JANOS V. TREVORIK
JANOS V. TREVORIK
Real Name: Janos V. Trevorik
Identity/Class: Human;
citizenship unrevealed (see comments)
Occupation: Unrevealed; occultist (hobby or career?; see comments)
Group Membership: Possibly the Magic Society, if it was an actual group, rather than just a business
Affiliations: Power Man (Luke Cage)
Enemies: Hazel Donovan, R. Lambert Martinson;
the people in his neighborhoood were afraid of him, some worried that he was a vampire
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None (see comments)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed location in Lower Manhattan (see comments), New York
First Appearance: Power Man#26 (August, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: Janos has extensive knowledge of the occult, and he owns an extensive collection of rare and valuable occult lore and paraphernalia.
Height: Approximately 5'9"
Weight: Approximately 150 lbs.
Eyes: Pink (no pigment)
Hair: White
History: 
(Power Man#26 (fb) -
BTS) - Janos Trevorik was born an albino, lacking pigment in his body,
giving him white hair, very pale flesh, and pink cornea. As sunlight
was painful and dangerous for him, he tended to venture out at night.
His life made him very solitary, shy of strangers; to fill the void of
others' company, Janos became interested in the occult and became a
collector of mystic memorabilia.
(Power Man#26 (fb) - BTS) - Trevorik's appearance, solitary nature, and exclusively nocturnal activity made others fearful and wary of him.
(Power Man#26 (fb) - BTS) - Trevorik contacted the Magic Society on South Broadway, on the fringe of Greenwich Village, owned by Richard Lambert Martinson.
(Power Man#26 (fb) - BTS) - Those within the Magic Society also were suspicious of Trevorik (and presumably even more likely to believe in superstition).
(Power Man#26 (fb) - BTS) - Martinson visited Trevorik soon after Trevorik contacted the Magic Society. Recognizing Trevorik's collection's value, Martinson desired it for himself but knew he could not simply steal it as many of the items in the collection were well-known.
(Power Man#26 (fb) - BTS) - Deciding to play up on the superstition that Trevorik's appearance and behavior generated to frame him as a vampire, Martinson romanced Trevorik's landlady, Hazel Donovan, into being his accomplice in this plot. Martinson instructed Donovan to tell everyone Trevorik owed her money, so that when he died, she could claim his possessions.
(Power Man#26 (fb) - BTS) - A pair of "vampire killings" (in which victims were found drained of blood but otherwise untouched) occurred.
(Power Man#26 (fb) -
BTS) - Martinson kidnapped Trevorik, keeping him bound and gagged in a
closet. They figured that keeping him fasted would only make him more
gaunt and ghastly.
(Power Man#26 (fb) - BTS) - Martinson and Donovan placed a coffin into Trevorik's apartment, making sure that its bedding looked used.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Posing as a vampiric Trevorik, Martinson sneaked into the Gem Theatre on 42nd Street, which also housed the office of hero for hire Power Man (Luke Cage). After jimmying the lock to Cage's office door, Martinson laid a hundred dollar bill on Cage's desk and then wrote -- in what at least appeared to be blood -- on the wall, "Stop me before I kill more. Janos Trevorik"
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Martinson allowed Cage to spot and struggle with him before tearing free and leaping out a window.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Rushing to the window, Cage saw only a large bat flying away and silhouetted by the moon.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Cage, joined by Gem Theatre manager DW Griffith, raced to his office and found the door jimmied. Seeing the message apparently written in fresh blood on the wall and the hundred dollar bill on Cage's desk, Cage suspected that he had a vampire for a client.
(Power
Man#26 - BTS) - Looking up "Janos Trevorik" in the phone book while
waiting until daylight, Cage then visited Hazel Donovan to ask her
about him. She told Cage Trevorik owed her money as she brought him up
to Trevorik's room, then feigned horror upon finding an open coffin in
the room.
Cage briefly looked through Donovan's collection,
discovering a pamplet for the Magic Society (and figuring it was a
cinch Trevorik passed the membership requirements) and being impressed
with all the "ba-ad stuff," which he determined to be authentic (or at
least "not jive").
