JONAS MORPHEO

Real Name: Jonas Morpheo

Identity/Class: Normal humans (late 1940s era)

Occupation: Shop owner, retailer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Customers (loose)

Enemies: Mayhem Monk, Young Allies (Bucky (Fred Davis(?) - see comments), Jeff (Jefferson Sandervilt), Knuckles (Percival O'Toole), Toro (Thomas Raymond), Tubby (Henry Tinkle), Whitewash (Washington Jones))

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City, USA

First Appearance: Young Allies I#20/1 (October, 1946)

Powers/Abilities: Jonas Morpheo possesses no unusual powers; he is a successful small business operator and has sound knowledge of manipulating various ground natural products and spices to influence sleep and generate dreams with accurate recollection in sleepers. He owned a Baluchistan Century Plant, whose rare seed pods shape dreams. Potentially affected by regular exposure to his herbal mixes, he has an eccentric nature, often giggling. He requires spectacles for accurate vision and occasionally has a cane.

Height: 5'5"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Eyes: Unrevealed (dark brown?)
Hair: Dark gray (balding)

History:

(Young Allies I#20/1 (fb) - BTS) - Jonas Morpheo ran a small Curios shop in Market Circle, New York City and came into possession of a rare Baluchistan Century Plant, which blooms only once every 100 years but whose seed pods affect a sleeper's dreams. He ground the pods with other materials and spices to create specialized and vivid dreams (such as feasts or adventures) after quickly putting the user to sleep from its boiled fumes, and priced them with large variance. The popularity grew quietly by word of mouth.

(Young Allies I#20/1) - After selling a basic dream to a customer, Morpheo was accosted by violent criminal Mayhem Monk, who demanded a dream mix that would reveal how to perform an easy robbery. The dream proved successful and Mayhem Monk stole a payroll, killing in the process. This brought the attention of the nearby Young Allies team (Bucky, Jeff, Knuckles, Toro, Tubby, Whitewash), who traced a clue back to Morpheo. Fearing trouble with the police, Morpheo chased the youngsters out. Angry at the Young Allies' interference, Mayhem Monk returned to Morpheo to beat him up, but Morpheo instead offered him the "perfect crime dream" herbs that would also counter the Young Allies' involvement. Overhearing this, the Young Allies burst in, but Mayhem Monk escaped, dumping dream herbs in boiling water as he ran. The fumes overwhelmed several of the Young Allies and Morpheo warned that they had to sleep it off uninterrupted. Bucky had Toro incinerate the century plant, considering it dangerous. Once the others were awake, Bucky took a detective dream and successfully countered Mayhem Monk's plan and strategy against them. Morpheo later giggled philosophically; his fate is unrevealed.

Comments: Created by Otto Binder, Syd Shores, Allen Bellman, Vince Alascia.

Presumably Morpheo still had unground seeds and may have been able to germinate a new plant. Regardless, it is unlikely this was the last of its species (although flowering once in a 100 years means little opportunity for the plant's natural seeded distribution; perhaps it relied also on propagation or new shoots like other century plants).

The Young Allies' initial comic adventures were later retconned in the Young Allies Comics 70th Anniversary Special (2009) to be fictional retellings of their real adventures, so this story's accuracy is left up to the reader in this case. This may be a retelling of a WWII-era adventure, in which case Bucky is James Barnes, but if it's set in 1946 from the comic's publication date, then Bucky is Fred Davis (with the other Young Allies apparently none the wiser of the change).

Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for credits info.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Jonas Morpheo has no known connections to:

• JONAS TURNIP of Earth-Amalgam - Space Turnip + Jonas Glim, bounty hunter, brother of Darryl Rutabaga--Lobo the Duck#1
  
• MORPHEO-GAS - Kree weapon--Marvel Super-Heroes II#13
• Morpheus - mischievous Olympian god of sleep--Captain America Comics I#15/2
• MORPHEUS - mystic entity invoked by Dr. Strange, possibly the Olympian God; "MISTS of MORPHEUS"--[Dr. Strange II#51]
• MORPHEUS - empowered by experimental drug that caused sleep deprivation, manipulated perception of reality--Moon Knight I#12
• or any other "Jonas" or "Morphe-" characters

Mayhem Monk

The left-handed bald gangster known only as Mayhem Monk heard of Jonas Morpheo's dream herbs and forced Morpheo to provide him with a dream for an easy robbery. Waking up, he followed what he recalled and succeeded in the payroll robbery, mercilessly killing in the process. But he unwittingly drew the attention of the nearby Young Allies team (Bucky, Jeff, Knuckles, Toro, Tubby, Whitewash), whose arrival occurred after the events of the dream. Mayhem Monk escaped. Dodging pursuit, he dumped dream mix and its fumes knocked out several of the Young Allies. Later, Mayhem Monk used dream herbs to find out how he could eliminate the Young Allies in the next robbery, but the youngsters took a similar tack and overwhelmed the criminals, who were then presumably taken to police for arrest.

--Young Allies I#20/1

images: (without ads)
Young Allies I#20/1, p10, pan1 (main image)
   p9, pan5 (headshot)
   p16, pan5 (rambling headshot)
   p5, pan2 (Mayhem Monk, full body)
   p15, pan4 (Mayhem Monk, headshot)

Appearances:
Young Allies I#20/1 (October, 1946) - Otto Binder (writer), Syd Shores & Allen Bellman (pencils), Vince Alascia (inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 04/09/2023
Last updated: 04/09/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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