by Dennis E. Power
(with much assistance from Matthew Baugh, Win Eckert and Chuck Loridans)

PART SEVEN

FRANCIS DRAKE GRIFFIN JR.

(FRANK RAYMOND) 1922-?

 (Special thanks to Matthew Baugh for providing the original  synopsis for Invisible Agent which provides much of the background for this section of the article. Any variations from the film are as in the previous sections speculations of my own.)

    After the escapades of Robert Griffin, the papers played up the angle of yet another Griffin going on an invisible murder spree. Frank Griffin had just inherited property in the United States, owned by his Grandmother Phoebe Raymond. It consisted of a home, a printing shop and a grocery store. In 1936 Frank Griffin and Katherine took Frank jr. and moved to New Jersey. They changed their name to Raymond and hopefully would be freed of the Griffin name and the invisibility curse. Frank sr. converted the grocery store to a doctor's office; Katherine took over the print shop and was helped by Frank jr. In early 1940 Frank and Katherine died when their car became stuck on a railroad crossing. (1) Frank Jr. took over the print shop.

    In late November, 1941 (2) five men entered the Raymond printing shop late one evening. The men asked for some personal stationary. Frank Raymond asked what name would be on it, a man with a German accent stated Frank Griffin. The men revealed that they knew who Frank Raymond was and they knew all about his family. The five men were Colonel Conrad Stauffer, Baron Ikito and three goons who were probably muscle from a local bundist organization.

    Colonel Stauffer knew about the Griffins from his acquaintanceship and sponsorship of Peter Drury. There was also an odd familial connection, his cousin Richard Cobb had been killed by an invisible man, although not one of the Griffins. (3)  Dr. Frank Griffin had signed Richard Cobb's death certificate however.

    Baron Ikito was a short, dapper Japanese man wearing round rimmed glasses. Baron Ikito had tangled with Robert Griffin in Shanghai, although he had left his trademark gold filled dentures behind on this particular mission.

    Stauffer related that they knew Frank Griffin lived under the alias of Raymond to avoid being bothered by governments which wanted the invisibility formula known to be in the possession of his family. Having found him, Stauffer said that the Axis powers were willing to give Frank a fortune for the formula. Stauffer then proved that he did not know as much as he thought he did. When Griffin was reluctant to sell to a foreign government, Stauffer said,  "All we want is to buy your father's formula.  Or was it your uncle that invented it?"

 "No, no, no.  It was his grandfather.  John Griffin." Baron Ikito chimed in with polite impatience.

Stauffer said: "Yes, of course!  John Griffin Sr.  Shot by the police." Ikito did not bother to correct him again. (4)

    Baron Ikito did correct Stauffer later on when Stauffer stated that it was German logic that had located Raymond, "Please tell Mr. Raymond it was I who found him."

    Frank feigned ignorance of the formula, but it was no good.  When Frank refused to cooperate Stauffer commanded the thugs to beat the information out of him. Ikito called for a more subtle approach and had Frank's hand clamped in an industrial paper slicer. Frank relented before his hand was mutilated. Baron Ikito proved that he was a very good judge of character. However, the thugs were lax when Raymond was freed from the paper cutter and he fought his way to freedom. The thugs began firing guns at the fleeing Raymond but Baron Ikito spoiled their aim by pretending to trip. Baron Ikito and Stauffer fled the country, knowing that Raymond would spill all to the authorities.

    Frank Raymond headed to the US government where he was told that they have been aware of his identity for some time. (5)  They had however chosen to abide by his wishes to remain incognito. Since he had come to them with information about the spy ring, they wanted him to turn the invisibility formula over to him. It would be considered it a great patriotic service. Frank believed the formula was too dangerous He did not foresee any emergency serious enough to convince him to reconsider.

    A few weeks later however his feelings were changed by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Frank appeared before a group of Allied generals in Washington. He told them that his Father had reformulated the formula but since Frank Griffin had used blood and tissue samples from John Hawley Griffin, Jack Griffin and Robert Griffin to device the reformulation, it would only work on members of the Griffin family. Frank was not a scientific genius or at least he did not have the necessary training to be rework the biochemical agent.

    Prior to being killed, Dr. Frank Griffin had combined the researches of his grandfather, his brother, his own research and those of Dr. Peter Drury which he had acquired when his own papers were returned from Drury's effects.

    Dr. Frank Griffin had derived a version of the formula that eliminated the psychosis. However it did have two major side effects which he tried to eliminate but failed. It had a tendency to make the recipient become giddy as if drunk when he exerted himself and there was also a syndrome of random narcolepsy. It was not ready to be in the field but since this was an emergency Frank Raymond thought the risks were inconsequential. Dr. Frank Griffin however had created a viable counteragent so that the invisible man could be brought back to visibility.

