mutant with some degree of psionic abilities, including telepathy and telekinesis, the limits of which were unrevealed (see comments). He seemed to have little control over his powers, and always had to be on guard against accidentally using them while around others.

Because of his mutant nature, Terrel felt alienated from the human race, resulting in him suffering from bouts of loneliness and depression.

But after engaging in a battle of wills against a mutant adversary with similar powers, Terrel's mental abilities were apparently neutralized, leaving him a happier man.

Height: Unrevealed (6'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Brown

History:
(Spellbound I#30/1 (fb) - BTS) - Unknowingly born a mutant, Carl Terrel sensed he was "different" at a young age; consequently, he was afraid to make friends. Even when he became an adult, he experienced great loneliness because of the "difference" in himself. At some point, he began to suffer from headaches... and with the headaches gradually came his psionic abilities; he tried to ignore the headaches, hoping they would go away.

(Spellbound I#30/1 (fb)) - While Terrel was away in a different town, he experienced another headache, so for the first time in his life, he went to see a doctor (see comments). But after his physical examination, Terrel overheard the doctor in the next room discussing his findings with a colleague--the physicians were amazed to discover that Terrel was "not at all normal," so Terrel quickly fled the doctor's office and left the town.

(Spellbound I#30/1) - A week later, while Terrel was asleep in his apartment, he was awakened in the middle of the night by another headache... and with it would come his strange power. As he got dressed, he thought about his previous visit to the doctor, and lamented his lonely, solitary life. While smoking a cigarette, he levitated an ashtray to him from across the room; he longed to find someone like himself, then he wouldn't feel so lonely.

   Later, when he was at work, Terrel had to be on constant guard for fear of accidentally using his powers around others; he avoided the temptation of reading his coworkers' minds and dictating their actions, because he felt it was wrong.

   Terrel returned to his apartment after work, feeling like he could endure his loneliness no longer, and he desperately wished there were someone like himself that he could confide in. Then a "voice" came quivering in his mind, at first faint, but gaining strength. The stranger's projected telepathic "voice" confirmed that Terrel was a mutant like himself, and told him they could do many things together. Terrel anxiously wanted to have a face-to-face meeting with the stranger, so the telepathic "voice" identified himself as Justin Ford, and gave Terrel an address in nearby Boonetown where they could meet.

   With happiness bubbling up in him, Terrel made the hour's drive to Boonetown, feeling that he would never know loneliness again after meeting his "brother," Justin Ford. But as Terrel got to the outskirts of the town, he was stopped by a police roadblock; after checking Terrel's driver's license and confirming he had no outstanding warrants, the police officer let Terrel pass through, informing him that there was a crime wave of strange happenings in Boonetown, and they were keeping everyone with a criminal record away until things got straightened out.

   Once in Boonetown, Terrel bought a local newspaper and read the headlines that described the unusual robberies that had occurred: bank money had just disappeared, cashiers claimed they were hypnotized, and jewelry floated through the air and out of jewelry stores. Terrel instinctively knew that the culprit was Ford, and that he was using his powers for criminal purposes, to loot the town.

   Then Terrel "heard" Ford's telepathic "voice" again--Ford admitted to the crimes, and urged Terrel to meet him so they could make plans, for there was no one in the world who could cope with their combined powers. But Terrel refused Ford's offer--they may have had the same powers, but he realized that Ford was evil, and he wouldn't join him in his criminal pursuits. Ford's "voice" responded that he would have to destroy Terrel, because he was the only one who knew the truth about him.

   When Terrel bolted back to his car to leave, the vehicle suddenly burst into flame (see comments). Continuing to run through the streets and into a dark alley, Terrel suddenly stopped and turned, a look of grim determination on his face--he realized that when Ford reached his full power, the evil mutant would turn from petty crime and try to loot and rule the entire world. Knowing that he was the only one capable of stopping Ford, Terrel believed that it was his destiny to defy him.

