MURDER MANSION

Classification: Terrestrial, technological item

Creator: Black Jack Tarr

Users/Possessors: Black Demon Sect, Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Black Jack Tarr

First Appearance: Master of Kung Fu I#17 (April, 1974)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: Murder Mansion contained a variety of deathtraps in both rooms and corridors, concealed within the floor, walls and ceilings. Some of the traps included: trapdoors which led to either impaling spikes or explosives; a falling chandelier; poison gas; and falling guilotinnes. The walls of the mansion were inforced by heavy oak panels. A series of video cameras planted throughout the building enabled those in control to observe and control the progress of the traps. A small army of robots - disguised as suits of armor - were also controlled from the main room. After the Black Demon Sect subverted the mansion they installed a number of traps activated by photoelectric beams.

History: (Master of Kung Fu I#17 (fb) - BTS) - When Black Jack Tarr retired from the foreign service he went to Long Island, New York to build the house he'd always wanted. Constructing the building to contain a variety of deathtraps, he dubbed it "Murder Mansion."

(Master of Kung Fu I#17) - When Tarr's friend Sir Denis Nayland Smith was pursuing Shang-Chi, son of his foe Fu Manchu, Tarr offered Murder Mansion to him to capture Shang. Smith gathered a team of FBI agents under his command and sent one to lure Shang to the house. When Shang arrived, Smith and Tarr were in the building's control room and dispatched the remaining FBI agents against him. Shang bested the agents and continued his trip. Smith opened a pit of sharpened spikes, but Shang avoided falling in. Next, Smith dropped a chandelier on him, but Shang dodged it. Smith trapped Shang in a corridor and released poison gas, but Shang shattered one of the doors to escape. Finally, Smith sent a quartet of robot knights after Shang. Shang held back, believing that he was battling real men, he destroyed them. Tarr and Smith finally fought Shang as well, but Shang overcame each of them and departed Murder Mansion.

(Master of Kung Fu I#70) - Some time later, long since Shang and Tarr had become friends, the two were involved in a plot which pit them against the Black Demon Sect. Tarr brought Shang to Murder Mansion but found that the Black Demon Sect had taken control of the building and altered the arsenal with new traps Tarr knew nothing about. Shang and Tarr fought their way through the mansion, dodging the traps and battling members of the Black Demon Sect. The duo finally broke into the control room and discovered that the Sect were being led by Anna, Tarr's long-ago lover. Tarr and Shang took the Black Demon Sect into custody.

Comments: Created by Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom.

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Murder Mansion should not be confused with:

• Avengers Mansion, most famous of all super-hero mansions, @ Avengers I#2
• Or any other mansions

Images taken from:
Master of Kung Fu I#70, page 1
Master of Kung Fu I#17, page 11, panel 5
Master of Kung Fu I#17, page 23, panel 2