    Frank told them he would allow his formula to be used for a mission, on the condition that he was the agent sent. The allied Generals worried that without training or language skills he would be easily captured. (6) Frank told them that his grandparents, the Morthleys, spoke fluent German and he had picked up the language like a native. He also had taken French in high school so was conversant at least in that tongue.

    The generals finally agreed that the pending crisis warranted Frank's participation. Frank was parachuted into Germany to steal the Nazi plans for the invasion of the US.

    Frank was nearly shot by Nazi soldiers as he descended on the parachute but the soldiers were very distracted by his apparent disintegration. As he peeled the clothes off of his invisible body it appeared that the chutist was falling to pieces. A search was mounted, but all that the soldiers found were empty clothes.(7)  Frank was easily able to overpower a military driver and stole a car.

    He proceeded to the carpentry shop of an Allied agent named Schmidt who would serve as his radio contact with headquarters. Schmidt directed him to the home of Maria Sorenson who had been trained by the Nazis as a spy, but who was actually working for the British.

    Maria was astonished and delighted by the invisible agent, but told Frank that he has come at the wrong time. She was having dinner with Oberst Karl Heiser of the SS. (8)

    Heiser arrived and tried to seduce Maria. He urgee her to forget about Colonel Stauffer. Stauffer was her former lover and Heiser's superior. Stauffer was out of the country on a mission and as Heiser reminded her, many did not return from such missions. Maria tried to wheedle information from Heiser about the upcoming US invasion. Her plans were ruined by Frank who pulled a number of invisible pranks on the Nazi.  When Heiser became more aggressive in his romantic advances, Frank spilled a table of food on him.  When Maria laughed at his discomfort, Heiser had her put under house arrest.

    After Heiser had stormed out of the house, Maria was furious with Frank at having ruined what it took her a year of work to accomplish.

    Maria became tired of talking to an invisible man so he covered himself with a robe, a turban, dark glasses and cold cream. After a few minutes of conversation he fell into a deep sleep. He stated that this is one of the problems with the serum. This version of the formula had two major side effects, giddiness and random narcolepsy.

    Heiser returned to his headquarters and found that Stauffer had returned to Germany. Baron Ikito had also returned to Germany. Stauffer was dismissive of his ambitious junior officer, but became interested when Heiser told him about his humiliation at Maria's. Stauffer suspected that an invisible man was at large in Germany.

    Stauffer and Heiser returned to Maria's. Maria had to wipe Frank clean of the cold cream and strip him. She was however unable to wake him. To demonstrate that he intended to brook no nonsense, Stauffer had Heiser arrested in front of her for scheming to steal his position and his woman. Stauffer had a conversation with her in which he hinted at his suspicions of her being a spy. Stauffer then pointedly mentions that the secret invasion plans would shortly be delivered to his office. Despite his prodding around in the room Stauffer failed to find the invisible man.

    Frank fell for the bait and broke into Stauffer's office. The door was locked behind him. Stauffer confronted him and seemed to have the advantage.  When Frank admitted that he did not know the formula Stauffer ordered him seized. As Stauffer went to call for more troops, Frank started a fire and held off the SS men until a fire engine arrived. Frank scurried down the ladder to freedom. He got away with a book containing the names of all the German and Japanese agents in the US. He gave the book to Schmidt to transmit to the Allies.

    Having learned through his sources of Frank's intrusion Ikito arrived at Stauffer's office. Ikito asked Stauffer about the book that contained Japanese agent's names that resided in the United States. He reminded Stauffer that he had pledged to guard the book with his life. Stauffer insisted that the book was safe. Ikito said that is good, otherwise both their lives would be forfeit. Stauffer did not understand what Ikito meant until Ikito explained that Ikito would be required to commit suicide were he to commit so grave a failure as to lose the book. Stauffer of course would precede Ikito into death. Stauffer grew angry and sent Ikito away.

    After leaving dropping the book off at Schmidt's Frank called Maria. Her SS guard overheard the call.  When the conversation between Maria and an American man was reported to Stauffer he realized had been Frank. He had the call traced to Schmidt's phone and had Schmidt arrested.

    While After Schmidt had been arrested Frank slipped into Heiser's cell where Heiser awaited execution. Frank was able to bully information about the invasion plan from a frightened Heiser. A squadron of suicide bombers was being sent at New York City that very night. Hundreds of acts of sabotage would coincide with the bombing.

    In return for this information aided Heiser in escaping execution. Frank knocked out the two guards. He and Heiser donned their uniforms and left the cell area. Before they left Heiser shot both of the unconscious guards.