   At the end of the alley, the shadowy figure of Justin Ford formed, and Terrel fiercely projected his powers against him, pitting his will against the will of the other mutant, his strange mental strength against Justin Ford's evil power. During the psionic battle, Terrel pushed his power to its fullest, striking at the seat of his adversary's power, an inner lobe of Ford's mutant brain. Just as he thought he would be overwhelmed by exhaustion, Terrel saw the shadowy figure collapse and topple forward, and thus knew he had defeated Ford. But Terrel discovered that as a result of the strain of their psychic battle, his own mutant powers were gone as well, and both he and Ford would now be like all others, just ordinary men!

   Sighing with relief, the elated Carl Terrel turned and walked out of the alley, feeling he would no longer be lonely, for he could now face the world and live without being "different"... (see comments)

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Doug Wildey.

This 4-page story--He Must Be Destroyed--never revealed Terrel's occupation; he was once depicted in an office environment (see fourth image above), but he seemed to be familiar with Boonetown--maybe he was a traveling salesman for some company.

The full strength of Terrel's telekinesis is unrevealed, since he was only depicted using it once, when he levitated that ashtray (see third image above).

I'm assuming that Terrel's car burst into flame as a result of Ford also having the power of pyrokinesis.

When Terrel was remembering his visit to the doctor in the flashback, he mentioned it was the first time he ever had the occasion to go to a doctor. Based on the doctor's findings of him, possibly Terrel's mutant nature also resulted in him having a superior physique, giving him an immunity to human illnesses and other medical maladies.

I would speculate that from the strain of their psychic battle, both Terrel and Ford suffered from minor strokes/brain hemorrhages which damaged the areas of their brains where their mental abilities originated.

And that final confrontation between Terrel and Ford sort of foreshadowed the later-depicted psychic battle between Charles Xavier and Amahl Farouk (@ X-Men I#117 [January, 1979]).

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Carl Terrel has no known connections to:

• Mike Farrel - aka Super-Patriot--Captain America I#237
• Earl Ferrol - chemist who developed an elixir that allowed him to fly--Strange Tales I#58/1
• any other characters with similar names

Justin Ford has no known connections to:

• Montgomery Ford - Ka-Zar foe--Ka-Zar II#8
• Major Ford - astronaut, menaced by a monster--Tales to Astonish I#12/5
• Professor Ford - developed a method for shrinking people and objects--Yellow Claw#3/1
• any other characters with similar names

Justin Ford An evil mutant, he possessed various psionic abilities, including telepathy, telekinesis, mental hypnotism, and possibly pyrokinesis (see comments). He lived in the city of Boonetown, where he had secretly used his powers to commit a series of robberies. One day, he telepathically contacted fellow mutant Carl Terrel, who had similar powers. Ford wanted Terrel to join him in his criminal pursuits, but Terrel refused. The two engaged in a psychic duel, pitting the force of their minds against each other. During their confrontation, Ford collapsed in defeat, his powers apparently forever neutralized as a result of the battle. --Spellbound I#30/1 (Note: Other than the presence of the thoughts he projected into Carl Terrel's mind [e.g. headshot of main profile], Ford was depicted in just these two panels, where he only appeared as a shadowy silhouette.)

images: (without ads)
Spellbound I#30/1, p1, pan1 (main image - Carl Terrel, waking up in bed because of a headache)
Spellbound I#30/1, p3, pan1 (headshot - Carl Terrel, receiving Justin Ford's projected thoughts)
Spellbound I#30/1, p2, pan3 (Carl Terrel levitates ashtray)
Spellbound I#30/1, p2, pan4 (Carl Terrel with coworkers)
Spellbound I#30/1, p1, pan3 (in flashback, Carl Terrel getting dressed [background] as doctors discuss findings of his physical examination)
Spellbound I#30/1, p4, pan5 (Carl Terrel [foreground] confronts Justin Ford)
Spellbound I#30/1, p4, pan6 (Justin Ford collapses during confrontation; Carl Terrel [foreground])

Appearances:
Spellbound I#30/1 (October, 1956) - unidentified writer, Doug Wildey (pencils/inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 02/26/2025
Last updated: 02/26/2025