Black Heroes/Sidekicks

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TOMBOY is about a freed slave in America. The first issue headlines ‘for the first time in the history of slavery, a black man dares judge the alleged civilization of the whites and turns a page of the ledger for the freedom of his brothers’. He assists union troops and is criticized in the newspapers as ‘a black man in the white house’. He helps whites as well as native Indians. To protect himself he disguises himself with a mask while dispensing justice. The series dates from the 1970’s and is difficult to find because it is imbedded inside other French comic books and therefore lacks a color cover to easily identify it. I have a number of issues.

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Ardan Tim L’Audace. This is a french comic book dated from 1956. Tim and his black sidekick, Salam, are ‘do-good’ adventurers who travel the earth from one adventure to the next.

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French comic book YATAKA, appeared in the 1970's. Yataka is a white boy doing good in a land that looks like Africa but contains Mayan-type pyramids and natives that look like they are Brazillian. He has a black friend named TEOTI who assists him in his adventures. I have a 5 issues and an album. BM(161)

Price: $300.00 

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El Teniente Negro. This is a Spanish comic book that ran for 30 issues in 1962. The hero of the comic is known smply as El Teniente Negro......’the Negro Lieutenant’. The setting is during the American civil war in 1863. He defends blacks and beats the Confederates and survives near-death every time. In fact he is a white man who paints himself black. I have two issues

Price: $120.00 

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PANTHERMAN (in France) or, the Black Panther, is a fictional superhero named T’Challa, from Wakanda, a mythical kingdom in Africa. He defends New York’s Hells Kitchen at the invitation of Daredevil. He appears in publications by Marvel Comics and first appeared in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966). He is the first black superhero in mainstream American comics, before such early African-American superheroes as Marvel Comics' the Falcon, Storm, and Luke Cage, and DC Comics' Tyroc, Black Lightning, and Green Lantern John Stewart. His name predates the October 1966 founding of the Black Panther Party, though not the black panther logo of the party's predecessor, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, nor the segregated World War II Black Panthers Tank Battalion. Virtually no black heroes were created before him, and none with actual superpowers. These included the characters in the single-issue, low-distribution All-Negro Comics #1 (1947); Waku, Prince of the Bantu, who starred in his own feature in the omnibus title Jungle Tales, from Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics; and the Dell Comics Western character Lobo, the first black person to star in his own comic book. Previous non-caricatured Black supporting characters in comics include U.S. Army infantry private Gabriel Jones of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. The second and final arc, "Panther vs. the Klan", ran as mostly 17-page stories in Jungle Action #19-24 (Jan.-Nov. 1976), in which the Black Panther guest-starred. The subject matter of the Ku Klux Klan was considered controversial in the Marvel offices at the time, creating difficulties for the creative team.

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Tabu, El Vengador de los Esclavos. This is a Spanish comic book but without much in the way of cartoons inside. There are 2 or 3 pieces of artwork inside and the balance is all text. Tabu is the ‘avenger of the slaves’ as the comic book title states. Each comic shows him fighting to protect blacks and stand on the side of justice. The entire series takes place in America at the time of the Civil War. The comic is undated but appears from 1940’s. The series ran for 60 issues. I have 16 issues and a bound set with no cover pages for each

Price: $800.00 

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Tabu, El Vengador de los Esclavos. This is the same character but a completely different series and image, from item SH 008. Issued in Spain, as the other, the graphics are more refined and inspiring. Helping slaves, fighting Mexicans and evil cowboys, he is loved by African Americans as their hero. This is the third manifestation of Tabu and the comic ran from 1945 to 1946. I have a near complete run of 7 issues

Price:500.00 

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Batouk, Le Roi de la Foret Vierge, is a French comic book that translates into Batouk, the King of the Virgin Forest. He is an African hero, fighting evil and dispensing justice. Each issue takes place in a different French colonial region of Africa, so in one issue he is with the Sultan of Sokoto, another with the Ashantis, another in Niger, Porto Novo and so on. This series, like Tabu and Zambo, underwent different makeovers of the main hero. This is the first manifestation of Batouk and it ran from 1945 to 1946. I have a near complete run of 8 issues.  EW

Price: $560.00  

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Bill Kraker, is a comic book of a Spanish version of Tarzan, accompanied by his two black sidekicks, Togui and Dringo. The series begins with Bwana Bill Kraker and his young friend Dringo. By the third issue, Dringo is reunited with his 7 foot father, Togui, who wears a loin cloth and a sailors caps and is almost ape-like. Togui then becomes the loyal ‘muscle’ of Bwana Bill. He is not very bright and speaks cryptically. Although he is a child, Dringo appears more intelligent than Togui. Togui exists the series in the second to the last issue, and his final words are ‘ all men, without distinction of color, can be good or bad, but Bwana Kraker be the most good in the world.’ The comic appears to date from the 1950’ and only ran for less than a year. I have a near complete run of 23 issues. EW

Price: $920.00 

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Safari, is a comic book issued in Spain about the adventures of Alex Martin, a hunter, and two young boys. In issue #11 one of the boys, George, meets a young African boy named Balu, who lives in the trees, and is then adopted by the family. This comic appears to be inspired by the ‘Johnny Quest’ series popular in the USA at the time (which was the story of Dr. Quest and his son Johnny and their adopted friend ‘Hadji’, an Indian boy). The three boys are constantly getting into trouble as they stop crime and experience the joys of youth. The setting is in Africa, hence the name ‘Safari’. It is interesting to note that, when researching the series, up until issue 11, the story line is always about game hunting. Following the inclusion of Balu to the story, the comic takes on a far more adventurous tone with little in the way of hunting. The series appeared to run for 2 years, from 1966 to 1968.