MARY CARMODY
Real Name: Mary Carmody
Identity/Class: Human,
civilian (pre-modern
era);
citizen of the United States of America
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Jim Fitzpatrick (fiancé), First Line (Black Fox/Robert Paine, Blackjack, Doctor Mime, Effigy, Eternal Brain/William Carmody, Firefall, Flatiron/Russell, Mister Justice/Tim Carney, Morph, Nightingale, Oxbow/Sam Matonabbe, Pixie, Positron/Veronica, Rapunzel, Reflex,Walkabout, Yankee Clipper/Pat Carney, Yeti)
Enemies: Emperor of Mongolia (Ulan Bator), Peg-Leg Martin, Emperor's Concubine
Known Relatives: William Carmody (father)
Aliases: "The flower" (nickname used by Peg-Leg Martin and the Emperor of Mongolia), "Pig" (nickname used by the Emperor's Concubine)
Base of Operations: Carmody Institute, New England, Maine
First Appearance: Red Raven Comics I#1/7 (August 1940)
Powers/Abilities: Mary Carmody possessed no known superhuman abilities. She was a strong willed, opinionated woman. Mary had considerable difficulties dealing with the fact her father, William, was turned into a bodiless brain by her fiancé, Jim Fitzpatrick.
Height: 5'5" (by approximation)
Weight: 125 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
History:
(Red Raven Comics I#1/7 - BTS) - Mary Carmody was the only
daughter of genius inventor William Carmody. She lived with him at the
Carmody Institute where she met and fell in love with her father's lab
assistant, Jim Fitzpatrick. Sometime in 1980, the self-styled emperor of
Mongolia, became aware of Mary he immediately wanted to add the blonde
girl to his harem. He sent his associate Peg-Leg Martin to abduct
her from her home at the Institute.
(Red Raven Comics I#1/7) - While she was being dragged away by Martin and his henchmen, she managed to scream for help. Mary's cry was heard by her father and Jim who rushed outside to see what was wrong. William Carmody was fatally wounded by a gunshot, and Jim was knocked out by a blow to the head. With no one to defend Mary, Peg-Leg and the others escaped with her.
(Red Raven Comics I#1/7 - BTS) - In order to save Carmody's life, at Carmody's instruction, Jim used their newly developed artificial organ technology to preserve the professor's brain a jar of life-giving fluids. He also hooked up a telepathic receptor of Carmody's own design that gave his bodiless brain vast mental powers. Carmody immediately began scanning the globe telepathically for his daughter, ultimately locating her in Mongolia.
(Red Raven Comics I#1/7) - When Mary was presented to Ulan Bator, the Emperor of Mongolia, by Peg-Leg, Bator thanked him and his men for their work, referring to Mary as a flower. This angered one of his concubines who slapped Mary and accused her of trying to steal her lord's love. Mary responded by defiantly calling the woman a beast. Amused by Carmody's fire, the Emperor laughingly called her a hot tempered lass, quite the spirit and the flower of his harem. He proceeded to prove his point by forcing himself on her, seizing the girl in his arms and smothering her with kisses. Shocked and outraged, Mary slapped him, which angered Bator so much he was ready to kill her. Before Bator could do anything, he and his followers were shocked to "hear" the booming, commanding voice of William Carmody ordering them to leave Mary alone. Instinctively complying, the Emperor had Mary temporarily locked away in private quarters.
(Red Raven Comics I#1/7 - BTS) - Carmody informed Jim Fitzpatrick where he could find Mary and ordered him to take the Carmody rocket ship and free her. Shortly after setting down, Jim was overcome by Bator's forces and knocked out by the paralyzing gas used by the Mongols. However, when Jim came to and found Peg-Leg Martin ready to kill him using electric needles, the Eternal Brain used his powers of telepathic suggestion to turn Bator's men against him and Peg-Leg. Jim was freed by one of them and started searching the castle for his girlfriend guided by Carmody's mental presence.
(Red Raven Comics I#1/7) - When Jim found the room Bator was keeping Mary in, he knocked out the guards and freed her. Thrilled to see Fitzpatrick, she kissed him. But her good mood quickly turned sour when Jim informed her what had happened to his father. Learning her fiancé was responsible for turning her father into a brain in a jar, Mary became incensed and claimed she could never forgive him. Monitoring the conversation, the Eternal Brain weighed in and ordered his daughter to stop that nonsense and commanded her to obey Jim and help him stop Bator and Peg-Leg.
