Smenkhkare

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Alias: Mystico
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Race: Metahuman


Occupation: Conqueror
Known relatives: Akhenaten (brother, deceased)
Group affiliation: S.M.A.S.H.
Base of operations: Terra Obscura


Story: Set was born in Egypt, the older brother of Tutankhamun. Their older brother Akhenaten who became king went mad and Set being next in line was made king instead. His reign was short however, as he was killed and Tutankhamun became the new king. The priests believed that Set had been possessed by a god and not really dead, which turned out to be true, and they bound him to his grave using magic [1].

In 1940 a scientist named Slade had invented what he called the 'Vita-Ray' which he tried using on Set's body. The ray backfired and killed Slade while Set was revived. Alive in the new World, Set set himself up as a hero while trying to learn about the world he now lived in, and how to conquer it. To keep his anonymity, he dressed as a mummy and called himself Mystico [1].

When the humans first set foot on the Moon on July 20th, 1969, they woke up an alien that had crash landed and been buried there since the Moon was formed. The alien killed the astronauts and went to Earth where it started mining for something on Antarctica. The members of S.M.A.S.H. tried to stop the alien but all except Tom Strange got killed or trapped in a force bubble and placed in orbit. In order to get help from the only source he knew, Tom Strange traveled through space on foot for 30 years until he reached Earth and Tom Strong in October 2000 [3].

Tom Strong and Tom Strange went back to Terra Obscura, where they found the imprisoned super-heroes trapped in their force bubbles [3]. In the force bubbles, time had stood still and Strange and Strong was able to rescue them all. The alien in the meantime had tried to convert the planet to a new space ship to replace the one it had crashed. While it was big, it had only used a small part of Antarctica, and Terror 2000 was able to rewrite the programming and make it take leave the planet with the size it had gained [4].

After aliens left Earth, Set went back to his plans of conquest. His plan resulted in the death of Lance Lewis, the Space Detective, but he was defeated. He was given the Grand Canyon as his own domain, which he named New Egypt, and confined to the area, guarded by Thoth [1].

He was last seen when he and Thoth helped saving the World, when Terror 2000 tried to rewrite history for his own benefit [2]


Skills & abilities: Skilled magician. Also some telekinesis demonstrated, though this may be magic instead.


Continuity: America's Best Comics
Publisher(s): America's Best Comics
First app.: Tom Strong #11 (2001)
Country of origin: USA


Background notes: Mystico is originally an old character from Better Publications in the early 1940s. At the present time no information is available regarding first appearance, creator etc. other than he appeared in Startling Comics in the early 1940s. This version is very different from the original. Only the part about being from ancient Egypt and being revived by Vita-Rays is the same.


Related links/characters:


References: 1: Terra Obscura (vol. 1) #6