     Frank took Heiser to Schmidt's. The building was being watched by SS men. Frank slipped inside. Schmidt had gone missing and Maria sat waiting for Frank. Because Schmidt was arrested Frank believed that Maria was truly a double agent working for both sides. Seen from this light, many of her actions seemed quite suspicious and he did not trust her. He jumped to the conclusion that she had sold him out and was raging at her when a net fells on him from the rafters. Ikito's men had learned of this meeting place. The fish net was lined with deep sea fishhooks and Frank passed out from the pain. The SS men noticed the Japanese leaving the building carrying two coffins and which they loaded into a mortuary truck. The S.S. men followed the Japanese and became suspicious when they went to the Japanese Embassy.

    Heiser soon realized that Frank was not coming back. He telephoned Stauffer and made a deal to be reinstated in return for information on Frank's location. The two met and proceeded to the Embassy with a truckload of SS men.

    As the Stauffer and Heiser were gathering men for their raid, A surgeon at the Japanese Embassy removed all the hooks from Frank's body and announced that, aside of some blood loss, there was no real injury. Ikito wondered aloud what made the man invisible. The surgeon said that their chemists should have the answer soon. This would seem to indicate that the Doctor took a few blood samples as he extracted the fishhooks. Frank awakened and Ikito asked him for the secret of invisibility. Frank said he would only give it up for Maria's safety and freedom. Unless Frank lied to Stauffer earlier, he did not know the formula and so was either going to sacrifice himself or was pulling an extraordinary bluff. Ikito agreed and had Maria brought into the room.

    At that moment Stauffer, Heiser and their truck of SS stormed the building.

As Nazis and Japanese fought each other Frank took advantage of the confusion to grab Maria and flee.  Stauffer sent his men after them. When he tried to follow his men out of the Embassy Ikito stopped him.  Ikito was convinced that Stauffer had lost the book and the invisible agent both. This fitted right into Ikito's plans.

    "I'll make an honorable man," Ikito told Stauffer, "even out of you." True to his word he stabbed the Nazi in the belly, performing hara-kiri by proxy.

    Heiser was delighted by his rival's death.  He started back to headquarters, where he would then be the top man.  On his way he passed some SS who had been searching for him since his escape. Ignorant of his pardon they shot him dead.

Dressed in a ceremonial kimono and holding a dagger, Ikito knelt before an image of Buddha and plunged a knife into his belly and collapse. It is significant that even in the filmed version of these events, his wound appeared to be a simple stab and not the disemboweling slash that seppuku would have called for. It is also significant that he did the deed just as the Germans were leaving the Embassy and got only a passing glance at the event.

    Frank and Maria drove their stolen truck onto an airfield (coincidentally the one where the bombers attacking New York were being readied) and stole a plane. Before pursuit planes could be launched they bombed the strip and headed for England. Frank was still mistrustful of Maria and refused to let her use the radio. As a result, she could not give her password to the authorities. British batteries shot the plane down. Maria was able to parachute her and the unconscious Frank to safety.

    Frank awakened in a British hospital.  He was visible once again. He was informed that Maria is actually a British citizen named Maria Goodrich. (9)

    If you thought that the character of Baron Ikito seemed familiar, you would be correct, he was a short, dapper Japanese man wearing round rimmed glasses. He was better known as Mr. Moto. His appearance and speech matched perfectly those of Mr. Moto. Ikito seemed to be highly proficient in jujitsu. Though he is unarmed he had little difficulty in disarming and killing Stauffer, who had a pistol. This also fit with Moto's well established martial prowess. Ikito was menacing yet never deliberately cruel or sadistic except when he threatened to cut off Frank Raymond's hand. He was very convincing but then Mr. Moto could be. If you equate Mr. Moto with the genial Private detective as he was portrayed in pre-war films, you are only getting part of the picture.  Think of him as a sort of Japanese James Bond and you are probably closer the truth.

    The film version of these events showed him committing seppuku. This was done for two reasons; one is because due to the propagandistic nature of the war films of that era, the Japanese villain would have had to die in some fashion. The other reason was because as far as the Germans were concerned he actually did kill himself. While it is true that the invisibility formula was important enough for Ikito to have traveled to America, Ikito's presence in Germany preceded the Invisible Man's arrival so he must have had other business in Germany that did not concern Frank Raymond.

    Ikito had set in motion an elaborate ploy that revolved around the code book that he had given to Conrad Stauffer. Those book purportedly contained the names of the Japanese and German spies in America. Moto would have been too clever to give such a valuable document to a man like Stauffer. The book was actually filled with disinformation on Japanese agents. Ikito/Moto planted it knowing that it would cause confusion among the Allies if it were ever stolen, and would even mislead the Nazis as to Japanese strength and objectives in the US.

    Consider this, even though the information was sent to allies by Schmidt there never a mass round up of either Japanese or German spies in the United States. History has shown that during all of World War Two there were a few scattered spies and spy "nests" but not hundreds. It is most likely that all the names were all false. Sending the various US Intelligence organizations on a big wild goose chase.

