FACELESS MAN
Real Name: Kurt (last name unrevealed, possibly Klein (see comments))
Identity/Class: Human (Nazi) (1950s era)
Occupation: Caretaker for his uncle; saboteur
Group Membership: Nazis (see comments)
Affiliations: His three henchmen (none identified)
Enemies: Bob Brant and the Trouble-Shooters (Bomber, Daffy, Feathers), Professor Paul Klein
Known Relatives: Professor Paul Klein (uncle)
Aliases: "A butcher" (as called by Mr. Brant); "You filthy swine" (as called by Professor Klein)
Base of Operations: His uncle's home in New York City
First Appearance: Man Comics I#27/1 (June, 1953)
Powers/Abilities: A ruthless Nazi (Are there any other kinds?), Kurt had no paranormal abilities; as the Faceless Man, he concealed his entire head with a wrapping of bandages.
Kurt was armed with a handgun, and he was knowledgeable in the use of explosives to sabotage the supporting infrastructure of a city's utilities.
Height: 5' 11" (by
approximation)
Weight: 180 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Blond
History: (Man Comics I#27/1 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Kurt is largely unrevealed, but he and his uncle -- Professor Paul Klein -- lived in Germany during World War II. Kurt concealed his identity and served as the Faceless Man, an agent for the Third Reich -- in what capacity the Faceless Man operated is unrevealed, but he gained the reputation of being a "butcher". At one point before the end of the war, the Faceless Man was overheard (by persons unspecified) to say that Professor Klein was the only one to have ever seen his face (per Mr. Brant) -- Klein was therefore imprisoned in a concentration camp because he unwittingly possessed this knowledge.
After the war, Kurt emigrated to the United State with his uncle. Professor Klein took a teaching position at a New York high school, and Kurt lived with him, acting as his elderly uncle's caretaker. But Kurt still kept in contact with some of the escaped Nazi leaders (see comments), and he organized a plot to sabotage the city so that the Nazi movement could rise again.
(Man Comics I#27/1) - After delivering a patriotic lecture
to Bob Brant's class, Professor Klein invited Bob and his friends to his
home to tell them more about the time he spent imprisoned. When
Bob and the gang arrived (Bob
even brought along his pet raccoon Reuben), Klein
introduced them to Kurt and sent Kurt to the kitchen to get the kids
some soda and ice cream. Just then, Klein got an unexpected
visitor -- Bob's father. Mr. Brant warned Klein that his agents
with the U.N. security police had informed him that the nucleus of a
Nazi movement was active in New York, and their leader -- the Faceless
Man -- was after Klein because he was the only one who could identify
him. Klein admitted that he'd heard of the Faceless Man back in
Germany, but denied he knew who the Nazi actually was; regardless, Mr.
Brant told Klein that he would arrange to have guards posted around
Klein's home within an hour --
Kurt expressed his displeasure at hearing about this turn of
events. Mr. Brant left, and considering the potential danger, he
insisted Bob and his friends leave as well (...which
annoyed Bomber, because he never got his soda and ice cream!).
(Man Comics I#27/1 - BTS) - Kurt was concerned his plot would be ruined, so he disguised himself as the Faceless Man, contacted his henchmen, and set his scheme into motion -- he began by taking Professor Klein by force, unaware that the abduction was being witnessed by Reuben the raccoon.
(Man Comics I#27/1) - As Bob and the Trouble-Shooters walked away down the sidewalk, Bob suddenly realized he'd left Reuben behind, so the gang returned to Klein's home. After ringing the doorbell and getting no answer, the boys found the front door unlocked, so they went inside and saw Reuben running around excitedly. They glanced out the open backdoor and saw Professor Klein being forced into a sedan by the Faceless Man and his henchmen. As the sedan pulled away, the boys jumped on the rear bumper and held on to ride along, unseen by the evildoers as they drove through the city.
The sedan finally stopped by an old subway entrance, and the Faceless Man and his gang took Klein into the abandoned subway branch; Bob and the Trouble-Shooters followed them through the maze of tunnels until they came to a section with many pipes and wiring conduits. Hiding in the shadows, the boys listened as the Faceless Man threatened Klein's life and told the professor about his plan to bring pestilence and disaster to the city above; the Faceless Man explained that he would dynamite the underground pipes and cables which supplied the "life-blood" to the metropolis, and without communication, water, light, or heat, he predicted the city would go mad, then the Nazi Party could rise again on the fear of the people!
