TORTHA KARF

Real Name: Tortha Karf

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Saturnian) (see comments) (1950s era)

Occupation: Spy

Group Membership: Crew of space ship Saturnia

Affiliations: Akor Mlee

Enemies: Sing Sing prison guards

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The Man from Another World" (in story title only)

Base of Operations:  Mobile

First Appearance: Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4 (June, 1953)

Powers/Abilities: Possibly reptilian, the scaly green-skinned Tortha Karf was a shape-shifter who could transform himself into the likeness of another being (It was unrevealed if this was a unique ability for him alone, or a trait common to his species). He was vulnerable to physical injury, and was killed by conventional gunfire--following his death, his body apparently retained the shape of the last form he had assumed. Tortha Karf could also communicate telepathically (apparently a trait common to his species), and he was able to read English.

Tortha Karf flew to Earth in a scout ship, and used an anti-gravity belt to descend to the ground.

Height: 6' (by approximation)
Weight: 180 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: None

History:
(Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4) - Aboard the space ship Saturnia as it orbited Earth, Tortha Karf was telepathically summoned by Commander Akor Mlee; as he stood before his superior, Tortha Karf was assigned his mission: He was to descend to Earth and find out if the Earthlings were weak enough to be conquered; he was instructed to transform himself into an exact duplicate of a member of the ruling species and spy upon the Earthlings while reporting all his findings by means of telepathic thought messages.

   Minutes later, Tortha Karf launched his scout ship and flew above the surface of the planet. Using an electronic spy-scope, he spotted two Earth creatures--one, four-legged and tailed (a horse pulling a hay-wagon), and the other, two-legged and tailless (the wagon driver); when he saw the two-legged creature whipping the four-legged creature to force it to move faster, Tortha Karf telepathically informed his commander. The commander figured that obviously the two-legged creature was a member of the ruling class, so he ordered Tortha Karf to transform himself into a duplicate of him. The shape-shifting spy took on the wagon driver's form, but then he saw the man begin to work very hard to unload the hay-wagon by himself, so Tortha Karf reported that the man was only a common laborer, and therefore not a member of the ruling class. The commander ordered Tortha Karf to continue searching until he found a true member of the elite class.

   As his scout ship flew over a city, Tortha Karf reported that he saw a walled portion of the city (Sing Sing Prison) and he thought that it must be where the ruling class lived--he figured the wall was probably designed to keep commoners out; noticing the name of the installation on a sign by the outer wall, Tortha Karf surmised that the inhabitants were vocal artists, and that singers were undoubtedly the rulers of Earth--they even wore distinctive clothing (prison uniforms) to set them apart from the rabble.

   But then Tortha Karf telepathically reported he saw the "vocalists" inside the walls were waving flashing objects (guns) at dark-uniformed slaves (prison guards), and some of the slaves were falling to the ground in homage before their masters, while other slaves opened the gates for the "vocalists" (Tortha Karf didn't know that an armed jailbreak was actually occurring). The commander ordered Tortha Karf to transform himself into one of the "vocalists" so that he would not be disturbed when he walked about Earth; the shape-shifting spy complied, then used his anti-gravity belt to land himself within the walls.

   Tortha Karf reported to his commander that he was walking toward the open gates, and some of the dark-uniformed slaves were saluting him with peculiar metal objects; suddenly, Akor Mlee sensed a scream of agony, and Tortha Karf reported that the slaves' metal objects were flashing fire and smoke, causing him to feel unbearable pain, then he said a final farewell to his commander. Sensing that Tortha Karf was dead, Commander Akor Mlee telepathically informed his crew that they dare not attack Earth, and he ordered them to search the galaxy for some weaker worlds to conquer.

   Meanwhile, back in Sing Sing, the prison guards stared down at the dead body of a convict (the transformed Tortha Karf). One guard mentioned that the dead inmate must have been crazy to walk out of the gates following a prisonbreak; another guard agreed with him, because just before the convict walked into their gunfire, he had a superior smile on his face, as though he thought of them as his slaves.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Bob McCarty (artist).

Maybe these aliens were offshoots of the Skrulls (who are also reptilian shape-shifters).

The aliens' space ship was identified as Saturnia, and they were referred to as Saturnians, which implies that they were from Saturn--maybe they weren't actually natives of the ringed planet, but (much like the Kronans (AKA "Stone Men from Saturn")) they were only using Saturn (or one of its moons) as a base.

This basic story-plot would be reused a decade later for Zogg.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Tortha Karf has no known connections to:

Akor Mlee has no known connections to:

Tortha Karf's scout ship

A one-man "flying saucer"-type vehicle, it was used by Tortha Karf to transport him from the orbiting space ship Saturnia to Earth. Tortha Karf eventually disembarked from the scout ship and used an anti-gravity belt to lower himself to the surface of the planet (Presumably, the scout ship had an automatic piloting system to return it to the mother-ship).

The scout ship was equipped with an electronic spy scope with night-vision capabilities.

--Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4

Akor Mlee

The commander of the space ship Saturnia, he was Tortha Karf's superior. He sent the shape-shifting Tortha Karf to Earth to spy for a possible invasion, and he maintained telepathic contact with Tortha Karf throughout the spy's mission.

When Tortha Karf was killed after he assumed the form of an inmate during a prisonbreak, Akor Mlee abandoned his plans for an invasion and telepathically ordered his crew to find a weaker world to conquer.

--Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4

images: (without ads)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4, p1, pan3 (Main Image - Tortha Karf standing at attention before Commander Akor Mlee)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4, p2, pan1 (Headshot - Tortha Karf)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4, p3, pan3 (Tortha Karf transformed into hay-wagon driver)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4, p4, pan5 (Tortha Karf transformed into convict, shot dead by prison guards outside Sing Sing Prison)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4, p2, pan2 (Tortha Karf's scout ship launches from space ship Saturnia)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4, p3, pan4 (Tortha Karf's scout ship flying above Hudson River to Sing Sing Prison)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4, p2, pan5 (Commander Akor Mlee)
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4, p4, pan1 (Commander Akor Mlee communicating telepathically with Tortha Karf)

Appearances:
Journey into Unknown Worlds I#19/4 (June, 1953) - unidentified writer, Bob McCarty (pencils and inks), Stan Lee (editor)

Last updated: 11/05/17

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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