PIERRE LA ROC

Real Name: Pierre La Roc

Identity/Class: Human (1960s era)

Occupation: Criminal

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Living wax statues, police

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: An unidentified village, somewhere in Europe

First Appearance: Amazing Adventures I#1/2 (June, 1961)

Powers/Abilities: A violent and dangerous criminal, La Roc had no paranormal abilities (...although he was skilled at posing motionless for an extended period of time).

Height: 5' 10" (by approximation)
Weight: 170 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Black

History:
(Amazing Adventures I#1/2) - The past of Pierre La Roc is largely unrevealed, but late one night he broke into a jewelry store; his burglary was interrupted when a passing police officer spotted him and entered the store. Vowing that he'd never be sent to prison again, La Roc struck the officer and fled into the fog-enshrouded night.

   As he ran through an alleyway, La Roc noticed a building with an open window, so he crawled inside and discovered that the place was a wax museum. Hearing some police officers enter the building in search of him, La Roc sought a place to hide, so he hid in plain sight by concealing himself with a cloak and posing as one of the wax figures. Thinking that the unmoving La Roc was merely a part of one of the displays, the police were fooled and left the wax museum to search elsewhere.

   Overjoyed that he had given the law-enforcers the slip, La Roc planned to remain in the wax museum all night, then he would lose himself in the crowd when the morning came. La Roc was startled by a noise, but he was relieved to discover it was merely a clock striking the midnight hour.

   Then La Roc noticed one of the wax statues beginning to move; he was further horrified to see all the wax figures in the museum come to life! As the statues aggressively surrounded him, La Roc realized all the doors were locked, so he made his escape by jumping through the glass of a first-floor window to get to the street--the resulting crash attracted the attention of a crowd of bystanders and a nearby police officer.

   But instead of fleeing, La Roc ran up to the police officer and begged him to lock him up and protect him from the wax creatures who were after him. As he took the ranting La Roc into custody, the arresting officer commented to a man in the crowd that it was ironic because La Roc might not have been discovered if his imagination hadn't gotten the best of him--his conscience must have made him imagine the wax figures were pursuing him; the man agreed with the officer, saying that a person's imagination could play fantastic tricks on his brain.

   As the man returned to his home in the wax museum, he thought to himself that the average mind could not believe that any other type of human life could exist; as he returned to his display amongst his fellow wax figures, the wax man was certain his people's secret was safe.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee (writer) and Steve Ditko (artist).

About a year after this story was published, the same basic plot would be repeated (following the retitling of this series to Amazing Adult Fantasy) in issue #14/3, What Happened in the Wax Museum?, which also featured a living wax statue--maybe it was the same wax museum.

Perhaps those living wax statues had some connection to the Wax People of the planet Xaccus.

Other Living Wax Statues/People on Earth included ones in Journey Into Mystery I#69/3 (June, 1961) - "When Darkness Falls!", Adventure Into Mystery#6/1 (March, 1957) - "The Wax Man!" (a hoax wax man), Mystic#9/3 (June, 1952) - "The Wax Man", Adventures Into Terror#24/1 (October, 1953) - "The Wax Men" (only one dead, the others are lifeless statues) & Amazing Adult Fantasy#14/3 (July, 1962) - "What Happened In The Wax Museum?" ("Herr Wagner"--living wax statue of the real Herr Wagner).
--Gammatotem

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Pierre La Roc has no known connections to:

The living wax statues have no known connections to:

Living wax statues

Numbering perhaps ten, they were the inhabitants of a European wax museum. They included a caveman, a barbarian warrior, a bearded figure holding a thunderbolt (possibly representing the Greek god Zeus), and a hooded figure (possibly representing an executioner).

At the stroke of midnight, they all came to life and aggressively surrounded felon Pierre La Roc, who was hiding in the wax museum following an attempted robbery; La Roc fled in terror from the wax figures and surrendered to the police.

(Considering the frightful appearance of most of these statues, La Roc was probably in the "Chamber of Horrors" section of the wax museum)

--Amazing Adventures I#1/2

unidentified wax statue

An unidentified man who was among a crowd of bystanders in a European village. He saw felon Pierre La Roc willingly surrender to a police officer--La Roc wildly claimed he was surrounded by living wax statues while he was hiding in the wax museum.

As he took La Roc into custody, the arresting officer commented to the unidentified man that La Roc's conscience must have gotten the best of him and caused him to imagine the wax figures had come to life; the unidentified man agreed, saying that a person's imagination could play fantastic tricks on his mind.

As he returned to his home in the wax museum, the unidentified man thought of how the average mind could not believe that any other type of human life could exist; returning to his display amongst his fellow wax figures, the wax man was certain his people's secret was safe.

(Considering his attire, perhaps this wax statue was supposed to represent Jack the Ripper)

--Amazing Adventures I#1/2

images: (without ads)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p1, pan1 (Main Image - Pierre La Roc in wax museum)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p2, pan6 (Headshot - Pierre La Roc)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p3, pan1 (motionless Pierre La Roc disguised by cloak, posed by wax figure, hiding from police by pretending to be part of a display)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p4, pan1 (Pierre La Roc menaced by living wax figure of barbarian warrior, hooded figure and others in background)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p2, pan7 (Pierre La Roc first sees some of the wax statues and discovers he's in the wax museum)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p4, pan2 (living wax figures menace Pierre La Roc)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p4, pan4 (living wax figures surround Pierre La Roc)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p5, pan4 (Unidentified wax figure speaks with police officer)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p5, pan5 (Unidentified wax figure returns home to wax museum)
Amazing Adventures I#1/2, p5, pan9 (Unidentified wax figure returns to his display)

Appearances:
Amazing Adventures I#1/2 (June, 1961) - Stan Lee (writer), Steve Ditko (pencils and inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 04/29/2018
Last Updated: 10/14/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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