Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Vile Menagerie: DOCTOR SAMEDI



Real Name: Unknown
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Honduras, Central America
First Appearance: MARTIAN MANHUNTER #10 (September, 1999)
Height: Approx. 5'4"
Build: Emaciated
Weight: Approximately 90 lbs.
Eyes: Dark
Hair: None

History:
The Martian Manhunter and Fire (Beatriz DaCosta) were tracking the evil Doctor Samedi in Honduras when the villain managed to take physical control of J'Onn J'Onzz. J'Onn J'Onzz pleaded with Fire to escape, while Samedi used the Martian's powers to try to kill the heroine with Laser Vision and superhuman strength. Fire turned these attributes into a liability by hitting the Manhunter and Samedi with a burst of flame. The Martian Manhunter managed to withstand some of the blast, but Doctor Samedi was knocked unconscious, and sloughed off of J'Onn J'Onzz's back.

Powers:
The slight Doctor Samedi has finger-and-toenails measuring several inches in length which are capable of boring into the flesh of a superhuman as physically dense as the Martian Manhunter. Samedi can then control the physical form of his victim like a puppet master, making them into "a kind of zombie" while riding upon their back. Samedi cannot command the minds of his victims, who are fully aware of the doctor's manipulation of their frames. Presumably, Doctor Samedi possesses some resistance to mental control himself, as the Martian Manhunter was unable to effect a telepathic response while under Samedi's power. However, while connected, any weakness inherent to one of his "zombies" is transferred to Samedi, such as the Martian vulnerability to fire.

Quote: "...A very bad man... nasty spider little man"- Beatriz DaCosta

Created by John Ostrander & Phil Winslade

1 comment:

mathematicscore said...

Especially with his proxy fire weakness dispatch, Samedi feels like a messed up Silver Age villain.