    The good Baron's name was also undoubtedly false. Despite John P. Marquand's statement that Mr. Moto's full name was I.O. Moto (It wasn't but that will be dealt with elsewhere) the I. does not stand for Ikito. Ikito was a code name Moto used for this mission. Ikki can mean foreign lands and ito can mean design. Foreign lands design, meaning a plan carried out in foreign lands. Iki can also mean abandonment; desertion; relinquishment combined with plan.

    Ikito/Moto found working with the Nazi's extremely distasteful as could be seen by his manner towards the Nazi's which borders on the contemptible. Japanese culture, at least at this time, put a primary importance on being polite, even to your enemies. For Ikito to be so dismissive demonstrated his loathing for these men. Yet another telling sign was that after he killed Stauffer, he ripped off Stauffer's swastika armband with a look of utter disgust and loathing, then wiped his blade clean of blood on the swastika.

    Ikito's statement that ritual suicide would be expected of an agent who had committed such a harmful blunder as losing the book sounds accurate and certainly would coincide with what Stauffer knew of Japan.  Stauffer knew that Ikito's personal ethics would demand that that sacrifice was the only honorable way out. Or so Stauffer thought. Moto was such a devoted servant of the Emperor and of Japan, that he would probably have forgone personal honor for the good of Japan.

    The Japanese Embassy also had contacts with a mortuary, possibly as a front, for they were able to get coffins and a hearse fairly quickly to smuggle Griffin and Miss Sorenson out of Schmidt's shop. Again this was all part of a previous plan. Ikito/Moto gave Stauffer the false book, often reminding him of how his life depended on its safe keeping. When Ikito/Moto had gathered enough intelligence material or scientific advances, he would have had the book stolen. Then Ikito/Moto would have staged a fake seppuku to cement the false document's authenticity. He would have appeared to do exactly what a disgraced agent would be expected to do. A stab wound to the belly, skillfully placed could look very nasty without actually doing irreparable harm. Ikito had a highly skilled surgeon on hand who could have administered a drug to simulate death such as tetrodotoxin, the Zombie drug.  If this was the case, then a coffin bearing a still-living Ikito/Moto could have been sent to Japan soon after Ikito's "death", stolen plans, material etc would have been smuggled out in the coffin holding his comatose body.

    Since Stauffer's blundering had precipitated a crisis, and the invisibility serum was of great importance Ikito/Moto went ahead with his plans much earlier than anticipated. His coffin also contained a test tube of invisible blood for further analysis.

    Japanese scientists were able to synthesize a serum that would make humans invisible, however due to political machinations in the Japanese Empire regarding research allocations for secret weaponry and the complexity of creating such a serum, it was not until August 7, 1945 that six men were successfully made invisible. The research facility was destroyed the next day by the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The scientists who had conducted the experiments were also killed. The six soldiers and their commanding officer were out in the city conducting field tests and so were spared from death but not from the aftermath of the atomic bomb.

    With no way to cure themselves of the invisibility and afraid of being captured and executed by the Occupation forces, the invisible squad blended as well as they could in Japanese society. Four of the soldiers become kobun (soldiers) of a local Yakuza organization. They eventually took control of the organization. The remaining two other invisible soldiers blended into normal society by painting their faces in make-up. They took odd jobs such as carrying advertising signs. However one of the two law abiding invisible men could not bear his invisible existence coupled with the loss of his loved ones in Hiroshima. He stepped in front of a car. A pool of blood formed from an invisible source then a man's form took shape. A reporter found a suicide note on the body. The note led him to Takemitsu Nanjo, the other face painting invisible man. The reporter convinced Nanjo to take a stance against the so-called invisible gang. The gangsters have been terrorizing the city as "the invisible gang," wrapping themselves up in scarves and trenchcoats so as to be visible to their victims, even though they are supposed to be invisible underneath. Once they discovered Nanjo was going to interfere with their they beat him and left him for dead.

Nanjo recovered and destroyed the invisible gang using a combination of single combats and traps what caused the invisible gang to perish. Hopeful for a cure, he continued with this clown disguise.(10)

     Frank Griffin and Maria Goodrich eventually married and had one daughter Katrina Griffin, born in 1946. The mission related above was not the end of Frank's involvement with the invisibility serum nor was this his only mission for the Allied Intelligence Services. While now unclassified, they can still not be released to the public without Frank's permission and he has yet to give it.

   Frank was rumored to work once or twice with Sgt. Rock and his company of grunts; he may have worked with Captain America and the mysterious Jack Pimpernel. On a couple of occasions while wrapped in bandages to give his invisible body form he was mistaken as the fabled Unknown Soldier. (11)There is a very persistent rumor that he worked for several months with a very odd group of Commandos, a squad consisting of a werewolf, a vampire--who had been deliberately made into a vampire the U.S. Government, a soldier consisting of dead body parts stitched together and resurrected using the Frankenstein method. (12)Accompanying this collection of creatures was a very beautiful female who was a  medical doctor. She was often used as a femme fatale. Her drop dead beauty was purported such that it would cause a man to stand stupefied like a statue.  Whether or not she was any relationship to Daisy Mae Yoakum is unknown.

