DR. GOTTFRIED

Real Name: Karl Gottfried

Identity/Class: Human (Post-World War II era)

Occupation: Scientist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Kurt (a robot assistant), Vampire-Monster, a pack of vampires (but only because they didn't realize his true intentions)

Enemies: An angry mob of villagers (but only because they didn't realize his true intentions)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The madman", "the Vampire-Maker" (as called by the villagers)

Base of Operations: His castle in Sobota, Hungary

First Appearance: Adventures Into Weird Worlds#13 (December, 1952)

Powers/Abilities: Dr. Gottfried was a genius in life-sciences who created a synthetic vampire.

History: (Adventures Into Weird Worlds#13) - Dr. Gottfried and his assistant worked feverishly to complete Gottfried's creation -- a synthetic vampire. As Gottfried gave the unliving creature a chemical injection, he saw an angry mob of villagers carrying torches and coming towards his castle. The doctor swore, "I'll show them how great I am...even greater than von Frankenstein!" -- when the villagers had heard of Gottfried's experiment, they decided they had enough trouble with vampires as it is and didn't need any more, so they went to stop the mad scientist. But a pack of vampires (who wanted to see Gottfried's experiment successfully completed) guarded the castle, and they confronted the villagers.

As the villagers fought with the vampires for life and precious time, their battle spilled into the castle itself. When the two groups of combatants reached the doctor's laboratory, the villagers shot Gottfried and continued to shoot him several more times, but Gottfried refused to die until his life's work was completed. With his last ounce of strength, Gottfried pulled a switch that sent electricity into the synthetic vampire, bringing it to life. The vampire-monster arose from its slab and instinctively knew what it needed...BLOOD! The terrified villagers fled from the castle, leaving only the vampires and Gottfried's assistant behind. The gloating vampires rejoiced in their triumph, but their celebration was short-lived when the synthetic vampire began to attack THEM!

As he knelt down by Gottfried's body, the assistant cursed the villagers as fools -- they didn't know that Gottfried was working to create a NEW kind of vampire...a creature that would make the world safe for humans to live...a vampire-monster that could only live by preying on the blood of OTHER vampires.

Comments: Created by an unknown writer and Carmine Infantino (artist).

    This story ("The Vampire Maker") was reprinted in Uncanny Tales From The Grave#4 (February, 1975).

    The vampire monster was never seen again -- since vampires were still around in the world afterwards (see Dracula, et al), possibly the monster needed continued chemical injections to sustain its life, but with Gottfried dead, there was no one to give it any more injections, so...
    Or maybe it was destroyed in some unseen battle...or magically imprisoned...maybe it could come back at some point.

Thanks to Adam Craik for the synopsis of the Vampire-Monster's second appearance.

Gottfried's first name was revealed in the Vampire entry in Marvel Zombie: The Book of Angels, Demons & Other Monstrosities.

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
Doctor Gottfried has no known connections to:

The Vampire-Monster

(Adventures Into Weird Worlds#13) - A patchwork creature created by Dr. Gottfried, it had a large frame, great strength, fangs, and wings on its back. It was a predator to the vampires of the world.

(Adventures Into Weird Worlds#15) - Five years after Dr. Gottfried's death in the village of Sobota, Hungary the locals have accepted the Vampire-Monster after he rid them of their vampires. He was looked after by the Mayor, formerly Dr Gottfried's assistant Kurt, and was kept in chains in a barn at night in case anything went wrong.

On the fifth anniversary of the monster's creation there was a big lightning storm after which two locals were found murdered. When the woman's scarf was found near the barn the villagers feared that the electricity had driven the Vampire-Monster mad. The monster escaped and they went to see the Mayor, only to find the monster standing over Kurt's dead body. They shot the monster before setting it on fire. As it died the monster spoke - revealing that Kurt was really a robot built by Dr. Gottfried to act as his guardian. When the lightning storm occurred it had caused Kurt to malfunction.

With the Vampire-Monster gone, the Vampires quickly returned to Sobota.

--Adventures Into Weird Worlds#13 (15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Vampires

A pack of unnamed bat-like men (or man-like bats, take your pick), they guarded Dr. Gottfried's castle laboratory and acted as his unwitting defenders against the villagers so that he might successfully complete his monster, never realizing that Gottfried was creating it to use against THEM!

--Adventures Into Weird Worlds#13

 

 

 

 

images: (without ads)
Adventures Into Weird Worlds#13, p1, pan1 (main image)

p5, pan5 (head shot)
p5, pan8 (Vampire-Monster)
p6, pan6 (Vampire-Monster)
p2, pan5 (Vampires)

Appearances:
Adventures Into Weird Worlds#13 (December, 1952) - Carmine Infantino (artist),
Adventures Into Weird Worlds#15 (February, 1953) - George Tuska (artist), Stan Lee (editor)

Last updated:09/04/10

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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