Showcase #66 (1967)
by Bob Haney & Mike Sekowsky
This will age well.
“Jungle books” were all the rage in the 40s and 50s, but by the late 1960s I guess they all cowered in fear in front of this masterpiece.
The story is set in the African nation of Zambesi, which is a fictional setting neighboring the actual African river of the same name.
If the fact that we started out with an African man attending a traditional ceremony made you hope we’re in for a Black Panther situation… that’s not the kind of story we’re in.
The only African man whi isn’t depicted as a superstitious primitive is the guy who studied abroad.
And as you already saw from the cover, the hero of this story set entirely in Africa is not going to be the black man.
This is our protagonist Mike Maxwell, who has returned to his faithfull assistant Djuba.
Mike drinks a potion that makes him Hulk out of his clothes, and he’s given the only almost decent part of his costume: the helmet.
Was he already wearing leopard-striped underwear and those weird socks underneath his regular clothes, or did the ape give them to him?
Also, why does he wear a tie as a belt?
I know it’s supposed to be his Tarzan yell, but I cannot imagine “Ki-Ki-Kiuuuuuueeeee!” being the terrifying sound that this comic pretends it is.
If you ever need confirmation that comic book writers are not paid by the word count, check out this amazing dialogue.
It really shouldn’t be this hard to understand why the protagonist is so much against the local mines. Maybe a line anywhere about this damaging the jungle or something?
Despite this story being what it is, the Mike Sekowsky is way better than I expected.
I’m not a huge fan of his style, but it seems that he really liked drawing this kind of setting.
As ridiculous as he looks, B’Wana Beast probably has a body count given how the locals talk about him.
He does, however, have a serious contender for the most ridiculous character of this story.
Forget Vandal Savage, Ra’s Al Ghul and General Immortus.
The real immortal villain of DC Comics is Hamid Ali.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I believe this story starring B’Wana Beast might be a little silly.
Look I’m as skeptical as you can be, but if a mysterious figure in the jungle showed up piloting A GIANT CROCODILE TANK, I might entertain the possibility that he has other ridiculous feats.
Who would win in a fight: the team that includes a rhino and and elephant, or the team that includes a GIANT CROCODILE TANK?
We won’t learn that today, because B’Wana Beast sends the elephant away and summons a buffalo.
Not that he needs the elephant, because B’Wana Beast has the power to fuse the rhino and the buffalo into a giant green rhinuffalo.
And if you’re asking yourself “but why is it green?”, congratulations: you have reached peak Silver Age-ness.
Dude, you’re not even going to acknowledge the giant animal created out of nowhere to fight a giant crocodile tank!?!?
In recognition for the assist, the black guy doesn’t kill B’Wana Beast with a grenade.
Like that thing was ever going to hurt the rhinuffalo.
And now, at PAGE FIFTEEN of the story, we get a flashback to B’Wana Beast’s origin.
Turns out that Mike has a degree in zoology, and the reason why he’s going to become head of the Zambesi national animal preserve… is that he went to school with someone with a government job.
What a likeable pair of protagonists.
When the duo is about to reach Zambesi, they need to make an emergency landing on Mount Kilimajaro, famous as the tallest mountain in Africa and the only one in the continent that any writer knows.
Take your pick:
1) they were nowhere close the country of Zambesi
2) the country of Zambesi is nowhere near the Zambesi river
3) Bob Haney has no idea where Mount Kilimanjaro is
The two barely survive the crash, finding refuce in a nearby cave where a talking ape has followed them.
How is the guy READY TO FISTFIGHT A GORILLA not our protagonist???
No, our protagonist is Suddenly Buff Shouting Man.
I’m not going to comment on the gorilla immediately crowning the white man as his master.
And the reason for why the helmet has so many amazing powers is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The reason for why Mike is now super-buff is that Bob Haney drank something weird.
Sorry, I meant to say MIKE drank something weird.
What else could you do besides becoming a superhero once you become strong enough to wrestle gorillas and can talk to animals?
Mind you that at this point he doesn’t even know he can fuse animals.
Also WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE THE HELMET BEHIND????
And that’s the origin of B’Wana Beast, who was given the name by the locals.
“Bwana” (without the apostrophe) is a Swahili word meaning “boss” or “master”… which I understand would be in the context of callying your superior “sir”.
It was used A LOT in jungle movies with the apparent meaning of “white man in charge of us natives”, although by 1967 it seems it wasn’t used that often.