    After the war Frank Griffin returned to his career as a printer. Through his contacts with the government and his security clearance he had a nice profitable business printing government documents, manuals and handbooks. He resisted pressure from various intelligence agencies to return full time to intelligence work. It was with great reluctance that he undertook three assignments between 1946 and 1961. When the last of these, a covert mission to Cuba, nearly caused a nuclear war between Russia and the United States, Griffin resolved to never again do any intelligence work.

    However in late 1961 his printing house accidentally received a document that had been earmarked for destruction rather than printing. This actually happened more often might be believed. The protocol in such cases was to inform the department that had sent the incorrect documents. A government courier would then pick up the misrouted documents. Unfortunately in this case the document had not had a destruction order stamped on it but rather had a written note on the last page. The Printer only discovered this error after he had printed a sample handbook.

    Recognizing the ISD department, Griffin called its Director Grayle about the problem. (13) Grayle was rather shaken and wanted assurances that Griffin or his employees had not read the document. Griffin told him no and Grayle told him that a courier would pick up the documents immediately. Yet no one arrived. Puzzled at this Griffin took time to look at the document entitled Executive Action. It dealt with various scenarios on how to assassinate a head of state using misinformation, patsy gunmen and programmed killers. What troubled Griffin was that it also had scenarios that demonstrated how to take out the President of the United States. (14)

    Frank discussed his findings with Maria and they decided to contact other persons in the Intelligence community and inform them of this possible rogue operation. Late that night they received a call that their printing house was aflame. As they rushed to the scene of the fire, their car went off the road and both Frank and Maria Griffin were killed. This is what Katrina would be told and would always believe.

    Frank Griffin awoke in a guarded room of a military hospital. He had no idea where he was. He was informed that he had been involved in a traffic accident and that Maria was killed. Additionally the Griffin Publishing House had been destroyed by fire. Griffin had no memory of the events for a few days before his accident. He was told that agents of Odessa, oddly enough, working in concert with Communist sympathizers in the United States had discovered his war time record and had taken vengeance on Maria and he. They had burned the printing house to lure Maria and Frank into a sabotaged car. Katrina was safe and she would remain safe, watched by the United States government under the guardianship of her uncle Willard. Yet if Griffin were to see her again or go any where near her, then her life could be compromised. The price for Katrina's continued security would be that Frank Griffin would become an active agent once more. Reluctantly he agreed.

Frank Griffin was assigned to the European bureau located in Paris. He worked ostensibly as an Importer for American Trade Partners Inc. It was felt that he might be spotted in the United States and recognized. Since his identity as Griffin was non-existent, he was told to pick another name to live under. He chose Mason Ffoulkes. Mason because he was building a new life for himself and Ffoulkes for his ancestor who had also worked undercover with the Scarlet Pimpernel.  However due to a clerical error all his documentation was in the name of Mason Fawkes. It is possible that no clerical error had occurred, Grayle having ulterior motives for Griffin even then deliberately had his name changed to Fawkes. (15)

    Griffin/Fawkes worked as an operative based in Paris from late 1961 to mid-1964. Although he found much of the work distasteful he did it for Kerry's sake. Primarily while invisible he spied on various people and learned valuable information, much of it was personal however. He also stole or planted incriminating or misleading information or evidence. A female operative named Tiffany Case Often assisted him on these breaking and entering assignments. Her specialty was breaking and entering although she was also used as sexual bait or as a sexual distraction.

    As Frank Griffin jr. grew older his metabolism changed and his body grew accustomed to the "safe" invisibility formula. He had a harder and harder time achieving invisibility. Each time he took the serum became more painful than the last. Yet Grayl insisted that he continue as their invisible agent. It was not until Frank nearly died and only succeeded in turning semi-transparent for a few moments that Grayl relented. Grayl was hopeful when some scientists told him that Griffin/Fawkes might eventually rid his body of the build up of the invisibility serum antibodies. Since Griffin was no longer useful to him as an Invisible Man, Grayle insisted that he be trained as an assassin. When Griffin/Fawkes balked at this Grayle threatened to yank Kerry's security. He also assured Griffin that his assassinations would only target specific  individuals; those involved in Maria's death, members of Odessa, of the Communist sympathizing organizations or supporters of those groups.

