DOCTOR DREARR
Real Name: Dr. Neculai Drearr
Identity/Class: Human technology user (late 1940s)
Occupation: Scientist
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Sun Girl (Mary Mitchell), New York residents
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations:
His penthouse laboratory, near the New Jersey Palisades, USA;
First Appearance: Sun Girl#1/2 (August, 1948)
Powers/Abilities: Armed with a handgun, Dr. Drearr was an inventive genius who had a laboratory with various electrical devices, including a long-range television scanner. Drearr also built a Telescopic Reviver ray, which he used to summon monstrous sea creatures.
History:
(Sun Girl#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Dr.
Drearr's past is unknown, but he apparently had an earlier conflict
with Sun Girl, for which he was incarcerated at Glenrock
Prison. He was later paroled because he served time with good
conduct, although he made a personal oath to destroy the world after he
got out. Following his release, Drearr built his Telescopic
Reviver ray and began his plans for revenge.
(Sun Girl#1/2) - Monitoring events from afar with a television viewer,
Drearr activated his Telescopic Reviver and summoned a huge sea monster
to the city's waterfront. The creature rampaged on a path of
death and destruction, until it was confronted by Sun Girl (who had
heard of Drearr's release through the "grapevine" and was prepared for
trouble). The heroine eventually used the light of her
wrist-mounted Sunbeam to drive the monster back into the sea.
Sun Girl then employed her Portable Electric Tracer to home in on the
signal of Drearr's television beam to find his laboratory.
Meanwhile, Dr. Drearr again activated
his Telescopic Reviver to summon more monsters from the depths, but he
was confronted by Sun Girl. When Drearr pulled out a gun, the
heroine kicked it from his grasp, then put the mad doctor in a judo
hold and twisted his arm behind his back. Sun Girl forced
Drearr to reverse his machine's ray to repel the monsters, but
afterward Drearr seized Sun Girl and tried to push her into the beam's
path so that the force of it would blast her out to sea. Sun Girl
slipped from his hold and punched Drearr into the ray, which hurled the
evil scientist out to the ocean, where he was apparently killed by the
very monsters he tried to summon. Sun Girl then took an ax
and destroyed the Telescopic Reviver to ensure that no other madmen
would ever use it.
My guess is that Dr. Drearr's Telescopic Reviver functioned similarly to a "fish caller" (an electronic device which emits a clicking sound that supposedly attracts fish) and it used sonic energy to summon the monsters--it seemed to work somewhat like the Sub-Mariner's Horn of Proteus (@ Fantastic Four I#4); but as for how Drearr knew that there would actually be any monsters for his Reviver to attract...well, that's anybody's guess.
That first sea monster reminded me of Giganto and Gigantus--perhaps they all have some common connection (Deviant mutates?).
The Behemoth looks similar to the monster Doctor Drearr summoned.
--Gammatotem
And a BIG Thank You to Atlas Tales for the scans!
His first name was revealed as Neculai in Sun Girl's profile in OHotMU A-Z HC#11.
Profile by John Kaminski.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Dr. Drearr has no known connections to:
Hideous denizens from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, they were all attracted to the surface world by Dr. Drearr's Telescopic Reviver. The first was vaguely humanoid with scaly green skin, and stood perhaps 100 feet-tall. It emerged by the docks of the waterfront and went further into the city, where it destroyed an elevated train track. It easily shrugged off an attack by U.S. Army and National Guard artillery when the troops tried to protect the metropolis, but it was finally driven back to the sea when Sun Girl blinded it with her Sunbeam.
Following the departure of the first creature, the other monsters were summoned by Drearr, but they never made it to shore because Sun Girl forced the mad doctor to reset his ray to repel the creatures instead; these monsters apparently killed Dr. Drearr after he was blasted out to sea by his own infernal device.
Perhaps Doctor Drearr read about other Sea-Monsters in Newspapers or Science Journals (Sub-Mariner Comics#6 (Summer 1942) text story "The Sea Serpent"--vs. U-Boat crew) or the Prehistoric Monster (Sub-Mariner Comics#12 (Winter 1943-44) Sub-Mariner story "In The Mystery Of Sabotage City") or the Giants Of the Deep (Captain America Comics#20 (November, 1942) Sub-Mariner story) or Giant Squid (Marvel Mystery Comics#40 (February, 1943) Sub-Mariner story) or Giant Octopus (Captain America Comics#24 (March, 1943) Captain America vs. the Eel Of Horror Harbor)
--Gammatotem
--Sun Girl#1/2
Built by Dr. Drearr, the Telescopic Reviver emitted an energy beam that attracted sea monsters; alternatively, it could be set to fire a forceful blast which would repel the creatures.
--Sun Girl#1/2
images:
(without ads)
Sun Girl#1/2, p2, pan6 (main image)
Other Appearances: None
Last updated: 06/10/10
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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