MORTUS

Real Name: Mildred Williamson

Identity/Class: Human technology user (pre-modern era)

Occupation: Unrevealed

Group Membership: Presumably the vampires of Earth

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Broadway Project (Richard Thomas Grant, Professor Clinton Hall, Josiah Huntingcut, Dr. Thomas Lewis), Dracula, Dennis Smyth

Known Relatives: Mr. Williamson (father, deceased)

Aliases: The Death Man

Base of Operations: 10 East Potomac Street, Apartment 12-6, Washington, District of Columbia

First Appearance: Dracula Lives#7 (July, 1974)

 

 

 

 

Powers/Abilities: Mortus wore a disguise to appear as a middle-aged man and ambushed her victims, catching their attention with something of their interest, and then using it to kill them. Among the weapons she used were a laser-firing cane, a remote-controlled bow and arrow, an exploding gem, and an unspecified acid weapon.

    Mildred likely had conventional vampires powers after rising from being slain by Dracula.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

History:
(Dracula Lives#7 (fb) - BTS) - Mr. Williamson was on an expedition with Professor Clinton Hall when they discovered a  jewel. Joshiah Huntingcut discovered the jewel's strange chemical properties. Williamson, Hall, and Huntingcut joined with Richard Grant and Dr. Thomas Lewis in the Broadway Project to develop a laser device from the jewel. Williamson financed the Project, risking all of his vast life's savings, and when the Project failed it was too much for him. Williamson died, leaving his daughter, Mildred, with nothing.

(Dracula Lives#7 (fb) - BTS) - When the Broadway Project members came to Mildred, asking more money from her and a release from the "Broadway gem" 's industrial rights, Mildred snapped and decided to give them death instead.

(Dracula Lives#7) <January 12, 1974> - Disguised as a man, Mildred slew Richard Grant with a laser held within a cane.

(Dracula Lives#7 (fb) - BTS) - Mildred slew Josiah Huntingcut using acid.

(Dracula Lives#7) <January 15, 1974> - Posing as a Mr. Mortus, Mildred invited Dr. Thomas Lewis to an archery range to discuss patenting a new bow. Mortus showed Lewis into a storage barn then remotely activated a bow that shot an arrow and killed him.

(Dracula Lives#7) <January 15, 1974> - As Mortus, Mildred confronted Professor Hall in the Gregorian Museum, intriguing him with a spectacular gem, which Mildred then tossed at his feet. The gem exploded on impact, killing Hall.

(Dracula Lives#7) - Dracula, having learned of his agent Grant's death and investigating the series of murders with Grant's former employee Dennis Smyth's aid, confronted Mildred in her apartment. She explained her motivations and tried to attack Dracula, but he instead bit her on the neck and drained her blood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments: Created by Gerry Conway and Vincente Alcazar.

    One would ASSume that Mildred became a vampire after dying from Dracula draining her blood, though it's possible (though unlikely) she either survived or that Smyth or someone else might have taken steps to prevent her transformation.

    The name Death Man comes from the title of the story, "Here Comes the Death Man."

    Stories such as this, which use no other characters locked into the modern era, can be easily fit into the real time in which they were published. I'd like to place this story as having occurred in 1980, to fill in Dracula's adventures in the pre-modern era.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

Richard Grant has no known connection to:

Clinton Hall has no known connection to:

Thomas Lewis has no known connection to:

Dennis Smyth has no known connection to:

Richard Thomas Grant

    One of the partners in the Broadway Project, Grant was involved in industrial design, specifically the development of lasers for commercial use. He was also the leader of the East Coast followers of Dracula, one of the few Dracula had trusted with "the greatness of his plan." His death destroyed months of Dracula's work, and so Dracula resolved to kill Grant's murderer.

 

    Mortus slew Grant with a laser contained within a cane.

 

--Dracula Lives#7 (7 (fb) - BTS, 7

 

 

 

 

Professor Clinton Hall

 

    One of the partners in the Broadway Project, he was curator of the South African wing of the Gregorian Museum, a little known depository of archeological specimens. He was particularly interested in studying spectacular gems, and it was he who had discovered the "Broadway Gem" while on an expedition.

    Mortus slew him by hurling an exploding gem at his feet.

 

--Dracula Lives#7 (7 (fb) - BTS, 7

 

 

I'd have sworn that was Michael Myers from the Halloween movies...

Josiah Huntingcut

    One of the partners in the Broadway Project, Huntingcut was a chemist, and it was he who had discovered the properties of the "Broadway Gem," that would make it suitable for use with a valuable laser device the Project intended to develop.

    Mortus slew him with acid.

--Dracula Lives#7 (7 (fb) - BTS, 7

Huntingcut was not pictured.

Dr. Thomas Lewis

    One of the partners in the Broadway Project, he was an archery expert.

    Mortus slew him with with a remote-controlled bow and arrow.

 

--Dracula Lives#7 (7 (fb) - BTS, 7

 

 

 

Dennis Smyth

 

    An employee of Richard Grant, he was not involved with the Broadway Project, but he had handled the contracts on the Project. He was present when Mortus slew Grant, and Dracula tracked him down and questioned him about Grant's death. Dracula forced Smyth to take him to Grant's office to investigate his files, and the two discussed the Broadway Project. Smyth directed Dracula to the apartment of Mildred, the last living person associated with the Broadway Project.

 

--Dracula Lives#7

 

 

 

 

Mr. Williamson

    Mr. Williamson was on an expedition with Professor Clinton Hall when they discovered a  jewel. Joshiah Huntingcut discovered the jewel's strange chemical properties. Williamson, Hall, and Huntingcut joined with Richard Grant and Dr. Thomas Lewis in the Broadway Project to develop a laser device from the jewel. Williamson financed the Project, risking all of his vast life's savings, and when the Project failed it was too much for him. Williamson died, leaving his daughter, Mildred, with nothing.

--Dracula Lives#7 (7 (fb)

Mr. Williamson was not pictured.

images: (story pages)
Dracula Lives#7, p1, panel 3 (Grant)
            panel 4 (Mortus body)
        p4, panel 2 (Lewis)
        p5, panel 1 (Smyth)
        p6, panel 1 (Hall)
            panel 3 (Mortus face)
        p9, panel 1 (Mildred face)
            panel 4 (Mildred body)

Last updated: 11/13/13

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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