When Cage returned
downstairs, he gave Hazel his card so she could contact him if Trevorik
came back; just then, a news report came on, noting how "pretty Carolyn
Evan" had been discovered in Battery Park that morning, the third
victim of the mysterious "Vampire-Killer."
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Cage traveled and met with Martinson, who readily shared that Trevorik, of all who gathered there in search of "the way," was easily the most knowledgeable. However, he seemed to be "sad, searching...as if on the verge of still greater secrets -- or over the verge, and wishing he weren't." Martinson further noted that Trevorik only dropped by after dark to read in the library. Having seen all kinds, Martinson added that Trevorik was unique and fascinating.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Cage checked through a list of the Magic Society's other members, all of whom confirmed Martinson's summary of the mysterious Mr. Trevorik and added details of their own, such as "his face was bone white!"
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Cage headed back to Trevorik's neighborhood and asked around, and received similar information, including comments about Trevorik's red eyes, his wild & unkempt hair, and never seeing him out in the daylight; one boy noted that his mother had told him to never go near Trevorik.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - By that evening, the information Cage had gathered convinced him that Trevorik was indeed a vampire who wished he wasn't and wanted Cage to do what he couldn't do himself: Stop him before he got his 4th victim.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Martinson, again posing as a vampiric Trevorik, ambushed Cage, threatening to kill the hero if he could put an end to his curse (kill him). After a brief struggle, Martinson fled, taunting Cage to catch him and then took to jumping from rooftop to rooftop, swiftly gaining a lead on Cage.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Cage rushed to a rooftop, only to again see a bat flying away, silhouetted by the moonlight. The experience left Cage fairly convinced he had truly faced a vampire.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - A half hour later, Martinson returned to Hazel Donovan's home, noting how Trevorik's reputation was real, which made things easier, but then reviewed how Hazel's role was that much harder, as she had to tell so many lies; he further complimented her on how she had outdone hersefl by fainting when the newscast about the vampire killings came on; in reality, Martinson thought she was dumb and did not plan to stick around for long after he had obtained Trevorik's collection.
(Power Man#26) - Hazel advised they check on Trevorik and make sure he didn't suffocate or something. After they went upstairs and confirmed Trevorik was OK, Martinson taunted Trevorik with their plans to "feed him to Luke Cage" the next morning.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - With the libraries already closed, Cage went back to the Magic Society to try to learn more about vampires, but it was closed, too.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Circa 4am, Cage returned to the Gem theatre and reviewed DW's books of vampires of the movies. Afterwards, Cage broke off a post from a railing to serve as a wooden stake.
(Power Man#26 (fb) - BTS) - Martinson moved Trevorik to the upstairs closet in the abandoned brownstone across the street and then put on his own vampiric Trevorik costume again.
(Power Man#26 -
BTS) - Hazel
Donovan then called Cage, telling him she had had all of the locks
changed during the day, but had just heard and then seen Trevorik in the
alley. She then told him Trevorik was at her window and trying to break
in. Cage dropped the phone, ran out and hailed a cab to Hazel's home.
When Cage arrived just as dawn was breaking, Hazel told him that
Trevorik had run down the street into the abandoned brownstone on the
corner. Cage told her to lock herself back in her home, and he went
down to the brownstone. Figuring this to be the
location of Trevorik's second coffin (which Cage reasoned Trevorik must
have used the other day when he wasn't home), Cage kicked the door in.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - The costumed Martinson allowed Cage to hear and then follow him upstairs. As Cage approached the room in which Trevorik was stashed, Martinson smashed Cage across the chin with a lead pipe.
(Power Man#26) - Cage was stunned long enough for Martinson to pull
Trevorik out of the closet, place his cloak on him, cut
his bonds, and give Trevorik an injection that would send him into a
maniacal frenzy. As Martinson hid in the closet, Trevorik rushed
towards the reviving Cage.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Having twice gotten a good look at the shoes of the "vampiric Trevorik," Cage recognized that the man who was rushing him might not the same one he had faced earlier (see comments).
(Power Man#26) - Cage punched Trevorik just hard enough to knock him back. As Trevorik cowered from the glare of the rising sun, Cage restrained him and then buried the stake in the floor him to see if the other "vampire" would show himself; as there was only one closet, Cage suspected he might be hiding out in there.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) - Hearing the apparent staking and the sllience that followed, Martinson opened the closet door. Seeing Cage, he closed the door again, but Cage pulled him out and revealed how he had known he wasn't facing the same "vampire" as before.