The word by itself isn’t racist, and is in fact part of modern swahili, but given the context… come on. You know why it sounds weird today.
B’Wana Beast would’ve been slighty less problematic if he was called “Sir Beast”.
I totally forgot we were dealing with an immortal ghost-colored would-be conqueror.
The story ends on a cliffhanger: Hamid Ali has framed B’Wana Beast for HIS crimes, and Max’s best friend is tasked with arresting him.
The following issue has a redesign of the helmet, in case you wondered how B’Wana Beast would look without the only decent part of his costume.
I can’t help feeling they already exhausted their ideas, considering he’s STILL fighting the same villain with the SAME gimmick by fusing the SAME animals.
Eventually he defeats the immortal villain and he’s hailed as the tribe’s white savior.
Historical significance: 0/10
There are minor heroes of the Silver Age, there are obscure heroes, and then there’s B’Wana Beast.
Silver Age-ness: Ki-Ki-Kiuuuuuueeeee!/10
Does it stand the test of time? -2/10
As mentioned, the Sekowsky artwork is surprisingly better than usual… sometimes.
And the idea behind the villain isn’t all that bad.
But overall this is a trainwreck. The hero is as bland as they come, and even the most bonkers parts of the story are completely glossed over.
And of course there’s the African elephant in the room: this is a collection of clichés from the most dated jungle stories. I could forgive a lot more for stuff from the 40s, but by 1967 this feels incredibly dated.
Jokes aside, I don’t actually have a problem with the hero being white even when the story is set in Africa. What I do have a problem with, not to mention the reason for the negative score, is how the natives are represented.
The ONLY person who acts like he’s from the 20th century is the guy who studied abroad: everyone else is treated like a savage.
I could accept it if this was an uncontacted tribe or something, but…
How close is this to the modern character? 6/10
Believe it or not, but B’Wana Beast was originally intended to have THREE issues of Showcase (a somewhat rare case, although there are characters who lasted longer).
Reportedly Mike Sekowsky refused to return for a third issue; I’ve seen references to him saying it was out of distaste for the underlying racism, but I couldn’t confirm this.
What I can confirm is that Sekowsky would pencil the next Showcase feature: the Maniaks.
As a matter of fact, the Maniaks lasted a whole THREE (non-consecutive) issues of Showcase.
That’s right: B’Wana Beast bombed to much that it lasted less than THE MANIAKS.
B’Wana Beast wouldn’t be seen again until 1985, on Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Because e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e shows up in Crisis (except Hal Jordan).
In the same year he also showed up in DC Challenge, which makes sense: that was a series intended to feature extremely minor characters that would likely not survive the Crisis.
And B’Wana Beast would likely have been relegated to the Silver Age if it wasn’t for Swamp Thing Annual #3 in 1987, where Rick Veitch used a VERY different approach.
He would then show up on Animal Man, where his history takes a VERY dark turn.
This storyline was VERY dark and it turned B’Wana Beast from a joke to a very tragic figure… and it ends with him merging a doctor to the body of an ape that the doctor himself was going to vivisect.
The series later reveals that B’Wana Beast is a legacy identity, and the one we know is only the second white one.
That just leaves the problematic name, which is abandoned by the successor: he’s going to be Freedom Beast.
That would’ve been a neat character arc for Max. But later he goes completely insane and becomes the villainous Shining Man.
Don’t ask me how or why. I could not make heads or tails of the this part of the Animal Man series.
Freedom Beast sticks around for a while in a very, VERY minor role.
The original would show up, of all places, in Suicide Squad: King Shark in 2021.
The link to The Red… the supernatural power connecting all animal forms… was already established in the Animal Man series.
It fits oddly fine with B’Wana Beast.
Modern B’Wana Beast stories either go incredibly serious or incredibly dumb with him, there’s no in-between.
Admittedly, there’s like twelve of those, but still.
He even got to appear on other media, most likely because of how ridiculous he is.
He had a minor comedic role in Justice League Unlimited and appeared in Batman: The Brave And The Bold.
I haven’t seen the latter but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a completely serious episode since, again, it was on Batman: The Brave And The Bold.
I haven’t seen his live action appearance on Legends of Tomorrow either.
I know the CW shows had next to no budget but COME ON, how do you botch the helmet!?!?
All things considered, not bad for a guy whose first run lasted less than the Maniaks.