Mercury Man
Mercury Man was a superhero published by Charlton Comics in their science fiction anthology title Space Adventures after they stopped publishing Captain Atom stories in the early 1960s.
| Mercury Man | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Charlton Comics |
| First appearance | Space Adventures #44 (1962) |
| Created by | unknown |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | unknown |
| Abilities | flight, nuclear powers, strength |
Publication history
Mercury Man appeared in Space Adventures #44 and 45 (February and May 1962), and was the cover feature for #44. The first story was reprinted in AC Comics Men of Mystery #32. Art was by Rocke Mastroserio. The second story had art by Charles Nicholas and Sal Trapani.
Fictional character biography
Mercury Man was a man from Mercury, the last of his people. His people, like the people of Earth in the 1950s, were developing nuclear power, and a nuclear war destroyed them. He was a scientist experimenting in metals, and a nuclear blast transformed him into a being made of liquid metal. As the silver-skinned Mercury Man he could fly through space without a space suit, was virtually invulnerable, had vaguely defined nuclear powers, and some mental powers (he came to Earth after telepathically contacting female American scientist Dr. Erika Penn). He also had wing-like ears and small wings on his ankles like the Roman god Mercury or the Greek Hermes. In the first story, he came to Earth and stopped a nuclear attack on the United States. At the end of the story thanks to Dr. Penn he was able to be transformed into a normal human, but able to transform back into Mercury Man, leaving the character open to future stories.
The second story (in which he is just referred to as "Merco") puts him in a slightly different outfit (now red instead of blue, with an "M" on his belt buckle), but with pointed ears (like Mr. Spock) in his human form. He has to "transform into his metallic form" to obtain his superpowers but no longer has the silver skin of his first appearance.
Return of Mercury Man
In 2015, producer, director and writer Tommy G. Warren created a webcomic co-written with Ben Snyder and drawn by Jamie Kinosian where new versions of Mercury Man and Dr. Erika Penn, along with their little flying robot Zoom who is shaped like Mercury's winged helmet, battle terrorism while trying to find a way to get the here solar-powered superhero back home to the distant Mercury Galaxy.[1]