Menace of the mutant master

Perry Rhodan #25

by Kurt Mahr

Back on Earth a new villian has appeared, a hypnotist that has made his own mutant army and wishes to destroy the New Power.

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Pulp, Fiction

158 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 23, 1962

About the author

Kurt Mahr was the pen name of Klaus Mahn (Klaus Otto Mahn), a German science fiction writer famous for his contributions to the Perry Rhodan franchise.

He was known among the writing staff as 'The Physicist', due to his original profession, which also allowed him to give a greater degree of scientific accuracy to his literary work.

He was killed in an accident in Florida in 1993, aged 59.

Reviews

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back to Earth. A new enemy has to be dealt with. The Overhead. That is what he is called in Germany. Does that sound silly? So in the US he is known as the Mutant Master a name that I find quite boring.

Anyway. This guy, Clifford Monterny, is ruthless, power-mad and full of evil energy. Not unlike Rhodan, in other words. Only he is also, unlike Rhodan, a Mutant. Able to assemble his own Mutant corps and now ready to strike. There is a mysterious explosion, Khrest gets kidnapped by some Teleporter and in the best subplot a nice young boy uses his mutant talent to bring Homer G. Adams (the financial wizard behind the New Power) to invest in a non-existing Goldmine and to lose 4 Billion Dollars.

After the incredible stupid Venus adventure this a much needed breath of fresh air. The Overhead controls his mutants by hypno-suggestion. Right. Whereas Rhodan’s mutants serve him because he is such a nice guy. Hm, I must say, my sympathies lie somewhat on the side of Clifford. He will not succeed in the end but I do look forward to the next adventure. So Mahr (or maybe rather Scheer) must have done something right this time.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took a break from Perry for a bit.. the Venus story just didn't do it for me... it was the 2nd time they'd gone back to a previous setting and plot in a short time, and while that is, of course, the nature of a long running space opera, it was way too soon for that, in my opinion.

This volume starts a new story, and continues to establish a pattern of swapping back and forth between alien and terrestial threats. We get a new (perhaps long time) villain, who is very clearly the Magneto to Perry's Professor X.

Ironically, the new villain, Monterny, has Professor X's powers...to borrow Marvel's term, he's an Omega level telepath that can brainwash people with ease. He's gathering his own mutants to combat the New Power, for no other reason (so far) than he hates their success. I fully expect that that will develop over the story, though.

Its definitely a far better story than the last few... i haven't paid much attention to which authors wrote which stories, but I will... I suspect that's the difference. Perry is pretty ruthless here, and seemed alot more willing to capture his enemies on Venus, so that was interesting.. not sure if its a purposeful plot development or simply the vagaries of shared characters. Not much from the supporting characters here...Nyssen gets a bit to do, and the banker of the New Power gets some time, but otherwise its mostly a focus on the new bad guy... I'm sure the next few stories will continue in that vein.

This did nothing to convince me that there's not SOME sort of connection between this and Stan Lee though... either that or a very coincidental confluence of ideas? Maybe it's just an obvious plot? (Hard to say that, 50 years later...)

The 'shock shorts' here are once again one note stories of a few pagers, the more comical one about time travel is decent.. the one meant more to tug at the heart strings is too short to do so. The War of the Worlds sequel also continues, and continues to be uninspiring.. it's not terrible, just not that great. I wouldn't read it if was its own book.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now we meet an evil mutant, who was pretty obviously based on Lex Luthor, and hates the superman Rhodan

[Will Dockery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one in the Ace Books version, translated from the German to English by Wendane Ackerman, wife of editor Forry Ackerman. I was into Star Trek and other Science Fiction of the day, so I enjoyed these as well.

[Luiz Santiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,0

[C. John Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not among my favourites. This book takes place entirely on earth, which might be a contributing factor in why I found it less satisfying than some others. A new opponent has arisen to challenge Perry, namely a mutant who can control the minds of others. Though not explicitly stated it appears that his intention is to rule the world and thus he sees Rhodan and the New Power as a threat that must be removed. To this purpose he has gathered together a band of mutants who do his work. He sets in operation several plans, most of them not as successful as he hoped they would be. At the end of the novel lives on to menace our heroes again, just as you would expect.
This book also contains a couple is short stories. I am not sure but both may be reprints. There are a couple more chapters of “Pursuit to Mars” as well. Of these items the serial is the most interesting. Rounding out the book are the letters column and an article on the movie Riders to the Stars. The article was interesting but I skipped the letters column.
In summary not really a bad book, just not a great one.

[Luis Tormento · Rating 4 out of 5]

(July 1981) Upon his return, Rhodan finds the New Power's military, technical and financial systems under attack through a mysterious campaign of sabotage, kidnapping and aggression. It is clear that a mutant of considerable power is perpetrating these acts. Unbeknownst to Rhodan, the mastermind is Clifford Monterny, a telepath with powerful abilities to impose hypnotic control on his victims. Monterny has gathered a mutant corps of his own, forcing them into his service through hypnotic control, and is set on deposing Rhodan and using the Third Power's resources to rule the world himself.
Scientists are kidnapped and destroyer spacecraft stolen from Terrania. A nuclear explosion destroys an assembly plant, even though no nuclear material is stored there. One of Monterny's mutants, Elmer Bradley, is able to manipulate Homer Adams to cause General Cosmic Company to lose $4 billion in a fake investment. Another, teleports into Terrania. Tako Kakuta follows him, and is barely able to resist powerful, pyscho-suggestion before escaping back to Terrania.

Monterny's second in command, Ted McMurray is able to teleport into Terrania and kidnaps Crest. Analyzing recordings of Tako's brainwaves, Rhodan is able to narrow the location of Monterny's headquarters to a small area in the vicinity of Osaka, Japan. Nyssen is dispatched to try and locate the base. With the help of a Japanese spy named Michikai, he is slowly closing in on identifying the location when Michikai is killed and Nyssen captured by Monterny's agents.

Rhodan and a small tactical force attack the site and liberate Nyssen and Crest. Monterny escapes, but most of his men (including McMurray) are killed when, despite being warned that Nyssen had set a neutron bomb to explode in their headquarters, they refuse to surrender.

[Doe · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me it lacked grit and was predictable. To be fair, I think this type of Sci-Fi mystery drama was far more gripping back when it was written.

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perry Rhodan #18