YAMA NURI

Real Name: Yama Nuri

Identity/Class: Human (Indian) magic user

Occupation: Beggar, yogi

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Clyde Lipton

Enemies: Constantin, Nikolai

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Clyde Lipton's home in England

First Appearance: World of Fantasy#14/6 (October, 1958)

Powers/Abilities: With his knowledge of the mystic arts, Yama Nuri could project images of himself and others; he also had the power of levitation. Although his powers were demonstrable over vast distances, the exact limits of his powers are unknown.

History: (World of Fantasy#14/6) - The past of Yama Nuri is unknown, but one cold evening, he came to the door of Clyde Lipton's home begging for food. The generous Lipton invited Yama Nuri in to warm himself by the fire and brought him the promised food. Noticing a chessboard on the table, the Indian offered to play a game with Lipton to repay his kindness. The first match took several hours and the two men became fast friends. Clyde decided that since he had plenty of room and enjoyed having company, he invited the homeless Yama to stay in his house; Yama humbly accepted his offer.

  The two played another game of chess that lasted past midnight. Clyde decided to retire for the evening and showed Yama to his room, but as he opened the bedroom door, he saw Yama Nuri already there, sitting in a chair and reading a book! Yama apologized to Clyde, explaining that he liked to nourish his mind with good books, so he had let Clyde play the second chess game with his "image" -- at that point, Lipton realized that his guest was a yogi! Yama promised Lipton that he'd teach him the trick some day.

  When Lipton took his turn working the night shift a few weeks later, the yogi visited the British patent office building where Clyde worked as a guard to keep him company. The two men were so absorbed in their chess game that they were taken by surprise by two intruders -- Nikolai and Constantin -- who were stealing a briefcase containing secret weapon plans. Clyde and Yama ran to a hiding place, but they were soon discovered by the foreign agents and held at gunpoint. After handcuffing the briefcase to Clyde's wrist, the Communist spies drove Clyde and Yama to a field outside London where they had a plane hidden; the men climbed aboard and shortly afterwards, the plane was airborne. During the flight, Yama used his power of levitation on Constantin, but his tricks proved to be no more than an annoyance. Hours later, the plane crossed the Iron Curtain and landed at a foreign airport. The Soviets ordered their prisoners from the plane, and the yogi and Lipton emerged... not once, but again, and again! The three pairs of men scattered and ran from their baffled captors, leaving them to wonder which Yogi Yama Nuri and which Clyde Lipton were the real ones...

  But none had been real, for the real Clyde and Yama had never left England! After reporting the appearance of the enemy agents to authorities, Clyde and his yogi friend had returned home, and Yama Nuri had projected both his own image and that of Clyde in the patent office. Clyde knew nothing of the adventure of the images in the enemy's homeland -- that would remain the yogi's secret.

Comments: Created by Carl Wessler and Dick Giordano.

Maybe Yama Nuri could be brought back as a member of the First Line, working as the team's resident mystic.

To learn more of the philosophy of yoga, see HERE.

And a BIG Thank You to Brian Hirsch for sending me the scans of this story!

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
Yogi Yama Nuri has no known connections to:

• Maha Yogi, aka. Merlin Demonspawn, Mad Merlin or Warlock @ Journey into Mystery I#96
• Yogi Bear, legendary Hanna-Barbera cartoon character
• Yogi Berra, legendary baseball player and soothsayer
• Yogi Dakor, of the Terrible Trio @ Fantastic Four I#23
• any other character with a similar name

Clyde Lipton has no known connections to:

• Alex Lipton, Roxxon researcher, brain patterns made part of Vision @ Avengers Spotlight#40
• Laura Lipton, wife of Alex @ Avengers Spotlight#40
• Dr. Miles Lipton, father of Alex @ Avengers Spotlight#40
• any other character with a similar name

Clyde Lipton

An elderly British man, he worked as a guard in a patent office. He struck up a friendship with Yama Nuri, and he later learned to project his own image, but he felt that yoga tricks were nothing more than harmless entertainment and had no real, practical value.

--World of Fantasy#14/6

Nikolai & Constantin

Two Soviet spies, Nikolai was also skilled as an airplane pilot. They were both at a British patent office to steal the plans for a secret weapon when they accidentally ran across Clyde Lipton and Yama Nuri.

--World of Fantasy#14/6

images:
World of Fantasy#14/6, p1, pan1 (main image)