THE MAN FROM CHARISMA

Full Name:	Jonathan Relevant
Series Name:	The Man From Charisma
Nationality:	American
Organization:	Charisma
Occupation	Agent

Creator:	Ted Mark
Time Span:	1970 - 1971

ABOUT THE SERIES

Jonathan Relevant is ... an unknown.

In fact there is a great deal that is unknown about this fellow. One that that is extremely obvious, on the other hand, is that he is the perfect man. He is what 'every man sees' as a hero and every woman sees as 'her lustful dream'. Naturally, everyone who comes into contact with him seems to end up fighting over his body.

The character appears suddenly in the frozen land of the Arctic immediately after a nuclear blast. He is dazed and cannot remember who he is, although he quickly picks the name of Jonathan Relevant as sounding right. The craziest thing about him, besides his perfect physical presence, is the fact that as he speaks, everyone hearing him does so in that individual's own language.

Some believe him to be an alien from space while at least one credible source provides proof of his being raised by a scientist couple to be every bit as perfect as he seems to be. The name of their secret lab is said to have been 'Charisma', hence the moniker given him as the Man from there.

Whichever origin is the true one, every nation wants him and the things he has to do to remain his own man make up a good deal of the three recorded adventures we have of him. Agents abound in these adventures as does the standard Ted Mark lust for, well, lust.

If he is an alien, he has a natural talent at love-making. If he is a prodigy, he is a well-trained one. He is also very, very good at staying alive and staying out of the hands of those who hunt him. And he is able to do this while still taking time out for meeting, seducing, and pleasuring numerous women.

BOOKS

Number of Books:	3
First Appearance:	1970
Last Appearance:	1971

Taking a break from having written at least ten Man from O.R.G.Y. and three Girl from Pussycat adventures, Ted Mark created a new hero to titillate the readers of the early 70's. This new character is he.


1			The Man From Charisma Written by Ted Mark Copyright: 1970 From the moment that he was found, naked and cold on an ice flow in the Arctic, the superpowers have fought for the right to claim Relevant as their own. As he struggles to figure out who he really is, including many long arguments with himself, he has to deal with the KGB and the CIA taking turns kidnapping him.

2			Right On, Relevant Written by Ted Mark Copyright: 1971 Still struggling to decide who he is, Relevant is forced by the CIA into helping take on a nefarious plot by SLOB, an underworld criminal organization devoted to spreading pollution wherever it can.

3			Rip It Off, Relevant Written by Ted Mark Copyright: 1971 As crazy as the last two adventures were, this third and final is the strangest as Relevant is again forced into a mission that involves the President, Eldridge Cleaver, Greek freedom fighters, and the whole Middle East.

MY COMMENTS

I thought that the Man From O.R.G.Y. had obscure plot lines until I read his Charisma series. I couldn't make heads or tails out of most of it, except for being told repeatedly in each book that the President suffered from hemorrhoids, which I didn't need to know. Why the character goes where he goes and does what he does probably is not important to author and is usually a mystery to the reader.

As spy books go, these never arrived. There is a lot of CIA and KGB activity, not to mention the assorted smaller agencies from around the world, but it is all goofy and not very (wait for it ...) relevant.

GRADE

My Grade: D+

Your Average Grade: A+

YOUR OPINIONS

smiteboy	A+	12/9/2013 2:17:23 AM	There is a "lost" Ted Mark series that ran two books, centered around "professional prostitute" Regina Blue. These came out between 1972-75. They were published by Dell: "Regina Blue" and "Sex Mates of a Chess Mistress". While focusing on sex, the second book has more private eye/spy overtones, and the cover implies it as a spy novel. They certainly are more spy-ish than some of the other Ted Mark non-O.R.G.Y. series.

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