DOCTOR MENSANA: AUSTRALIAN SUPERHERO

One of Balladeer’s Blog’s biggest hits of 2015 was my examination of Australian-made comic book heroes like Dark Nebula, Vixen, Crimson Comet, Niteside and the super-team called the Southern Squadron. Here’s another, and for my full look at Aussie super-types click HERE

Dr Mensana in one of his two super-powered forms.

DOCTOR MENSANA 

Debut Year: 1941 

Secret Identity: None. He openly used his real name, but the public often tagged him with nicknames like “the Samson of science” or “the man of Mind Plus.”

Origin: Sporting both an MD and a PhD the good Doctor Mensana used his unrivaled genius to create pills which could make him super-strong AND endow him with telepathic powers in addition to even greater intelligence than he already possessed. 

Powers: When our hero swallowed one of his M-Plus (M+) or Mind-Plus pills his already formidable brilliance was multiplied many times over. His cranium would grow and he would also boast telepathic and psionic powers. When Dr Mensana swallowed one of his S-Plus (S+) or Strength-Plus pills he would instantly bulk up with muscles and possess incredible super-strength.

Mensana kept a hidden supply of his pills in a pair of shorts he wore under his street clothes. 

Dr Mensana in his more proto-Hulk super-form

To explain why our “Samson of science” didn’t just keep taking the pills and walk around constantly super-powered Doc Mensana explained that taking them shortened his life-span. That’s why he only took the M+ or S+ pills when danger arose.   

Comment: This Australian crimefighter protected his homeland and sometimes the world from assorted menaces. Some of his adventures pitted him against foes like the Black Vulture Air Pirates or found him encountering prehistoric monsters and other dangers in various Lost Kingdoms scattered throughout Australia.

Mensana’s taste in friends seemed to run toward people with color-coded surnames. Some of his sidekicks were Greg Brown, “Flak” White and Inspector Grey.

Finally, I realize that pretty much all superhero comic books recycle ideas and stories from other mags but given Stan Lee’s age I often wonder if he was somehow familar with the Doctor Mensana stories.

After all, when Mensana takes the S+ pills he grows into a Hulk-like figure and when he takes the M+ pills his huge cranium and general “look” puts you in mind of the Hulk’s archenemy the Leader. I’m not accusing anyone of anything, just commenting.  

FOR MORE SUPERHEROES CLICK HERE: Superheroes

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