BIOGRAPHY - Page 7
Venus would soon find herself in space again. She encountered the inventor Baron Franz Heinrich while on a date with Whitney in the Embassy Club in New York. Curious about him, she decided to arrange an interview. He told her he had built a rocket ship to travel to Mars, where he believed he would find the fountain of youth. Venus wanted to go with him and Whitney gave her leave to embark on the trip with some reluctance.
The expedition did not get off to a good start. After several days, Venus soon became tired and thought Heinrich to be on a wild goose chase. She called to Jupiter for an audience and was transported to Olympus. Jupiter explained that the Baron was actually correct; there was a fountain on Mars. Venus quickly returned as the Baron found the fountain. They were not alone, however, as a man named Azazel appeared and claimed that he owned the fountain. The Baron, consumed by madness at this point, was not about to let go of the fountain so easily and ran at the man, tossing him from the gorge behind them. Venus convinced the Baron that they had to return to the ship quickly, lest they be killed for this crime by other “Martians.” When Venus next met the Baron in the Embassy Club, he was a laughing stock and left the club in tears. Venus convinced him to reconcile with his wife, as she was the one who would believe him. Venus later told Hammond that there was an old legend that said when a mortal was consumed by the want of something unattainable and corrupted by it that they would be challenged by a sinister force. If they were able to defeat the force, they still had some good left in them. She believed that the Baron’s greed had forced him to face the angel of death on Mars and his success in combat meant that he was still worthy of redemption. [Venus #14]
Venus' exploits were not limited to just the supernatural; she also helped out the local authorities. Venus bumped into Sergeant O'Toole while walking the streets of Manhattan. The policeman was preoccupied, as there had been some suspicious suicides recently and the officer thought these people may have been murdered. All the victims had been hung with a rope. Venus was free and offered to go
examine the rope. In the station, Venus heard the name of the latest victims and identified that he had been a juror on the case of Raoul Hamud. Venus was curious and wanted to review the evidence in the case, to see if Hamud was really guilty. While Venus was researching, she got a call from Sergeant O'Toole who said they arrested a man named Haddons, who had been found at the latest crime scene. Venus met the boy who had been quickly convicted but she felt he was innocent. She was further shocked when she found out that Hamud had been given the job of executioner, while serving his time in the prison. Following her meeting with Haddons, someone broke into her apartment and tried to hang her, though she was saved by Jupiter. It turned out that Hamud had been using some form of mental control to either escape from prison or telekinetically manipulate the rope from afar and hang the jurors. When he came to hang Haddons, Venus told Hamud that Haddons had markings on his wrists. Hamud had lost a son through undisclosed means and Venus suspected that Haddons may have been that boy, due to these markings that appeared like rope burn. Seeing the folly of his evil ways, Hamud confessed and committed suicide. Haddons was released shortly after, while Venus contemplated if they had in fact been father and son by way of a huge coincidence. [Venus #14]
Venus' next caper was far less macabre. Hammond had told her of a new foreign Lothario who was making a name for himself in high society seducing the wealthy women of New York City. Venus sought out this “Romeo,” Don A. Donis, and located him in the exclusive Club 77 with his latest conquest. Seeing him in actio
n, Venus came up with her own plan of action. The following day, she opted to seduce Don herself and give him a taste of his own medicine. Bringing him back to her apartment, their rendezvous was interrupted by one of his most recent conquests, Denise, who shot him with a gun, seemingly through the heart. Strangely, the bullet had no effect, though Venus simply told Denise she had missed. Regardless, Venus sided with Denise, who she felt had been driven to this by Don and expelled Don from her apartment. Venus phoned Don the next day and asked him to meet her at her apartment, apologizing for her temper last night. When he arrived, he was greeted by all the women he had mistreated. As he was overcome by nerves, Venus revealed that she had figured out his true identity as the god Adonis and told Jupiter to return him to Mount Olympus. Venus herself then teleported back there too. As she was going, she told the women to try and forget what happened. Back on Mount Olympus, it was revealed that Adonis had traveled to Earth a few weeks prior to prove he knew more about love than Venus. He had not recognized her, as she had been away from Olympus for so long at this point. Venus' humiliation of Adonis made her feel that she had cemented her role as the true expert on “love.” [Venus #14]
Venus transition into a more bonafide heroine continued in some of her further adventures, which were becoming stranger and stranger. Venus had found out about a recent spate of grave robberies. All those taken had recently died but the police were stumped, as the footprints near the graves did not appear human. Venus decided to fake her own death so the robbers would target her body. She was taken back to their underground lair. Once there, she made them aware that she was alive. The robbers explained they were a race called the Underneath men. They planned to take over the surface by transferring their hearts and brains into recently dead humans, as they were too ugly to pass on the surface. Initially, they intended to kill Venus to steal her body but she tricked them, claiming she would bring them new bodies if they let her go, as they could not easily traverse the surface themselves. She came up with a ruse to lure them all to the surface just before dawn. When the sun rose, all the Underneath men were blinded and subsequently died from exposure. The authorities went on to bury them in a mass grave. Venus did remark later that she had not predicted that the Underneath men would die when exposed to the sun.
She was later targeted by Jerome Lenz, a portrait photographer. Lenz had perfected a method of photographing his “victim” and trapping them in a photographic print. Doing so to the goddess, he cut the captive Venus out into a paper doll. Hammond had come to collect her and inadvertently gave Lenz a taste of his own medicine when he took a photo of him accidentally. Venus mocked the now two-dimensional Lenz. Venus was able to get herself in front of the camera when Mason and Della were tinkering with it and restored herself to full size. She attempted to do the same with Lenz but he simply disappeared, much to her bewilderment.
Photography played a key role in the next bizarre exploit of Venus. She attended a carnival with Hammond and their friend photographer Reggie Smith. While there, they encountered incredible marionette dolls, which seemed to move and speak on their own volition. Smith thought this fascinating and began photographing the dolls, which enraged the “puppet master,” Professor Zorsky. Later, back at Beauty Magazine headquarters, a cloaked figure demanded the photographs of the dolls and Venus told Smith to comply with the request. Venus thought there must be something strange about the dolls if someone was willing to steal the photos. She decided to go undercover at the carnival and was hired to assist in Zorsky's show. One of the dolls sensed that she was spying on them and Zorsky found her and hypnotized her into behaving like one of his dolls. Hammond and Smith became aware of what had befallen Venus and attacked the Professor. During a fight, the Professor pulled a gun and Venus snapped out of his control and jumped him from behind to protect Hammond. The Professor fell on his gun and a bullet went through his heart. In the aftermath, Venus examined the dolls and found that, while their shells were plastic, they did have blood inside them, leaving her to question if they had been alive or not. [Venus #15]