(Red Raven Comics I#1/7 - BTS) - Bator and Peg-Leg found themselves besieged by the Eternal Brain-influenced Mongolians and decided to beat a strategic retreat. They figured they'd lay low for a while in Turkestan before returning to Mongolia. Bator used his personal supply of destructobombs to clear a path to his rocket ship.
(Red Raven Comics I#1/7) - Mary and Jim gave chase in their own vessel. En route over the Atlantic, they overtook Bator and Peg-Leg. Even though the Emperor managed to slightly damage their navigational controls, the Carmody craft proved superior when it blasted Bator's vessel to pieces, presumably killing both Peg-Leg and the Emperor Ulan in the process. Carmody guided the couple to a nearby island so they could make the necessary repairs. While working, Jim noticed Mary was acting cold. In response, she reminded him she still hated him and would never forgive him. Even after returning home, she openly declared she still hated Fitzpatrick, despite Jim's offer to do anything for her and her father's pleas to not be so mean.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation I#9 - BTS) - Jim Fitzpatrick started working on ways to increase the Eternal Brain's mobility. One of his first successes was a robotic humanoid form the Brain's jar could be mounted on. Via controls connected to the technology in Carmody's life preserving jar, the professor could control his new body.
(Marvel: The Lost Generation I#9) - Upon seeing her father's new "body", Mary's initial reaction was one of shock and disbelief, calling what she saw "horrible". Slightly wounded by this, Carmody asked his daughter if he really was a horror to her now. Quickly apologizing for being mean, Mary listened as her father told her he preferred this new robot body to the alternative: being dead. Their conversation was interrupted by Effigy, who had used his shapeshifting abilities to bypass the Carmody Institute's security. The First Line's leader had come to the Institute to enlist Carmody's help though he initially caused a bit of a stir by changing into an exact copy of Jim to prove his identity. Effigy explained he needed Carmody's telepathic skills to help rescue First Line member Mr. Justice whose jet had been shot down over the Strait of Hormuz while on a mission to Halwan where the nation's ruler Zafina had captured three American diplomats. Mary was shocked to hear Mr. Justice might be dead, but Effigy assured her he was still alive. He then asked if he could bring in the others of the First Line.
Meeting with the heroes, Mary assisted her father in helping prepare the mission briefing. With solar sunspot activities interfering with satellite transmissions, Effigy asked Carmody to help coordinate the mission via his telepathy. When the plan was agreed on, Mary, Jim and Carmody watched the First Line go off. The professor couldn't help but notice there was something odd about long time members Oxbow and Pixie, recalling how back when they joined in the early 1960s, he was younger than her while two decades later he was clearly the elder of the two. Mary chided her father for even suggesting he might telepathically discover how old Pixie was. Carmody assured his daughter that he had no intentions to pry, adding that Pixie's natural psychic blocks were too strong for him anyway.
Comments: Created by Robert Louis Golden (pencils), other creators have not been credited.
Incorporating the Eternal Brain and supporting cast members like daughter Mary Carmody and Jim Fitzpatrick into Marvel: The Lost Generation was a smart idea. The Eternal Brain's origin story may have been published in 1940, but the introductory captions to his tale mention it's half a century after Charles Lindbergh had experimented with artificial organs (a heart). This is a reference to Lindbergh's 1938 book The Culture Of Organs which he started researching as early as 1930. Both John Byrne and the Eternal Brain's OHOTMU entry have confirmed the Brain's introductory tale takes place in 1980. That decade really fits Mary's defiant, no nonsense attitude better anyway. You gotta love 1940s origin stories though: having her turn from loving her fiancé Jim into forever hating him for saving her father in the space of eight pages is a testament to the wonders of compressed storytelling. Take notes, Bendis.
If Jim and Mary were engaged as of
1980, it would seem likely, but, of course, not confirmed that they
eventually got married. Or not.
--Snood
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mary Carmody should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
Marvel The Lost Generation I#9, p2, pan1 (main image)
Red Raven Comics I#1, p64, pan7&8 (ordered to obey Jim)
Red Raven Comics I#1, p66, pan6&8 (still hates Jim)
Appearances:
Red Raven Comics I#1/7 (August 1940) - Robert Louis
Golden (pencils), uncredited others
Marvel: The Lost Generation I#9 (June 2000)
- Roger Stern (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Al
Milgrom (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Last updated: 05/11/14
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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