Just then, Reuben grabbed a box of sneezing powder from Bomber's pocket, climbed up on one of the pipes, and sprinkled the dust on the Faceless Man and his gang. The Nazis erupted in a mass sneezing fit; seeing this as a perfect distraction, the boys rescued Klein, then they all raced through the subway tunnels, with the Faceless Man and his henchmen in pursuit. After narrowly avoiding getting struck by a subway train, Klein and the boys made their way into an adjoining sewer tunnel, where they located an exit and climbed up through a manhole. The boys and Klein found themselves on a street near a demolition site, so the boys grabbed some scrap wood pieces. As the Nazis emerged one-by-one from the manhole, Bob and the Trouble-Shooters individually clubbed the three henchmen, then finally the Faceless Man. With the four Nazis knocked senseless, Bob pulled off the Faceless Man's disguise, revealing him to be the shocked Professor Klein's nephew.
Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Carl Hubbell (artist)
Kurt's last name wasn't mentioned, and although Professor Klein was his uncle, it wasn't specified from which side of Kurt's family he was from.
It wasn't mentioned who those escaped Nazi leaders were -- maybe Kurt was secretly working for the Hate-Monger or the Exiles.
Maybe Kurt got the idea of concealing his face from Baron Heinrich Zemo... but he wasn't much for originality, because his disguise looks like the one used by "Hans" (Doctor Doom).
His look was good enough for No-Face from the Robin story in Star Spangled Comics#66 (March, 1947), Mad Merkin from Mister Miracle#17 (12-1/73-74) & Hush (Thomas Elliot) from Batman I#609 (January, 2003). Maybe he could become a Black Fox foe?
--Gammatotem
Profile by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Faceless Man/Kurt has no known connections to:
Professor Paul Klein has no known connections to:
The elderly Professor Klein originally lived in Germany during World War II. At some point, the Nazis imprisoned him in a concentration camp because he was the only person to have ever seen the actual face of the Nazi agent known as the Faceless Man -- Klein was unaware he possessed this secret.
After the end of the war and his subsequent release from imprisonment, Klein emigrated to the United States, and he brought his nephew Kurt with him. Klein took a teaching position at a New York high school, while Kurt lived with him and acted as his caretaker.
Klein was greatly impressed by the freedom he found in America, so he delivered a patriotic lecture to his students telling them as such, and told them they should be proud of their American heritage. After he dismissed the class, Bob Brant and his friends wanted to learn more about Klein's experiences during his imprisonment, so he invited them to his house.
When the kids got to his home, Klein introduced them to Kurt; shortly afterward, Bob's father arrived to warn Klein that a Nazi movement was active in the area, and a fugitive Nazi known as the Faceless Man was after him because Klein was the only person who could identify him -- the bewildered Klein admitted that he'd heard of the Nazi agent back in Germany, but denied actually knowing who he was.
After his visitors left, Klein was abducted by the Faceless Man and his henchmen; the Nazis took him to an abandoned subway tunnel. Before he was about to kill Klein, the Faceless Man told him about his plans to cause havoc in the city, which would bring the Nazi movement back to power.
But the professor was rescued by Bob Brant and the Trouble-Shooters; Klein was shocked when he later learned that the Faceless Man was really his own nephew Kurt, who had betrayed him to the Nazis years earlier.
--Man Comics I#27/1
They were a trio of thugs who assisted the Faceless Man in his scheme of
kidnapping and sabotage.
They helped the Faceless Man abduct Professor Klein and took him to an
abandoned subway tunnel, where the Faceless Man was going to destroy the
supporting infrastructure of New York's utilities. But when Bob Brant
and the Trouble-Shooters arrived, the boys freed Professor Klein after Bob's
raccoon sprinkled sneezing powder on the henchmen and the Faceless Man.
The Faceless Man and his henchmen chased Klein and the boys through a sewer
tunnel, and when they followed them up a manhole to the street above, the
henchmen and their leader all got clubbed by Bob Brant and the
Trouble-Shooters as they reached the surface.
--Man Comics I#27/1
images: (without ads)
Man Comics I#27/1, p9, pan6 (Main Image, Faceless Man climbing out of sewer manhole, getting struck by Bob Brant)
Man Comics I#27/1, p3, pan8 (Kurt)
Man Comics I#27/1, p5, pan8 (Faceless Man slaps Professor Klein)
Man Comics I#27/1, p9, pan7 (Bob Brant reveals Kurt as Faceless Man to Professor Klein)
Man Comics I#27/1, p2, pan8 (Professor Paul Klein; Kurt in background)
Man Comics I#27/1, p3, pan6 (Professor Paul Klein denies knowing Faceless Man's true identity)
Man Comics I#27/1, p5, pan7 (Faceless Man and henchmen with Professor Klein in subway tunnel, Daffy and Bob Brant watching)
Man Comics I#27/1, p6, pan3 (Faceless Man and henchmen sneezing because of sneezing powder)
Appearances:
Man Comics I#27/1 (June, 1953) - unidentified writer, Carl Hubbell (pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Last updated: 04/17/17
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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