A new superhero soaring through the air? A giant reptilian monster on a rampage? Red-skinned aliens invading Earth?
I’m in.
So I was happy to buy the first issue of The Adventures of the Jaguar (Sept. 1961), which appeared on the stands in June 1961 — a nice present for my 7th birthday.
And yes, even at age I could recognize the character as being heavily derivative of Archie Comics’ other superhero, the Fly. But the Jaguar also shared the artist John Rosenberger with the Fly, and I enjoyed his clear, clean-lined work.
“It really does seem as though the character was created just to fill a space — he’s a simple knock-off of the Fly himself, but with the powers of all mammals rather than the more exotic and interesting ones of all insects,” observed comics historian Don Markstein. “He uses a magic belt instead of a magic ring, is a zoologist named Ralph Hardy instead of a lawyer named Thomas Troy, and unlike the Fly, has no female counterpart.”
Empowered by Incan magic and/or super-technology, Hardy flies with the aid of his “nucleon-energy belt” rockets and defeats an ancient serpent.
The Jaguar’s exploits, penned by Robert Bernstein, appeared for 15 issues in his own title and as back-page stories in Archie comedy titles like Laugh and Pep.
A little later, when the Archie superheroes formed the Mighty Crusaders, the Jaguar reappeared for a single issue as a member of a rival super-team, the Terrific Three. Mr. Justice and Steel Sterling were the other two.
We had several creature-totemic superheroes knocking about then, not just the Fly and the Jaguar but also Aquaman, Hawkman and Ant-Man. All of them had not just costumes and powers inspired by their biological namesakes, but also an intimate connection with the creatures themselves, whom they could communicate with and command.
In this, they resembled a certain ape man — the ubiquitous afternoon-movie hero Tarzan, who was forever summoning elephants to his aid.
Johnny Williams wrote: He was one of my boyhood favorites. Just his very cool rocket belt would have been enough to capture my boyish imagination by itself, but then he was also a cool character. As a science nerd I was always fascinated by the uses that the writer would think up for his powers.
ReplyDeleteInsect and mammal powered heroes. That company had some real potential winners.
Paul Zuckerman wrote: I read the Jaguar sporadically. I liked Rosenberger's art, very understated compared to the style that developed at Marvel so it didn't have that impact. Mostly, I seem to remember getting issues for free when I went to my local shoe store and they were given away as a premium. I can't actually remember buying the book! I was surprised later on that, unlike the Fly, um, Fly Man, Jag never got much play on the team.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that during the "big hero revival" at ACP, he only made a single appearance But then his appearances ended in 1963, while the Fly, later Fly-Man (!) continued, although a little infrequently in 1964-1965, through the end of the ACP Heroes line in 1967.
ReplyDelete