    Because of their frequent partnership and their shared lives of woe, Mason Fawkes and Tiffany Case became good friends. She told him about her gang rape at sixteen, about growing up as the daughter of a Madam, about her life as a jewel thief, her involvement with the legendary James Bond. (16)

    Tiffany stated that her relationship with James Bond had been doomed from the start. Bond did not want a wife or even a girlfriend; he wanted a sexual pet. That is someone he could play with when he felt like it, buy trinkets for but not to have a true emotional relationship.  Tiffany had thought that she wanted a domestic life but living with James Bond had changed her mind. She wanted and needed adventure, she also wanted material possessions and the wherewithal to buy them.  James was rather stingy about an allowance. She missed the easy wealth and thrills of her criminal career.

    While James was on assignment, Tiffany had been approached and recruited by the ISD or whatever branch it called itself for overseas operations. The organization was aware of her current situation. They offered her a good salary and the opportunity to use her skills for the good of the free world. Tiffany told Bond that she had been having an affair and that she was going to marry her boyfriend. He was a Major at the American Embassy. This was actually her recruiter. Yet after nearly seven years of doing the bidding of the ISD, despite the high salary and thrills of the job, her excitement had palled. She truly wished to settle down. (17)

    In late 1964 Mason Fawkes and Tiffany Case married. Director Grayle was furious. He rewrote Mason Fawkes background, transferred him back to the United States and wrote him off by transferring him to The Shop, the ISD's black ops/assassination branch.(18) Mason Fawkes was given the public identity of a career criminal, to add to the credibility, Tiffany Case's true background was placed in their joint files. It appeared as though he and Tiffany had met while engaged in criminal activities.

    In 1965 Tiffany Case gave birth to Kevin Fawkes, in 1967 she gave birth to Darien Fawkes. While in America, Mason Fawkes had the public persona of a thief and a con man, a guise he hated but was forced to continue for the sake of his daughter and his new family. It was in his new identity that he was recognized. One day while he was opening his latest store front scam he was grabbed by an old woman who started sobbing. The older woman was his mother. This was not Katherine Morthley Griffin who had perished in a car accident but rather his birth mother Flora Cranley. Rather than attract attention he brought her into his shop where she poured her heart out to him. His father's death had been a devastating blow to her especially since she was pregnant and unmarried.  She went into a deep nearly suicidal depression before Frank was born. She was unable to recall having given birth to him. Her father had made all the arrangement for the child. Eventually she became aware that she had not only lost John Griffin the man she had loved but had also lost their baby. This sent her into an even deeper depression, which had nearly killed her. Her father brought her to the United States where a brilliant psychiatrist named Caliban had cured her of her depression. Eventually she recovered but her father would never reveal where the child had gone.(19)

    Flora Cranley had married a man named Forrester. They had one daughter named Celia. Celia married Paul Walters a biologist, a gland specialist. (20)Although he hated doing so Griffin/Fawkes told his mother a pack of half truths. That initially Frank Griffin and his wife had adopted him and had moved to the United States but they had died early and so he was again adopted by a family named Fawkes. In keeping with his current cover he told her that he and his wife had had several setbacks so far as the law was concerned but were trying to keep on the straight and narrow. He had hoped that the information that her son was a criminal would drive Flora Cranley away, however it did not. She accepted him as he was and felt somewhat guilty that he had turned out the way he had.  She set her mind to build a relationship and perhaps keep him on the straight and narrow. Griffin/Fawkes discussed the problem with Tiffany with the intention of devising some stratagem to drive Flora Cranley Forrester from their lives.

    Tiffany however believed that Griffin/Fawkes should pursue the relationship for their boys' sake. She thought that the boys needed some adult figures in their lives who were not thought to be criminals. Also considering the risk factors in their line of work, they needed someone who could look after the boys should they suddenly die. Did Griffin/Fawkes really want to leave the boys to the tender mercies of The Shop as surrogate parents?

    So the Fawkes family, Flora Cranley Forrester and her daughter and husband who remained childless became a sort of odd extended family.  Celia and her husband mourned the fact that Kevin and Darien were stuck with loser parents and tried to do all they could to make the boys lives a little better.  Griffin/Fawkes disappeared for months at a time while he carried out assignments for The Shop. However for so far as the public record stated he was doing jail time. The strain of the long assignments and never knowing if Griffin/Fawkes would return wore on Tiffany. She reverted back to her earlier behavior of alcoholism. During such times she told the boys about her exciting life as a jewel thief.

    In 1974 while Griffin/Fawkes was on an extended assignment in Taiwan, Tiffany Case Fawkes died of a sudden brain embolism that was unrelated to her drinking problem. When Tiffany died Griffin/Fawkes thought that this would be a good time to retire. However his handler Malachi Royce did not see it that way. He proposed to train the two Fawkes boys to be assassins, child assassins could be extraordinarily effective. This idea was more of a threat to keep Griffin/Fawkes in line than an actual proposal. If Griffin/Fawkes would forget about the distraction of his family, would agree to continue searching for a viable invisibility protocol (21) The Shop would leave his family alone. They would even provide a legitimate excuse so that it did not appear as though Griffin/Fawkes abandoned his family. This legitimate excuse however turned out to be a public record that Mason Fawkes was sentenced to twenty years in prison for several counts of grand larceny.

