REESE
Real Name: Reese (first name unrevealed)
Identity/Class: Human mutate (1950s era)
Occupation: Newspaper editor
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Korber's victims
Enemies: Dr. Leon Korber, Savages, snake-creature, flying-creature
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Dr. Korber's laboratory
First Appearance: Adventures into Terror#7/4 (December, 1951)
Powers/Abilities: Once a normal human being with a career in journalism, Reese was sent to an extradimensional "hybrid world" by Dr. Korber's lamp--during his transition to the other dimension, his body and facial features were grotesquely contorted (apparently temporarily (see comments)). Reese also seemed to have the power to see past the "fourth wall" (see comments).
Height: 5' 10" (by
approximation)
Weight: 170 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unknown
Hair: Brown
History: (Adventures into Terror#7/4 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Reese is unknown, but he eventually became editor of The Benton Dispatch--Reese had earlier written some "sizzling" editorials about Dr. Leon Korber and his "screwy" experiments, which greatly offended Korber.
(Adventures into Terror#7/4) - Korber invited Reese to his laboratory, where the scientist wanted to show him his most amazing experiment--a lamp which could open an aperture into another dimension. Korber demonstrated the device to Reese by projecting a portal to a "hybrid world" on the wall; then Korber turned the lamp's beam on Reese. Feeling as though a thousand hands were twisting and squeezing his body, Reese was transported to the alien world, and to his horror, he saw that his physical form had been distorted in the dimensional transition. Sobbing with rage and frustration, Reese wandered aimlessly across the barren landscape until he encountered another man who was similarly distorted. Reese learned from the man that Korber had earlier banished him and several other men with whom Korber had grudges to this dimension. As the man led Reese to join the others in a cave where they lived, the two encountered some of the weird life-forms on the strange world, including a snake-creature and the Savages. Reese and the man then joined the other exiles in the shelter of the cave, where they all gathered around a fire pit and dined on a smaller creature they had hunted.
The next day, Reese was determined to get back to Earth and decided he'd rather die taking the chance to get back home rather than die of old age on the bizarre world, so he returned to the location where he first appeared. Armed with a sharpened wood spear, Reese waited for Korber to reactivate the lamp and open the portal again. During his vigil, Reese slew a menacing flying-creature with the spear, then he noticed the Savages beginning to creep towards him. But suddenly Reese saw a glow and knew Korber was reactivating his lamp, and he realized the time had come to make his escape. He leaped through the portal and found himself back in Korber's lab, where Korber was about to banish his next victim to the other dimension. Reese (his body still distorted) attacked Korber and seized the lamp from him, while Korber's intended victim fled in terror. Reese activated the device and turned its beam on Korber and pushed him, sending him to the alien world, where the Savages lunged at the scientist. Reese turned the beam off and closed the portal, figuring Korber deserved whatever happened to him; but curiosity overwhelmed him, so Reese reactivated the lamp and watched as the Savages attacked the evil scientist. Then he saw the other exiled men pouring out of the cave and racing towards the portal for their chance to return home; but other Savages burst out of hiding and were also attracted to the lamp's glow--one leaped through the portal and into the lab. Reese quickly switched the lamp off before others could follow, then punched the bewildered Savage in the jaw, rendering it unconscious. As he stood over the Savage's prone body, about to turn the lamp on to send it back, Reese found himself in a quandary: If he activated the lamp and let the other exiled men back to Earth, he would be taking the risk of letting more Savages into the world. The indecisive Reese was left wondering what he should do...
Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Basil Wolverton (artist).
I say that Reese could see past the "fourth wall" because in the final
story panel (see main image), he directly addressed the reader--possibly
it was a power he developed as a result of his dimensional travels?
Or maybe his mind was affected by the experience and he was just
hallucinating...
Also in the last panel, Reese implied that the physical distortion was
only temporary--I don't know how he came to that conclusion, because
Korber never indicated such--maybe that was just wishful thinking on
Reese's part. However, after Korber was pushed into the dimensional
portal, he didn't appear to be distorted--maybe he built up an immunity to
the radiation of his lamp and was unaffected (...or
more likely, the artist just forgot about this little detail).
Don't know why Korber considered it a "hybrid world"--maybe because of the
life-forms? (i.e. The Savages were kind
of like a cross between men and reptiles)
Maybe that "hybrid world" in the unknown dimension was actually a planet
in the Negative Zone, and the contortions that Reese and the other men
suffered to their bodies were a side-effect of passing through the
sub-space "Distortion Area" that permits access to the Negative Zone (@
Fantastic Four I#51).
Oddly enough, although this was the cover-featured story of this issue,
the scene the cover depicted didn't match the story at all.