(Power Man#26) - With Trevorik having recovered his wits, Martinson was surprised
to see him alive and calm again. When Cage recognized Trevorik as an
albino, Trevorik explained how his aversion to sunlight had made him
nocturnal and solitary, and how he had gotten into the occult to fill
the void in his life.
While Trevorik and Cage talked, Martinson got up and ran out the
door only to find two waiting policemen who then took Martinson into
custody.
(Power Man#26 - BTS) -Trevorik began to explain Martinson's plot to Cage, who had been up for a couple days straight and asked if they could talk about the complicated matters later and instead go have a simple breakfast; Cage was in the mood for a quiet celebration.
Comments: Created by Steve Englehart, George Tuska, and Vince Colletta.
Power Man#26 had a caption at the start of it noting:
Two years ago, when the "Night Stalker" was the highest rated TV movie ever, "Stainless" Steve was asked to come up with an inventory tale for "Gorgeous" George, and this was the result. When it wasn't needed right away, we feared the story's impact might be lost as the movie receded from memory -- but now ther's the TV series, and now here's Steve Englehart's last Luke Cage.
I don't think the "Vampire-Killer" was actually explained in this story. Was Martinson murdering people to accentuate his frame of Trevorik? Did the murders give Martinson the idea to frame Trevorik as the killer? Was the Vampire-Killer a real vampire? Maybe it was the "42nd street stalker?" (see clarifications)
Speaking of which, around the time of the Vampires: The Marvel Undead handbook, I asked Jo Duffy about any connection between Trevorik and the similarly appearing 42nd street stalker, and she explained that there was no connection. She was not familiar with Trevorik when she wrote the latter story.
We don't know Trevorik's career. Perhaps he both bought and sold occult items as oa career, or perhaps he had another job that was just never mentioned (though you'd think Cage would have interviewed his co-workers, too). Maybe he had inherited or otherwise accrued wealth, or maybe he used to have another job, but was retired. It's hard to tell how old he is, as his hair was white from birth.
I don't think Trevorik's neighborhood was ever revealed. We know Cage's office was on 42nd street, and the Magic Society office was on South Broadway, on the fringe of Greenwich Village. Trevorik's apartment was uptown from the place Martinson assaulted Cage on the streets (but probably not much further, as Cage was apparently heading back uptown (or perhaps he was heading downtown a bit further to catch a subway train) after interviewing the people of Trevorik's neighborhood). And, after Martinson's second assault, Cage went back downtown to the Magic Society
The title on the cover and the title of the story itself were "The Night Shocker," but the alias was never used for Trevorik. It was just a play on the Night Stalker name.
Hazel Donovan, referring to Trevorik, noted how she didn't have any problem with foreigners or religion. That would make it sound like Trevorik was from another country, perhaps eastern Europe (like Hungary or Romania), although we don't have confirmation, only her assumption. Certainly a "Transylvania" accent would only have enhanced the fears and stereotyping/superstition of his neighbors and associates.
While the shoes were different, I'd think the fact that Martinson wore a bow tie while Trevorik did not and had the top few buttons undone on his shirt, was a more obvious change, to me, anyway. I guess he could have quickly ripped off the bow tie, tearing open the top of his shirt in the process.
The only full body image we have of Trevorik is in the costume Martinson put him in to make him look more vampiric. Maybe that's how he dressed (with or without the cape), maybe not. I just went with his non-frenzied face as the main image for that reason.
I'd like to see someone consult Trevorik for his occult knowledged in the future. Maybe he'd find a soul mate in albino occultist Katinka.
Martinson and the Stalker of 42nd Street will have profiles in the coming days to weeks, depending on when I have the chance.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Janos V. Trevorik should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Power Man#26, pg. 12, panel 6 (bound and gagged);
pg. 16, panel 5 (frenzy, face);
panel 6 (frenzy, full);
pg. 19, panel 2 (face, normal)
Appearances:
Power Man#26 (August, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), George Tuska (penciler), Vince Colletta (inker), Len Wein (editor)
Last updated: 02/26/15
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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