    In 1975 Mason Fawkes disappeared, supposedly into the Federal Penal system.
 

    Click here for a Griffin family tree graphic
 

NOTES

FRANK GRIFFIN JR./(FRANK RAYMOND) 1922-?

1.A subsequent autopsy on their exhumed bodies made in 1947  determined that they died of wounds not typically consistent with such a train collision and immolation.  They had been tortured to death and then placed in their car which was parked at railroad crossing. Colonel Stauffer's methods failed in this instance as well.

2. A paperboy announcing that Oregon State is playing Duke in the Rose Bowl confirms this date. The 1942 Rosebowl was indeed between these two teams.

3.Actually Richard Cobb fell to his death while being pursued by an invisible Geoffrey Radcliffe. Radcliffe was chasing Cobb to capture him and persuade him to admit killing Geoffrey's brother Michael and of framing Geoffrey for the murder.

4. Conrad Stauffer perhaps should not be blamed too much for his confusion as to Frank's relationship to the other Invisible Men. The similarity of his biological father, Jack Stuart Griffin and his grandfather John Hawley Griffin was confusing enough but because Frank's uncle Francis Griffin was also his adopted father was a difficult one even for this researcher to puzzle out.

5. Frank Griffin sr. had not been as slick at hiding as he had thought if so many had been able to ferret out his identity.  The reason why Frank Griffin sr. and Frank Griffin jr.  had been left alone was not just to insure their privacy but because it was also known that the invisibility serum were ineffective to the point that there was no known cure beyond a dangerous blood transfusion and the serum caused the subject to become a violent psychopath. This was not deemed suitable for military use especially during peacetime. However as the situation in Europe deteriorated and as the European nations seemed determined to create invisible forces despite the possible consequences the U.S. Military became suddenly interested. They needed to close the invisible gap.

6. Since they were not entirely convinced that Frank was being truthful about not knowing the chemical make up of the formula, they feared he might fall into enemy hands. This could be a disaster. However they soon became convinced that he did not know the formula and could not make the formula. Tests also proved that the formula would not work on anyone else. A crisis precipitated their use of Griffin as the Invisible Agent. Germany planned to attack the east coast of America aided by hundreds of saboteurs.

7.  Captain Schultz who led the search was later demoted to Sergeant and stationed at Stalag 17. His brother was also a Camp Guard although stationed at Stalag 13, although this Schultz was not as dedicated to the cause of National Socialism as he was to French pastries. As a matter of fact Stalag 13 was the base of a group of allied commandos who committed acts of sabotage inside the Third Reich while pretending to be POWs. All this took place under Sgt. Schultz' eyes and he saw nothink.

8.Despite the filmed version of these events which stated the Stauffer and Heiser were members of the Gestapo, they were really members of the S.S. In the film Hesier even wears a "Death's Head" officers uniform.

9. Frank Raymond's for nobody's eyes mission to Germany is portrayed in Invisible Agent, Universal 1942

10. Some of these events were fictionalized in the film Tomei ningen Transparent Human Toho 1954

11.For more about the mysterious Jack Pimpernel please read the entries on the Original Wold Newton Crossover Chronology.
For an in-depth study of the career of the Unknown Soldier as related in the comics. As with other comic book sources these accounts should not be taken literally.

12. The Creature Commandos made their debut in Weird War Tales #93 and went on to battle the Axis powers for several years after. The initial line-up, Velcro--the Vampire, Warren Griffith--the Werewolf, "Lucky" Taylor--the Frankenstein Monster, and Lt. Matthew Shrieve, was later altered to include a woman, Dr. Medusa

13.The ISD Internal Security Department was one of those shadowy government bureaucracies created in the height of the cold war just after the end of World War II. Its main objective was to identify possible security threats leaks within the Federal, State and local governments of the Unitd States. However shortly after its creation, it soon expanded its role far beyond its original mission moving into all sorts of Black Ops and operating with hidden agendas. The people guiding the course of the ISD such as Director Grayle were power hungry fanatics. You can find bits and pieces of true information and disinformation about the ISD at these locations. The Avenger Chronology by Win Eckert, Keeping Secrets by Brad Mengel, Marvelous Fantastic Tales of the WNU; Batman by Dennis Power and Marvelous, Fantastic Tales of the WNU-Spiderman by Dennis Power.

14. Part of this document was however leaked. A film based on some of the concepts outlined in the report was made, although the depiction of the assassination of the President was entirely fictional.  The film was entitled Executive Action.

