Many of the comics I've look at in this feature are old 'jungle comics.' They tend to range from mildly racist to rather quite racist. Appropriately, this time I'm looking at a Biff Powers adventure. You may recall that Biff Powers was the subject of the very first entry in my 'Angola in the Comics' feature!
This story comes from Startling Comics Vol.2 #1 (December, 1940). No creators were credited and the Grand Comics Database hasn't determined who they were yet.
We open as the curator of the Metropolitan Museum tells an audience that in a recent expedition to Africa his party was turned back at Lake Ngami by "fierce head-hunting pigmies!" The only Lake Ngami I know of is in Botswana - it would be a strange place to find pygmies. As a result they could not complete their expedition to discover if gigantic men lived in the interior. "And who knows - there may still be giants in these days!" In the very next panel a newspaper headline declares, "Curator Reports Race of Giants" which is, uh, not what he said - he was discussing the possiblity of giants. But okay, this is the premise of our story. Giants in Africa. So this is liable to be a little more fantastic than the previous Biff Powers tale.
We move to the offices of the Carson Circus whom you will (not) recall are the employers of Biff Powers. "I want you to shoot down there and get me some of those babies!" says the circus owner. "It'll be a change from the animals, Tom!" says Biff, casually discussing their plot to enslave human beings as exhibits in their circus. This was indeed in the days of 'human oddity' exhibits at circuses and carnivals, but discussing them as though they were an animal display -- this is pretty inhumane. I mean, that's assuming the giants even exist. Well, whether they do or not, Biff is informed that a rival outfit, the Trans-American Circus, are likewise out to find the giants. Tom of the Carson Circus calls them "shady." Hey, we put human beings on display in cages, but one thing we're not is "shady!"
Biff books passage on a boat bound for Lobito, which is where Angola enters our story. You'll recall that last time, Biff Powers was one of the few early comics I found which named an actual location in Angola (Luanda), and they've done it again. Anyway, the Trans-American Circus hires Brick Peters and he suggests they kidnap Biff's love interest Marcia Beale so that Biff will go looking for her and miss the boat to Lobito (you might remember Marcia from the other blog entry). Biff rescues her rather easily and fights his way out of the den of kidnappers with his gun. So I guess at this point the Trans-American Circus has had men killed on account of these giants they're not positive even exist? Priorities, man.
Although Biff rescued Marcia rather quickly, it seems he did miss the boat. Not to worry though, Tom lends him his yacht. Arriving in Lobito, he's met by his "old native head boy" Weki (also from our last tale). Still, Biff, Marcia, Weki and one other African man are about four days behind Brick Peters as they venture into the jungle.
Marcia is attacked by a gorilla who snatches her up into a tree. Biff climbs after the gorilla and starts a fistfight with him on one of the branches. That seems like a spectacularly terrible idea. Fortunately Weki throws a spear into the gorilla's heart. Biff and the gorilla fall from the tree and Biff stabs the gorilla with his knife. "Touch luck, monk! You lose!" Er, Biff, don't act so proud of yourself, it was Weki who pulled your fat from the fire.
Later they pitch camp near Lake Ngami (if this is supposed to be the lake in Botswana that was... uh... quite a march!). The pygmies mentioned earlier attack their camp. They're quickly defeated and the unnamed African aide is beheaded by the Pygmies. Biff, Marcia and Weki are brought by the pygmies to their village where they find Brick Peters, who has made himself the boss of the pygmies in the hopes they would lead him to the giants.
Marcia is about to be beheaded by the Pygmies when the giants attack the village. And, remarkably for a comic book from 1940, these 'giants' are very reasonably proportioned. Like, they seem to be about seven feet tall. I really thought we were in for some ten-storey giants. Anyway, these giants easily defeat the Pygmies, then take some Pygmies, Biff, Marcia and Weki back to their village (Brick runs away). The giants' chief was wounded by a Pygmy poison dart but Biff offers to help him. When the chief revives, the chief's son is miffed. Believing Biff is the one who made the alliance with the Pygmies, he challenges Biff to one-on-one combat for his life. Biff wins, thanks to a jiu jitsu move (although it looks like a punch to the jaw from where I sit).
Biff supplies the giants with the antidote to the Pygmy poison and in gratitude they permit two of their warriors to accompany Biff back to the USA. As they head away from the village, a Pygmy throws a head at them; it's the head of Brick Peters, whom they killed for failing to lead them to victory. Back in the USA, the two giants are a huge hit as attractions at the circus. And that's the end.
Biff Powers is a pretty typical "great white hunter" series. It's a relic of its time, but in its time it was just one of many such heroes from Jungle Jim to Clyde Beatty. I was pleasantly surprised that the "giants" were reasonably sized, but otherwise this was pretty rote jungle comic story.
- +1 estrela for using a real location in Angola (Lobito)
- -1 estrela for using an animal not found in Angola (gorilla)
- -1 estrela for the premise of putting human beings on display at a circus
- +1 estrela for being surprisingly modestly-sized giants.
TOTAL SCORE: Zero estrelas! The good and bad cancel each other out.
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