This six-page story--Where Monsters
Dwell--was reprinted in Crypt of Shadows#1 and Curse of the
Weird#3.
Profile by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Reese has no known connections to:
Dr. Leon Korber has no known connections to:
Dr. Korber's lamp has no known connections to:
The Savages have no known connection to:
He was a brilliant scientist, but an evil and petulant man. One of his experiments was a lamp which could open a doorway to another dimension. Earlier, Korber had used the lamp to punish some men for their transgressions against him by transporting them to a world in another dimension--he had banished a least six victims in this manner. After Reese had written some newspaper editorials about Korber, the scientist felt ridiculed, so he used his invention to exile Reese as well.
Later, Korber activated his lamp and was about to send another victim to the strange world, but the tables were turned against him--Reese leaped back through the portal and turned the scientist's lamp on him, transporting Korber to the alien world instead, where Korber was attacked by the savage inhabitants of the weird dimension and presumably killed.
--Adventures into Terror#7/4
A portable hand-held device, it was said by Korber to be his "most amazing experiment". It projected a beam which opened a circular wormhole portal to another dimension, and thus created a doorway to a barren "hybrid world".
--Adventures into Terror#7/4
None identified, they numbered at least six. They were men whom Dr. Korber felt had wronged him in some way, so he used his lamp to banish them to another dimension--in the process, their bodies became twisted and contorted. They had taken shelter in a cave on the alien world, and they subsisted on what small native life-forms they could hunt for food.
They had grown complacent and resigned to their fate because they feared the Savages would take over their cave if they attempted to escape back to Earth. One day, one of their group came upon Reese, who had recently been exiled by Korber, and they took Reese into their shelter to join their group. But Reese wouldn't accept being exiled on the alien world, and was determined to get back home.
When Reese made his way through the dimensional portal and returned to Earth, the distorted men tried to follow after him, but Reese closed the portal for fear of the Savages making their way to Earth--the fate of Korber's victims remains unknown.
--Adventures into Terror#7/4
Numbering at least six, they were the semi-human inhabitants of an unknown dimension. They were called "The Savages" by the men whom Korber had exiled to the alien world. Possibly reptilian, the bipedal Savages had red armor-plated bodies. Initially, they seemed to fear the exiled men, yet the men were worried that some day the Savages would gang up to attack and take over their cave. When Reese first encountered the creatures as they were lurking behind some boulders, the Savages seemed timid. Later, when Reese made his escape from the alien dimension by leaping through the portal, the Savages were attracted by the portal's glow and emboldened; during their attack, one of the Savages managed to leap through the portal and made its way to Earth, but Reese rendered the primitive creature unconscious by punching it in the jaw.
--Adventures into Terror#7/4
A large serpent-like life-form, it inhabited a world in an unknown dimension. It menaced Reese and another exiled man shortly after Reese was transported to the strange hybrid world, but the other man incapacitated the creature by ramming a stick between the monster's open jaws.
--Adventures into Terror#7/4
A winged life-form with four razor-sharp talons, it inhabited a world in an unknown dimension. It menaced Reese while he was waiting for Korber to reactivate his lamp and reopen the dimensional portal. Reese slew the creature by stabbing it in the neck with a spear.
--Adventures into Terror#7/4
images: (without ads)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p6, pan7 (main-image, distorted Reese (holding Korber's lamp) addresses reader)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p2, pan3 (Reese (before distortion) exposed to Korber's lamp)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p2, pan5 (Reese after distortion)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p2, pan2 (Dr. Leon Korber)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p5, pan4 (Korber being pushed into dimensional portal by Reese; Savages in background)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p5, pan7 (Dr. Korber swarmed by Savages)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p1, pan2 (Dr. Korber holding his lamp)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p1, pan3 (Dr. Korber activates lamp and shows Reese portal to alien dimension)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p2, pan1 (Dr. Korber explains alien dimension to Reese)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p3, pan1 (first of Korber's victims encountered by Reese)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p4, pan1 (Reese and Korber's other victims)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p6, pan3 (Savages in alien dimension; Korber laying in background)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p6, pan5 (Savage punched by Reese)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p3, pan2 (snake-creature in alien dimension, Reese and Korber's victim in background)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p3, pan3 (Korber's victim rams stick in between snake-creature's jaws, Reese in background)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p4, pan4 (Reese first sights flying creature)
Adventures into Terror#7/4, p4, pan5 (flying-creature speared by Reese)
Appearances:
Adventures into Terror#7/4 (December, 1951) - unidentified writer, Basil Wolverton (artist)
Last updated: 07/31/16
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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