15. The name Fawkes of course referred to Guy Fawkes of the Gunpowder plot of 1605. Fawkes and other conspirators plotted to blow up Parliament and the King for ideological reason. Grayle planned to use Griffin as an assassin motivating him by ideology and a desire for vengeance. Thanks to Steve Costa for pointing out the possible connection between the name of Fawkes and Ffoulkes.

16. Tiffany's early life and her initial involvement with James Bond are recounted in Diamonds Are Forever by Ian Fleming.

17. Details of Tiffany's relationship with James Bond after the events of Diamonds Are Forever are revealed in James Bond, the Authorized Biography by James Pearson. Mr. Pearson unaware that she had only pretended to leave James for another man.

18. "The Shop" is mentioned in The Langoliers. Presumably the same "Shop" as in Firestarter. Also in the Tommyknockers After all the excitement was over in The Tommyknockers, "The Shop" came to Haven to investigate.

19. The psychiatrist was undoubtedly James Anthony Caliban or to be more precise, James Anthony Grandrith, the half brother of John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith. In the two Doc Caliban novels were given the information that Doc Caliban was a psychiatrist who was the inspiration for the fictional Doc Savage character. It must be remembered that PJF wrote A Feast Unknown and The Mad Goblin prior to publishing the books Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage an Apocalyptic Life. I believe that Farmer always suspected intended to write biographies of Doc and Tarzan but that during his researches into their lives he also discovered the existence of Doc Caliban and Lord Grandrith and the existence of the Nine. Because of the many similarities between the lives of Caliban and Savage and the lives of Grandrith and Greystoke, and because of the more "earthy" nature of Grandrith and Caliban he was fooled into believing that these were the true characters upon which Savage and Tarzan were based.  Somewhat disappointed that his heroes turned out to have feet of clay and fearing reprisals from the Nine, Farmer published his researches on Caliban and Grandrith as novels.

    After the publication of A Feast Unknown, Philip Jose Farmer was contacted by an agent of John Clayton, Lord Greystoke. Ina series of meetings that followed portions of which were edited and published as an Interview with Lord Greystoke,  Farmer learned the truth about Caliban and Grandrith and about Tarzans, future and past. Novels which followed, Time's Last Gift, Hadon of Opar, Flight to Opar, Escape from Loki, The Dark Heart of Time gave out portions of the information that Farmer had gleaned from Lord Greystoke, who was actually the man who would later call himself John Gribardson.

    More recent research has uncovered more information about the activities of the Nine, of Caliban and of Grandrith. It appears that while the careers of Caliban and Grandrith were similar to Savage and Greystoke, they were not duplications nor were the exact re-enactments that the Nine wished.  Mr. Farmer was did not know the exact details of their careers and was unconsciously influenced by the idea that they were Savage and Greystoke so he gave information about their careers about which he was misinformed.

    James Anthony Caliban was a practicing psychiatrist and he did have adventures similar to Doc Savage.  Wold Newtonian researcher Dennis Hager argues that many of the latter were fictionalized as the adventures of Jim Anthony. Jim Anthony was a Doc Savage type character written about by Robert Leslie Bellem who also edited the adventures of Dan Turner, the Hollywood Detective. Unlike Doc Savage Jim Anthony was more inclined to give into the advances of the beautiful women whose paths he crossed. This would be more in tune with character of Caliban without the preconception that he was Doc Savage.

20. Paul Walters was the son of Sigmund Walters, also a gland specialist as seen in the film, Captive Wild Woman

21.  Because it was based on the Griffin family blood and tissue samples the serum developed by Frank Griffin sr.  would only work on Frank Griffin jr.

Invisibles Timeline
1897 Invisible Man by H.G. Well (John Hawley Griffin. OIM Original Invisible Man)
1898 League of Extraordinary Men (John Hawley Griffin)
1922 Invisible Man (John (Jack) Griffin)
1929 Invisible Murderer with William Carpenter as the Invisible Man
1931 Invisible Man's Return (Frank Griffin----- with Geoffrey Radcliffe as the IM
1935 Invisible Man's Revenge  (Robert Griffin) the IM
1938 Invisible Woman (Kitty Caroll)
1942 (twenty years after Invisible Man) Invisible Agent (Frank Griffin a.k.a. Frank Raymond)
1948 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Geoffrey Radcliffe IM)
1949 Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (Tommy Nelson IM)
1966 Invisibility Affair Willard Morthley and Kerry Griffin inventors of the OTSMID (Omnidirectional Total Spectrum Molecular Interpenetration Device) which can render objects invisible
1974 Daniel Westin  becomes an Invisible Man
1998 Darien Fawkes surgically implanted with quicksilver gland to become an Invisible Man
1999 Sebastian Caine has a brief and deadly career as an Invisible Man as seen in The Hollow Man

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