HENRY GREY
Real Name: Henry Grey
Identity/Class: Human mutant (? see
comments); (post-World
War II era)
Occupation: Business owner
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Mort (his business partner), Williams (his employee), and (in general) all men, women, children, and animals (he pretty much hated EVERYBODY)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: An unidentified American city
First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery I#44/3 (March, 1957)
Powers/Abilities: Henry Grey could project the essence of his being in the form of a miniature astral body (perhaps 6 inches tall) out of his physical body. His astral form once entered the body of a zoo elephant and Grey dominated its mind, forcing it to do his bidding -- it is unknown if he could perform this mental domination on higher lifeforms. While in the immaterial astral form, Grey was able to make contact with and manipulate physical matter with proportionally greater strength than the astral form's size (perhaps by using some form of telekinesis?).
History: (Journey Into Mystery I#44/3 (fb) - BTS) - The previous history of Henry Grey is unknown, but he was a man who hated everything that was decent and good. At some point, he went into business with his partner, Mort, in a model aircraft company.
(Journey Into Mystery I#44/3) - After leaving his business for the day, Henry Grey passed through the local zoo as he walked home. When a young man and woman accidentally bumped into him and stepped on his foot, Henry became enraged (even though they sincerely apologized). As the young couple stood in front of an elephant, Grey wished he was the elephant so he could squirt water over the "insolent" fellow. Suddenly Grey felt his essence leaving his body and he was "inside" the elephant's body. The elephant, dominated by Grey's will, squirted the young man with a trunkful of water. Then, as quickly as it happened, Grey's being returned to his own body.
The very next day at his business, Grey noticed his employee, Williams, getting a drink from the water cooler. Hating Williams, Grey wished he was "tiny, the size of an ant, but strong as a powerful man!" Once again, Grey's essence left his body and tipped over the water cooler so that it fell on Williams, breaking his leg.
Grey kept his powers a secret, but plotted to use them for his advantage. Working with Mort, he had a heavy model airplane built (despite Mort's warnings that such a heavy model could kill a man if it hit him) to enter in a model plane contest. When the plane was launched during the contest, Grey willed himself inside the model plane and took control of it, planning to aim the plane straight towards Mort in order to scare him into selling his share of the business. Suddenly, a wing snapped off the model plane, causing it to crash. Henry Grey's physical body keeled over, and when a doctor examined the unconscious man, he found many of Grey's bones broken...almost as if he'd been involved in a crash.
Comments: Created by an unknown writer and unknown artist.
In regards to my classifying Henry Grey as a mutant: Although some mystics (such as Stephan Strange) can accomplish the same astral body feats as Henry Grey could, Grey never mentioned that he had any training in the mystic arts.
It was never specifically stated in the story that he was a mutant, and no explanation was given for the strange power of Henry Grey (even Grey himself didn't know where it came from), so it's possible that he was a mutant whose powers didn't manifest themselves until later in his life (much like Vincent Farnsworth).
...and (assuming he was a mutant) since genetic mutations can sometimes run in families, could Henry Grey be of some relation to Jean Grey, the telekinetic Marvel Girl/Phoenix of the X-Men?
I would say that the injuries that Henry Grey sustained in the end were the result of some kind of psychic backlash on his physical body.
For my personal opinion of Henry Grey, I will quote Ed Norton of "The Honeymooners" -- "Chee, whadda grouch!"
Like Henry Grey the character in Adventure Into Mystery#8 (July, 1957) in "We The Jury" used his mental projection to possess a person (and like Wells sabotaged his own court case).
--Gammatotem
And a big THANK YOU to Dennis Giansante for scanning this story for me!
Profile by John Kaminski
CLARIFICATIONS:
Henry Grey has no known connections to:
Mort has no known connection to:
Henry Grey's partner in the model airplane business, Mort was a good and decent man -- which is why Grey hated him. After Grey developed his strange powers, he tried to use them to frighten Mort into giving up his share of the business.
--Journey Into Mystery I#44/3
images: (without ads)
Journey Into Mystery I#44, p10, pan6 (main image)
Last updated: 08/22/06
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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