Fantomah: One bad day? Move over, Joker.

[alicemacher]

Sorry, Mistah J, but as far as grim, unlucky origin stories go, I think this villain may have you beat. From the disturbed imagination of Golden Age cult favourite Fletcher Hanks (as Barclay Flagg), this is the story of Zomax, featuring Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle. It's from Jungle Comics #14 (Fiction House, February 1941), which is in the public domain (scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus).

Comments

[donnblake]

Of course, by the standards of Fletcher Hanks, Zomax got off easy with a simple 'dead by your own creation.' Maybe Fantomah thought he'd been through enough.

[alicemacher]

Good point. Drowning isn't exactly a suffering-free method of execution, but it is preferable to, for example, getting zapped such that your head engulfs your body, then being carried off screaming (yet still breathing) into space and hurled into the body of a headless monster.

[jlroberson]

Got off easy. Did you READ his origin story? ;) Swear to god, it's like Chef's death on South Park or something.

My two favorite parts: "Only the death of the lion saved his life" From? A heart attack? Old age? Boredom? And then the "life of torture" with the apes. (with him on a bed of flowers? Uh...wait)
"HA HA HUMAN HERE ARE BONES"
"No! NO! Don't m-make me look at bones again!"
"ALL IS HERE IS LOOK AT BONES. MAKE SAD WET EYE, HUMAN. HA HA"

[drtechnobabel]

You know, after the cavalcade of horrors Zomax went through, I don't blame him for wanting to destroy the jungle and everything in it.

[q99]

The jungle really had it out for him, didn't it?

[jeyl]

Question. Was Fantomah around during his harrowing ordeal? And if she was, where the heck was she? You would think her "delicate senses and keen insight" would be able to stop this completely and utterly disgusting treatment of a human being. It labeled an Elephant a "man hater" and attempted to kill him! That's a grave injustice.

[althechi]

I get this distinct impression that Fantomah and Stardust don't exactly actually have much empathy towards human beings.

[alicemacher]

Particularly since, despite having advance intelligence of villains' plans, they nearly always wait until the villains have killed untold numbers of people or animals before intervening.

[althechi]

Tell them, Ripley.

[doctor_spanky]

The poor guy was doomed the moment his parents named him "Zomax"

[silicondream]

They named him "Chris," actually. "Zomax" was just the name he used for his rap battles.

Unfortunately, a swarm of deadly jungle hornets nested inside his boom box without his knowledge, and when he tried to save himself by hurling it into the street he was arrested for littering by the only hyena on the Johannesburg police force, and...well, it went on like that.

[fungo_squiggly]

I always thought that Fantomah was so much nicer than Fletcher Hanks's other "hero," Stardust.

At least Fantomah tends to give her villains a warning before she strikes. And then she goes for the straight kill rather than torturing them horrifically first.

Also, Zomax's perpetual pouty face is pretty funny.

[qalchemist]

Is it just me, or does Fantomah seem to be an incarnation of the Spectre, in some ways..

[icon_uk]

In concept very defintiely

In appearance, I keep seeing Skeletor doing a drag act, one microphone away from belting out "I am what I am"

[full_metal_ox]

Is it just me, or does Fantomah seem to be an incarnation of the Spectre, in some ways..

By a similar token, give the Golden Age Black Widow a period-appropriate cool vehicle (perhaps a flame-red convertible? I'm not even remotely a car person) and she'd fit snugly into the Ghost Rider succession.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

If she can control his mind, wouldn't she have saved a lot of time by just making him turn off the machine? That's what Wonder Woman would have done.

"You must obey me and turn off the machine. The power of the lasso compels you."
She lassos him.
"No. Never. But I must. Something compels me."
"Yes, the power of the lasso. I just told you that."

Then she'd put him under the purple ray for a few hours. He'd come out completely healed, young and handsome."Now I realize I was twisted by anger and hate. I was wrong to hurt these animals in the first place. From now on, I'll dedicate my life to stopping poachers from harming the animals of the jungle. I'm much happier now, and I owe it all to loving submission."

*applause*

[alicemacher]

I would read the hell out of that.

[thanekos]

Fletcher Hanks villainous jaw structure: always the funniest.

[donnblake]

At least with this one it's the result of being tortured by gorillas for months, rather than just an outward manifestation of his evil.

[writeofway]

It makes me wonder if these stories aren't about heroes, so much as super-powered dictators who won't let anyone kill his humans because "only HE is allowed to harm his subjects!"

[jeyl]

I've always wanted to see how Wonder Woman would react to Fantomah's extreme acts of justice.

[icon_uk]

Perhaps about the way she'd react to the Spectre, whom Fantomah seems to be aspiring to be.

[jeyl]

I guess I should have specified "which" Wonder Woman since if the Wonder Woman you're referring to is the "New 52!" Wonder Woman, she probably wouldn't care what Fantohmah did.

[thosefew]

Can you imagine how Fletcher Hanks would write the Punisher?

[flint_marko]

He brought it on himself.